Director Brian Gibson on the filming of gut-wrenching effects designed by H.R. Giger.
By Sheldon Teitelbaum
Alice Cooper should be scoring this film instead of Jerry Goldsmith. By some descriptions, POLTERGEIST ll: THE OTHER SIDE is the first shocker in film history to use a column of dead babies to ghastly effect. :
The dead babies reportedly sprout from the film's centerpiece creature. Director Brian Gibson and visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund call it the “Great Beast.” The assorted aborted foetuses appear on one of the creature's spinal appendages, courtesy of Swiss surrealist H. R. Giger, the man who conceived this latter-day Cerberus from the gates of hell, where the artist reportedly rentsa post office box. Consequently, some viewers can expect much energetic beasting about on the screen while some drop their lunches in the aisles—POLTER- GEIST II should register a solid 10 on the Stephen King gross-out scale, The question some people are asking is whether the rest of it will be a dog's breakfast as well.
The reason for much of thisconcern is Gibson, whose direction purportedly resulted ina small exodus of Boss Film visual effects experts from their Marina Del Rey plant. Needless to say, Boss Film boss Richard Edlund was less than pleased at this turn of events.
Brian Gibson signed onto the project well after Boss Film concluded storyboarding the effects-laden finale for MGM's sequel to the 1982 film, POLTERGEIST. This was Gibson's first film in several years. Hedirecteda commercially unsuccessful New Wave musical, BREAKING GLASS, which was released in the U.S. in 1983. Prior to that, Gibson had put several years of advanced medical training to work at the BBC, where he directed medical and science documentaries. Eventually, he successfully produced the British science series, HORIZON, which inspired the American popularscience series, NOVA, and won for him a British Academy Award. Gibson's first move on POL- TERGEIST U1 was to scrap much of the preproduction Boss Films had done on contract with MGM,
This did not make Gibson popular at the effects plant Gibson recounts that the finale, which was the first part of the film that was shot, was initially an inordinately ambitious sequence. But it also promised to cat up far more in expense than the studio was prepared tofront. The 41 yearold director, who has since our last issue (16:3:13) overcome his initial bashfulness with this magazine, said that he was left with merely enough latitude to wind up the movie with only 20 shots. He concluded during the ensuing storyboarding however, that he would not be able to impart the necessary information in a manner that could be deemed emotionally satist ying. “That was when the storms and the hair-pulling began,“ he said
Written by Mark Victor and Michael Grais, who co-wrote the screenplay for POLTER- GEIST with Steven Spielberg, the sequel again depicts the trauma of middle-class suburbanite Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) as he comes to grips with the supernatural. Gibson said that, in a sense, Steve Freeling is himself. “If anyone told me six years ago, when | was 35, that | would be doing this movie about ghosts and spirits,” he explained, “I would have said he was mad. No one could have been more of a rationalist and materialist than I] was at that time. Buta lot of things have happened since to change my mind. | actually believe that there és another side, some other realm of consciousness that awaits us alter we dic. | was grateful for an opportunity to explore those ideas in the context of this movie.”
Unfortunately, Gibson's laid-back mysticism quickly earned him a reputation tor being a bit of a space-cadet, both at Boss Films and at the studio. Gibson was not wellliked, But according to Richard Edlund, personality differences were quickly eclipsed by more concrete, logistical problems, Gibson's vagueness during the storyboarding and actual shooting of the effects sequences made it extremely difficult for the plant to deliver,
“There were editorial changes going onallthe time,"explained Edlund, and many stemmed from an attempt by Gibson to keep his options open for as long as possible. Moreover, neither Edlund nor the producer, Freddie Fields, was particularly enamored of the sequence that was shunted into production. Gibson argued that it needed substantial fleshing out, and that this process subsequently consumed the better part of a year, Edlund said that the film’s originalending was simply too high-brow for most people to understand.
A conclusion has now been tacked-on that establishes love as the element that can ultimately beat back the gates of hell. Neither Gibson nor Edlund could recall a similar ending to ALTERED STATES, one which, by virtue of its simplemindedness, carned the filma thorough skewering by the critics.
Gibson brought Giger into the production because the two had worked well together several years earlier developing a project for Universal called THE TOURIST. The film was never shot, but Giger’s “elegantly grotesque” ideas, which he conveyed in paint, struck a responsive chord in the British filmmaker. Gibson denied that Giger is difficult to work with. “He’s like achild—hejust loves to please you.” Nor was Giger’s orientation as a fine artist a problem. Giger’s sense of practicality was initially honed years back, when he trained as an architect.
Gibson’s ability to work smoothly with Giger probably owed to the fact that the artist was a case study self-starter working in a relatively cheap medium—paint. Boss Film’s staff comprised similarly motivated people, but their ability to perform was dependent upon receiving cither concrete, clearly-expressed instructions from the director or, on the other hand, a great deal of autonomy, As the production evolved, the effects team found itself undercut by a dearth of rapid decision-making, Often Gibson was not available for consultation— he was off shooting the rest of the film. Day-today decisions had to be referred to cither Freddie Fields(onc of the two writers), or Lom Noble (the editor). Boss Film technicians who tried to sidestep this onerous process reported ly found themselves ultimately taken to task for their effrontery by the studio or by Gibson
Edlund refused to provide the details of who got hurtand who did the shoving. But he admitted that the production had been psychologically damaging for many of his people and, interms of laterdefections by those who had apparently burnt-out during it, notatalla good thing for the plant. But Edlund doesn't think that the film will consequently be bad, though there are a fewscenesin it he doesn’t particularly fancy In fact, he thinks that POL- TERGEIST II should have a fair crack at solid boxoffice returns.
Gibson believes that the first film worked as well as it did because it was not only wellcrafted but also rang true dramatically. While the sequel doesn'tattempt to copy theelements that succeeded in the original, it does try to maintain that dramatic integrity Gibson speaks of, “My talent lies in creating emotionally truthful situations,” said Gibson. “You realize that I spent years doing plays at the BBC. My strength is in working closely with actors,”
It was, in part, the opportunity to work with the POL TER- GEIST acting ensemble that attracted Gibson to the project. “I like films where you sit back and say, ‘Hey, that’s real!™ But Gibson added that the tone of the present production and the performing styles promise to be quite different
The picture's integrity will have a lot todo with the effects work so painfully completed Both Gibson and Edlund said they are happy with the final product. Unlike Douglas Trumbull’s BRAINSTORM, which envisioned an afterlife replete with scenes from Dante's Inferno and of angels lapping their wings toward heaven, “POLTERGEIST IL will not cater to Sunday school images.” said Gibson. “I didn't see BRAINSTORM until well into preparing this picture.and what I saw was ambitious but disappointing. Our depiction of the hereafter is, | feel, equally ambitious.”
Gibson is hard put todescribe the “metaphysics” of his “other side” but he said it tends to reflect the emotional awareness of those who venture into it. This netherworldly environment tries for a visceral effect that alters as the drama progresses. The five to six minute sequence makes extensive use of cloud-tank composites to achieve this visualatmosphere.
Edlund said that the astral plane is organic and unpredictable, The wispy. cloud-like scenery, riddled with bolts and streams of energy, was created by shooting with a snorkel lens programmed to run through water tanks in every possible direction. The cloud tanks used alternate layers of fresh and salt water, through whicha probe would squirt an array of pigments. Edlund said the process was like painting in three dimensions using a water-color wash
GIGER ON POLTERGEIST Il
Hired for marquee value, the Oscar-winning designer of ALIEN wasni given the same kind of artistic freedom.
Giger, who won an Oscar for his contribution to ALIEN, provided the conceptual art upon which some of the more bizarre scenes in POLTER- GEIST Il; THE OTHER SIDE are based. Giger talked about his work on the film by phone from his home in Switzerland.
How did you get involved with POLTERGEIST IP?
1 was called by director Brian Gibson. About five years ago he asked me to collaborate on a film called THE TOURIST, which he was going to direct for Universal. It was to be a horror film about extraterrestrials who are forced to land on earth and can only survive under very special conditions. Universal decided they'd rather make a film for children, called E. T, That put an end to our project.
Was the opportunity to work again with Gibson what attracted you to POL- TERGEIST Il?
There were other reasons. | was assured the film would be made. Since ALIEN I'd worked on several film projects, none of which were ever realized. Also, | was told that the people who were going to make POLTERGEIST If were not the same as those who did the first one, which turned out not to be the case. But when | arrived in Los Angeles to discuss the project I felt it was to late to bow out.
Would you if you had known before?
I probably would have considered the original designers more qualified to do the job. | was asked by the producers [Mark Victor and Michael Grais], who also wrote the script, what | would like to do, I told them, but things turned out just the way they had been planned in the screenplay. There was no room for my own fantasies.
What exactly did you contribute to the film?
I only did drawings and paintings, here in Zurich. Duplicates were sent to Los Angelses, where one of my collaborators made smallscale models of them. These were then used as a guide for Richard Edlund and his people to construct the actual models. My job was mainly to design The Great Beast, a creature that evolves from a worm in a bottle of mescal. | also designed several other creatures, but I don’ think they made it into the film.
This “evolution” sounds a bit like the one in ALIEN.
Yes, that’s correct. It is a bit similar, but it’s really not the same. At least | Aope it has turned out different.
Your contribution to POL- TERGEIST 11 seems not nearly asimportantas A LIEN. Don't you think the mainreason you were hired was tosell the film on the strength of vour name?
Yes, quite probably, But I don't object to that. Thereisa big difference between this film and ALIEN. On the latter, | wasabletoconstruct the models myself. On this film 1 didn't construct anything. There was no way to check anything. Often I was phoned by Brian Gibson, who would tell me what they were going to change and | wouldn't understand why...
1 was bothered by the fact that the environment couldnt be changed. When | design a creature, | like it to match with its surroundings. All the apparitions in this film occur in perfectly realistic surroundings, which for me was hard to swallow. Perhaps someone else would have had less trouble with it. Oo
Oliver Robins’ braces enmesh his entire body, a Boss Film special effect.
Brian Gibson, director of POLTERGEIST i: THE OTHER SIDE
A group of Boss Films makeup technicians, including supervisor Steve Johnson (I) and Billy Bryan, rig the head of “The Beast” for an etfect in POLTERGEIST Ii.
Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger's design for “The Beast” in POLTERGEIST Ii.
H. R. Giger during a production conference at Boss Films tast July.
Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger's designs for the Great Beast, showing its spinal column composed of dead babies (left). Below: Actor Craig T. Nelson vomits up the creature after swallowing its larval stage in a drink.