{"id":10593,"date":"2020-06-18T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary\/"},"modified":"2020-06-18T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T15:30:00","slug":"31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"#31 Things We Learned from Michael Crichton\u2019s \u2018Looker\u2019 Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2693cc8c4e9\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2693cc8c4e9\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary\/#Looker_1981\" >Looker (1981)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary\/#Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\" >Best in Context-Free Commentary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary\/#Final_Thoughts\" >Final Thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#31 Things We Learned from Michael Crichton\u2019s \u2018Looker\u2019 Commentary<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div><em>Sometimes filmmakers and\/or film lovers sit down to talk about the movie they\u2019re watching, and it\u2019s called a commentary. Sometimes our Rob Hunter listens to that commentary and shares the most interesting and entertaining parts. Welcome to\u00a0<strong>Commentary Commentary<\/strong>!<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/hr>\n<p>Ask people to name their favorite <strong>Michael Crichton<\/strong> film, and not a single one will say <strong><em>Looker<\/em><\/strong> (1981). Expand it to a top three, and I\u2019d wager it still wouldn\u2019t show up. Top five, though? Yeah, some of us weirdos would easily drop this goofy-ass sci-fi movie into a Crichton top five.<\/p>\n<p>The film was recently released to Blu-ray from Warner Archive, and it includes a commentary track from Crichton himself. I believe it was recorded for the film\u2019s 2007 DVD release, which means it was one year before his unfortunate passing. He\u2019s obviously an intelligent man and a fascinating filmmaker, so of course we gave it a listen. Keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary track for\u2026<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Looker_1981\"><\/span>Looker (1981)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Commentator: Michael Crichton (writer\/director)<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong> This film came about after he had written the novel <em>Congo<\/em> (1980) and entered into pre-production on a film adaptation. They had to cancel the film, though, as they quickly realized it was impossible to find gorillas to use for the film. \u201cGorillas were an endangered species,\u201d he says, and they still are. While that film would have to wait until the mid 90s to actually get made, he decided to use the unexpected free time to focus on something that was \u201cmuch more 20th century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> The main <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme<\/a>s going into Looker include our exaggerated focus on physical beauty, the power of advertising, and the increase in artifice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.<\/strong> Plastic surgery hadn\u2019t been as much of a focus in features back then, as \u201cat the time\u2026 it was something you weren\u2019t meant to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.<\/strong> One of the things he\u2019s noticed in <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> over the years is \u201can enormous change in pace.\u201d He recalls having wanted to cut this film faster, but it\u2019s a product of its time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.<\/strong> The light \u201cgun\u201d that causes people to lose time is meant in part as a metaphor for TV commercials themselves as viewers back then often found themselves entranced. He credits Tivo with changing that. Audiences at the time were perplexed \u201cfor the better part of an hour,\u201d but modern viewers seem to catch on much quicker.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.<\/strong> Crichton was thrilled that Albert Finney wanted to do the film saying \u201che had done some films, not a whole lot since <em>Tom Jones<\/em>,\u201d but of course that\u2019s just silly. Finney followed up that 1963 film with several features before <em>Looker<\/em> including great ones like <em>Two for the Road<\/em> (1967), <em>Scrooge<\/em> (1970), <em>Murder on the Orient Express<\/em> (1974), and <em>Wolfen<\/em> (1981).<\/p>\n<p><strong>7.<\/strong> Susan Dey wanted to introduce her character with a chewing gum bubble, but Crichton was concerned it would take too many takes. \u201cShe did it again and again perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>8.<\/strong> There were concerns regarding the cityscape backdrops glimpsed outside the windows of the various sets, \u201cbut it turned out okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>9.<\/strong> He says people found it outrageous upon release, but it only took less than a decade after its release for some of its sci-fi elements to find a home in the real world. \u201cSometimes I get in trouble because I have the feeling I live in the future, but I don\u2019t actually. I think things have already happened when they haven\u2019t happened yet, but they\u2019ve happened as far as I\u2019m concerned or I think that it\u2019s so self-evident that they\u2019re going to happen that I begin to behave as though they already happened. And for better or worse other people aren\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.<\/strong> The film was developed at Fox and meant to follow <em>Congo<\/em>, but after he told Sherry Lansing (then head of the studio) that <em>Congo<\/em> couldn\u2019t happen it \u201cput me in bad odor at Fox.\u201d They put the film into turnaround, and it went to The Ladd Company who \u201cmade it im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>11.<\/strong> The title popped into his head one day, and while some are struggles that never quite feel right, this one is perfect in his eyes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12.<\/strong> One of the toughest elements of the script was coming up with all the fake corporation names. \u201cIt\u2019s getting hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>13.<\/strong> He had a very specific look for the beach house in mind and spent an excessive amount of time trying to find a real one that matched his imagination. They failed, and he had to rewrite the scenes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14.<\/strong> The beach scene teases the idea of beautiful women still feeling insecure, and the concept leads him to recall the film\u2019s director of photography bringing his pitbull named Pig to set that day. \u201cHe leaned out of his trailer at lunch time and goes \u2018Hey Pig!\u2019 calling his dog, and every woman on the beach turned around. And I was like \u2018no no, you\u2019re not pigs.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>15.<\/strong> Dey wasn\u2019t exactly thrilled at having to do the scanning sequence in the nude. \u201cUnfortunately it just took days and days and days. Poor girl.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>16.<\/strong> These were busy times for Crichton as he found himself alternating between writing novels and working on films, and the early 80s in particular saw his interest in the latter increase while his literary output was less enthused. \u201cAfter <em>Congo<\/em> there wasn\u2019t another book until <em>Jurassic Park<\/em> which was seven years later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>17.<\/strong> He acknowledges that the film feels exaggerated and cartoony by design as audiences probably wouldn\u2019t have gotten the point had it all been played straight.<\/p>\n<p><strong>18.<\/strong> The flash meant to indicate the light gun had been used was added in post-production. Initially it was just the minor changes in backgrounds or on clocks that were designed to let viewers know that time had suddenly passed, but Crichton felt that audiences had been trained to ignore small background changes as part of the movie-making process. That bled over into other elements as well that saw Crichton making plot points more explicit than he\u2019d otherwise planned.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yoT-r1slAZ4?feature=oembed\" title=\"Looker (1981) Official Trailer - Albert Finney, James Coburn Sci-Fi Movie HD\" width=\"700\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>19.<\/strong> His goal with the gun and other objects was to not have them be futuristic-looking. The film was meant to be in the present, and he didn\u2019t want the \u201csci-fi\u201d objects stand out from the otherwise traditional lab sets.<\/p>\n<p><strong>20.<\/strong> He had Finney doing all of his own stunts after learning how much better it was for the film while making <em>The Great Train Robbery<\/em> (1978) with Sean Connery.<\/p>\n<p><strong>21.<\/strong> \u201cI suppose this kind of flash [from the gun] is prelude to <em>Men in Black<\/em> (1997) or something,\u201d he says, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d Oh, he knows.<\/p>\n<p><strong>22.<\/strong> The sequence where Finney\u2019s character is ambushed by shooters armed with real guns sees them having fogged the room so the light gun can\u2019t work. It makes Crichton recall how Pacific Islanders first dealt with invading Europeans who had guns by planning their battles for rainy days which would ruin the gun powder.<\/p>\n<p><strong>23.<\/strong> He sometimes thinks of dialogue as something of \u201can effects track\u201d meaning you don\u2019t always have to listen to it. It makes the films feel like silent pictures to him. \u201cAlmost half of my first movie, <em>Westworld<\/em>, was essentially silent in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>24.<\/strong> This film ended his \u201cinterest\u201d with stalking as a narrative point. \u201cIt has advantages and it has disadvantages, but all in all I\u2019d rather see things happen. There\u2019s a lot of stalking here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>25.<\/strong> <em>Looker<\/em> is the only one of his films to have gone over schedule and budget. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like it was a difficult film, and it shouldn\u2019t have been.\u201d Studio scheduling had other plans, though.<\/p>\n<p><strong>26.<\/strong> The car chase ends with Finney\u2019s Porsche in a fountain that\u2019s located in Echo Park. It was a 2nd car, one used just for this scene, and he worried about the logistics as it makes no sense how the car could have jumped over the fountain wall and into the water. \u201cBut it was sufficiently weird that I guess audiences just let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>27.<\/strong> He\u2019s no fan of long takes. \u201cMy preference is for the energy on set to stay up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>28.<\/strong> Crichton\u2019s father was a journalist who felt no one should ever have to read another person\u2019s handwriting. He made sure his children learned to type at an early age, and that saw Crichton\u2019s move into word processors nearly seamless. Publishers were very impressed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>29.<\/strong> He received flack for killing off Jennifer (Leigh Taylor-Young), but \u201cit was kind of a problem, there wasn\u2019t anybody else to kill, I guess, and there\u2019s also that weird issue about, you know, what is the culpability of someone who\u2019s a hanger-on and do they really need to die?\u201d He answers his own question by adding that \u201cmovies really are morality plays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>30.<\/strong> The third-act sequence with Finney\u2019s character being stalked through the automated sound stages reminds Crichton why he wanted composer Barry De Vorzon to do the score. They liked his \u201celectronic edginess and kind of pop sense\u201d for the film, and he recalls asking the composer if he had meant to feature the repetitive electronic beats through this whole sequence. \u201cHe was right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>31.<\/strong> He pays attention to test screenings as he wants his films to be understood. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing if they don\u2019t like it, but if they really don\u2019t get it then that produces a different sort of response because I think audiences what tell you if they don\u2019t understand it.\u201d It\u2019s a problem he\u2019s encountered before up to and including <em>Twister<\/em> (1996). Test audiences liked it well enough, but \u201cthey had no idea why these people were chasing tornadoes, and so as the movie went on they liked the movie less and less because it just seemed like they were crazy people.\u201d Additions were made to explain what the characters were doing and why, and everyone was happy.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\"><\/span>Best in Context-Free Commentary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s literally superficial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted my credit over a dog with his tongue hanging out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s interesting, in terms of research, I don\u2019t recall really doing any.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoy those were the days when you did stunts by doing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think at the time of this movie most people didn\u2019t know what \u2018digital\u2019 meant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur bad guy in this movie does look like Tom Selleck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never gone out and bought a feminine product because I saw an ad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of stalking here.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Thoughts\"><\/span>Final Thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Odds are most viewers will land on the side of Looker being too cheesy and lightweight for its own good, but the film embraces its silly sci-fi plot with such sincerity that I can\u2019t help but enjoy it. Toss in an always <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> Albert Finney, an eternally entertaining James Coburn, and some shenanigans with a light gun, and you have a harmless slice of genre fun. Crichton gets it, and while he has the dry delivery of an educated man his enjoyment of the material is contagious.<\/p>\n<p>Read more Commentary Commentary from the archives.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/looker-commentary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>if you want to watch Movies or Tv Shows go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/dizi.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dizi.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a> <\/span> for forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#31 Things We Learned from Michael Crichton\u2019s \u2018Looker\u2019 Commentary&#8221; Sometimes filmmakers and\/or film lovers sit down to talk about the movie they\u2019re watching, and it\u2019s called a commentary. Sometimes our Rob Hunter listens to that commentary and shares the most interesting and entertaining parts. Welcome to\u00a0Commentary Commentary! Ask people to name their favorite Michael Crichton&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[22446,22445,1354,22447,22448,1361],"class_list":["post-10593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-citizen-kane-was-already-made","tag-31-things-we-learned-from-michael-crichtons-looker-commentary","tag-columns","tag-commentary-commentary","tag-michael-crichton","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}