Michael Crichton died unexpectedly of cancer yesterday at the age of 66. In his honor, I thought about posting a montage of clips from movies he wrote and/or directed and/or which were adapted from his novels. But the one I found, despite making some of the lesser adaptations (Congo; Timeline) seem better than they actually are, wasn’t quite as long or in depth as I’d hoped. And I couldn’t merely include a scene or trailer for a single film, because it’s impossible to choose one work that best exemplifies his career. No, not even Jurassic Parkis worthy.
So, I’m going a little indirect and showcasing this recut trailer for Twister, a movie Crichton scripted with his then wife, Anne-Marie Martin. Not only do I think Twister is underrated, but I think this is one of the better recut trailers around, mainly because the voiceover sounds more legit than most amateur efforts. The fact that Crichton had penned the screenplay to Twister was immediately a surprise to anyone watching the movie, which hardly even seemed to have a foundation of story or dialogue prior to being shot. It had seemed that director Jan De Bont went into a wide expanse of Midwest farmland with a loose synopsis to His Girl Friday and a lot of ideas for spectacular CG tornado effects to be added in during post.
Everyone is familiar with the major controversy of the 1969 Oscars, but the real problem may not be that Oliver! was named Best Picture over Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which wasn’t even nominated in that top category. No, the bigger issue may be with Planet of the Apesreceiving a special award for make-up — consider someone associated with that production may have stolen from or attempted to sabotage the ape wardrobe of Kubrick’s film. In a Vulture blog interview with 2001 ape performer and choreographer Dan Richter, the former mime implies something to that affect:
We had stuff stolen. I can’t say it was Planet of the Apes, but they were the only other movie shooting at the same time and same place we were. Stanley and I even had someone steal a mask and some ape hands right out from under our noses on the backlot, where someone had hid in a drainage ditch. We were in lockdown all the time.
