I commend this film to those who loved Raymond Briggs's work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_%26_Ernest_(film)
I commend this film to those who loved Raymond Briggs's work.
I thought it was a good film too FD2. Critics shmitticks...
Somebody in my class of miscreants would pilfered some potassium and ignited it in the air in the pitch black to add some verisimilitude if any of our science teachers had had the imagination to show this wonderful film in similar circumstances.Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote: ↑Wed Aug 17, 2022 12:52 amWolfgang Petersen, director of 'Das Boot', aged 81.
I tried an experiment of showing the max depth test from the movie in my physics lab, with surround sound and total background darkness (not even an LED, all taped over). Scared the living daylights out of the Sixth Form. Exceptional directing.
Stanley Kubrick collaborator Leon Vitali has died, aged 74.
Vitali, who not only appeared in two Kubrick films, but worked as the director’s personal assistant, was described by the Kubrick estate on Sunday (21 August) as “the mainstay of a vast number of Kubrick’s films”.
He had roles in 1975’s Barry Lydon, in which he played Lord Bullingdon, and Eyes Wide Shut (1999), which also features a nod to Vitali in the form of a newspaper headline read by Tom Cruise’s lead character.
It was after his role in the former that Vitali struck up a friendship with Kubrick, and earned a “personal assistant to director” credit on his 1980 Stephen King adaptation of The Shining.
He was also the casting director for 1987’s Full Metal Jacket, which starred Matthew Modine.
“It is with the greatest of sadness that we have to tell you that the mainstay of a vast number of Kubrick’s films, Leon Vitali, passed away peacefully last night,” a post by an official Twitter account related to Kubrick read.
“Thoughts are with his family and all that new and loved him.”
Away from Kubriuck, Vitali also collaborated with Todd Field on his films In the Bedroom and Little Children.
Leon Vitali, the Barry Lyndon actor who became one of Stanley Kubrick’s closest associates, has died at the age of 74.
Vitali died on Friday in Los Angeles, his family said on Sunday. He died peacefully surrounded by loved ones including his three children, Masha, Max and Vera.
“Leon was a special and lovely man driven by his curiosity, who spread love and warmth wherever he went,” his children said. “He will be remembered with love and be hugely missed by the many people he touched.”
Though Vitali was often described as Kubrick’s assistant, the 2017 documentary Filmworker shed light on his enormous and largely unsung contributions to the work of one of cinema’s greatest figures, from The Shining through Eyes Wide Shut. He did everything from casting and coaching actors to overseeing restorations. Vitali even once set up a video monitor so Kubrick could keep an eye on his dying cat.
Matthew Modine, who starred in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, tweeted his condolences on Sunday.
Matthew Modine in a scene 1987’s Full Metal Jacket filmed in Beckton, east London.
“There are people we meet who have a profound impact upon our lives. Leon Vitali was one such person in mine,” Modine wrote. “An artist in every aspect of his life. A loving father and friend to so many. A kind, generous and forgiving nature. He exemplified and personified grace.”
The film-maker Lee Unkrich also tweeted that he was “completely heartbroken”. “He helped me enormously with my Shining book and I’m gutted that he won’t see it. He was a sweet, kind, humble, generous man and a vital part of Stanley Kubrick’s team.”
Before meeting Kubrick, Vitali was a rising actor in the UK, appearing in several British television shows including Softly, Softly, Follyfoot, Z Cars and Notorious Woman.
In 1974 he was cast in Barry Lyndon as Lord Bullingdon, the son-in-law of Ryan O’Neal’s title character.
Vitali was so fascinated by Kubrick and his processes that he made the unusual decision to give up on acting and devote himself entirely to the famously demanding director for more than two decades.
Vitali’s next Kubrick credit was as “personal assistant to the director” on The Shining, though that’s only part of the story; he famously helped cast four-year-old Danny Lloyd to play Danny Torrance and Louise and Lisa Burns as the creepy Grady twins (citing Diane Arbus as inspiration).
“Meeting Stanley was a turning point for me,” he told the Guardian in 2017. “Through him, I started seeing things from a different angle. I talked to Stanley about working with him, and he said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens.’” That same year, he described his decision to give up acting as the “one truly, truly radical change in my life”.
After Kubrick’s death in 1999 Vitali oversaw restorations of many of Kubrick’s films and received a Cinema Audio Society award for his work. He later worked with the director Todd Field on his films Little Children and In the Bedroom.
Before making the documentary Filmworker, its director, Tony Zierra, said he and many Kubrick-obsessed fans knew Vitali for his performances in Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut, in which he played Red Cloak, and for being a key member of Kubrick’s inner circle. But when he finally met Vitali to make the film, he was struck by “his kindness, humility and the fascinating scope of his story”.
Zierra is working on a director’s cut of Filmworker that will include new footage that he and Vitali wanted in the film but couldn’t get done in time for its Cannes debut in 2017.
You know I thought he had died years ago!Fox3WheresMyBanana wrote: ↑Fri Sep 02, 2022 7:30 pmFrank Drake, astrophysicist and SETI research expert. Originated the Drake Equation
Aged 92.