"...one of the most incredible pieces of iconic motion picture memorabilia ever offered"

The original model for the Aries 1B lunar shuttle from '2001' has been put on sale on icollector.com - and the starting price is a 'mere' $10,000. It comes from an English collector who originally obtained this remarkable treasure in 1975. It was long believed that the most of the models had been destroyed...

The model is approx 32" high, 27" wide, 28" deep (81 cm. x 68 cm. x 71 cm.) and a diameter of 94" (238 cm.) It includes the original special effects side bars that fitted into two of the secondary thruster slots, and lowered the craft to the platform for landing, and was matted out in post production.

The hydraulics and tubes that created the billowing moon dust from the engines and the mechanics to operate the landing gear have been removed.

You can can browse a large collection of making-of stills, including pictures of the Aries 1B, on Douglas Trumbull's website. 

Today, fifty years ago, '2001' was officially announced for the first time

Today, fifty years ago, the movie that became '2001: A Space Odyssey' was announced for the first time. The New York Times, with a two-day advance on the release of the February 23, 1965 official press statement from MGM, revealed in an article titled "Beyond the Blue Horizon" that Stanley Kubrick was preparing to delve into the future with a movie to be called "Journey Beyond The Stars". 

The Variety press release (from the February 22, 1965 issue)

As Peter Kramer points out in his great 2001 book from BFI, MGM's press released announced, (somewhat misleadingly as it turned out), that the film would have "a cast of international importance", and "be filmed in Switzerland and Germany" among the other settings.

As I wrote in my previous article about the many tentative titles of 2001, a 15-minute 70 mm. space documentary called Journey to the stars had already been shown at the Seattle World Fair in 1962; there is ample evidence, in the Kubrick Archive in London, showing that the director was aware of it and was interested in the camera techniques used to depict space and project it on a large screen.

The original press statement from February 23, 1965 appeared on Piers Bizony's "Filming The Future" and is now available here.

UPDATE Thanks to the blog Kubrick En Castellano, here are the scans of the Bizony book (pp.10 & 11) with the original MGM press release.

The leopard watches us all

Do you remember my old post - How did they shoot the leopard scenes in '2001'? Here's the perfect poster for it, courtesy of Tony Stella.

Tony Stella is an illustrator that lives in Milan and Berlin. Working in a variety of media and styles. His work is informed by a long tradition of designers in his family. For commission enquiries please use the contact link or illustration.drawing@gmail.com

'2001' in 70mm. al Cinema Arcadia di Melzo

Non capita tanto spesso di potere vedere il proprio film preferito su uno degli schermi più grandi d'Europa, nel formato migliore possibile. Capiterà di nuovo sabato 14 febbraio alle 17.00. Ci vediamo lì!

A New Blog: the 2010 Odyssey Archive

My friend and fellow blogger Jens, who maintains the great 2010 Odyssey Two Picture Archive, just launched another great site: the 2010 Odyssey Two Archive. The site collects and publishes articles, pictures, and related material about the 1984 movie 2010: The Year We Make Contact (the sequel to 2001) by director Peter Hyams.

As Jens seems to share the same obsession I have with 2001 - only, he has it with 2010 - his articles are very, very interesting, deep and thorough. If you, like me, feel that 2010 was a very good movie on its own, you'll find a lot of great stuff there.