He Cold-Called Kubrick's Secret Number | Doug Trumbull | Episode 555

Doug Trumbull cold-called Stanley Kubrick's secret phone number to get himself hired on 2001: A Space Odyssey. Decades later he was still fighting the industry over a discovery he stumbled into on that same set: it's not resolution that makes a movie look like a movie, it's the shutter. Trumbull passed away in 2022. This is an archive conversation from July 2020, and it's one of the fullest records of him explaining that obsession in his own words. Chris talks with the visual effects pioneer behind 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Blade Runner, and the director of Silent Running and Brainstorm, about his career, his patented Showscan and MAGI processes, and his account of Ang Lee allegedly misusing his patented technology on Gemini Man. Doug Trumbull, 2001 A Space Odyssey, visual effects history, Showscan, high frame rate, Stanley Kubrick, Blade Runner, Close Encounters, Star Trek The Motion Picture, Brainstorm, Silent Running, Ang Lee, Gemini Man, MAGI process, VFX podcast #DougTrumbull #VisualEffects #2001ASpaceOdyssey #Kubrick #HighFrameRate #VFXHistory #BladeRunner #filmmaking Chapters: 0:00 Welcome back and why we're revisiting this one 5:25 Doug's father in Old Hollywood and the Wizard of Oz connection 8:36 Discovering a talent for painting alien worlds 10:38 Turning down Disney to land at Graphic Films 11:41 The 1964 World's Fair film that caught Kubrick's eye 13:30 Cold calling Kubrick's secret phone number 16:34 The double star mystery that started a 50 year obsession 20:18 Where the word flicks and Netflix actually come from 20:47 Future General and Paramount's blank check R&D deal 23:51 Inventing Showscan and testing it with heart monitors 25:53 Why the shutter, not resolution, defines cinema 31:53 Ang Lee's visit and the birth of Billy Lynn 44:54 The Star Trek crisis that killed Showscan 47:35 The Close Encounters embezzlement scandal 52:45 Building MAGI and rendering at 40 times the data 58:22 The Gemini Man patent dispute with Ang Lee 1:00:38 Why even Chris Nolan doesn't know how his own movies work CG Garage website: https://www.cggarage.com/ Podcast page: https://podcast.cggarage.com/ Instagram:   / mmstudios71   LinkedIn:   / monstrous-moonshine   Facebook:   / cggaragepodcast   Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mmstudios71 Special thanks to our sponsor: Center Grid Virtual Studio: https://cgvirtualstudio.com/