Wonderfest 2008?

[lunadude]

I couldn't be there.

Anyone have stories and/or photos?

[spaceranger01]

Same Here, was planning to go for my first time this year and could get the time off , any links would be great,Thanks

[thx11138]

Here's my account of Wonderfest 2008 (the first one I attended), originally posted at http://2001aspaceodyssey.ning.com:

Wonderfest was indeed wonderful. I could only attend Sunday. After 3 hours of sleep, I drove 6 hours from Chicago to Louisville. Luckily, the 2001 40th Anniversary session was scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I finally met Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. It's often said that you shouldn't meet your childhood heroes because you're likely to be disappointed. That clearly didn't apply in this case. They gave a one-hour moderated question and answer session that was standing room only. I hadn't known that Gary was such a cowboy, personality-wise. He was much more funny and intelligent than I had expected. He told a few jokes that left the crowd rolling... one involved a real cowboy from West Texas who told Gary about his cross-country road-trip odyssey to see the original Cinerama release in Oklahoma. One of his "friends" gave him LSD before the showing. After the picture ended, the doors opened, and they were so freaked out by the light that they decided to stay... for two more showings. Gary told a story about how he was so intrigued by a poster for Paths of Glory that he talked his way out of football practice to drive his sports car (Gary grew up in an affluent family) to the opening. He also traded a few barbs with the moderator and spoke of his marriage to Stephanie Powers.

Dullea also struck me as intelligent and funny, and his humor was much "drier" than that of the flamboyant Lockwood. He did a spot-on impression of Otto Preminger and described his monstrous directing style, contrasting him with Kubrick. Both actors had nothing but high praise for Kubrick. Keir mentioned that he is known around acting circles for his German accent impersonations. He didn't speak German, mind you. This reached a casting agent who was looking for a German-speaking American actor. Dullea got the job, but instead of fessing up about his faux-German accent, he asked a German-speaking friend to teach him German! And so he did, and the film will be released this year.

Since Star Trek geeks far outnumbered the 2001 geeks at Wonderfest, there was much interest in Gary's role in the 1965 Star Trek episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second pilot. He described having to wear white contact lenses that hurt his eyes so much that he literally couldn't see after a couple of hours. An attendee asked him if his upward head tilt during the performance was meant to signify superiority, which apparently was a view promoted on the Star Trek discussion sites. Gary debunked this instantly, and said that he was simply trying to see where the hell he was going.

Someone asked Keir and Gary to recommend one of their favorite books. Both enthusiastically recommended The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. "Unlike any other book I've read" and "Defies categorization" were a couple of the comments. Needless to say, this will be my next book purchase.

After the session, I met Keir and asked him a couple of questions that I had wanted to know the answer to for... 40 years. One involved the conversation in the Pod, the famous HAL lipreading sequence. I mentioned that this struck me as a powerful part of the film, akin to the "RedRum"-in-the-mirror scene from The Shining. I asked what they were discussing during the time when the audio was silent. He didn't remember precisely, but said that the scene was ad-libbed anyway, and the conversation continued along the same lines as the part that was audible.

I mentioned to Keir that as a boy I was a fervent follower of the space program, and that 2001 was like a wonderland to me. I had built spaceship models and thingypit mockups, ordered publications from NASA, read everything I could get my hands on, etc. I said to him that I would have loved to have been on the inside of the 2001 sets (I still do). I asked him if, during the filming, he was awed by the sets, if he could be completely immersed in-character as the commander of an interplanetary ship, or if the "job" of acting, with the distractions of the crew, lighting, and incomplete portions of the sets not seen on-camera prevented this visceral reaction. Without hesitation, his eyes lit up, and his normally-pensive expression instantly changed to that of a kid opening up the biggest Christmas present of his life. "Yeah!, it was completely believable! I was on the Discovery, and amazed, excited, and floored by the experience!"

Afterward I took photo's of the 2001 memorabilia assembled at the exhibit area. Scott Alexander from Atomic City had his "Big D" and "Little D" 12 foot and 6 foot Discovery XD-1 models on display. There were reproductions of the Discovery orange backpack and frontpack units, and a red helmet reproduction. There were several photographs from the filming. I then went to Gary and Keir's booth and had them sign photo's and pose for a photograph.

That evening, the "Cookout at Clavius Base" was held at the hotel restaurant. Keir and Gary attended, and graciously answered fans' questions. They seemed like genuinely nice guys... quite approachable, not expressing a hint of arrogance or annoyance with trivial questions (like mine). Keir made a point of commenting on the "Southern Hospitality" that had been extended to them during their visit. Keir and Gary were given crystal thank-you gifts, and they answered a few more questions.

At this point, Gene Kozicky gave a talk on the making of 2001 and his efforts to archive the remaining film-related material before it's lost to the ages and memories fade, people die off, and artifacts are lost or destroyed. To underscore the point, his first PowerPoint slides were the famous black-and-white photographs of the Space Station 5 model decaying in a field in the U.K., a day before it was bashed to pieces by youths using bats. That was quickly contrasted with some of the most amazing production photo's of 2001 I had never seen (although Scott Alexander, who had access to archives never released to the public, said that he had seen most of them before). Anyway, Gene was given the photo's on the condition that they not be redistributed. I photographed all of them. The photo's came out surprisingly well considering the geometric distortion caused by my off-axis seating position. I emailed Gene and asked him if I could redistribute them on forums such as this. He responded that he preferred that I not do so, so I've respected his wishes. Hence the delay in the post. The images will be published in a book by Dave Larson that's in production. You MUST all buy this book when it comes out. It will be a perfect complement to Piers Bizony's.

All in all, a truly fine day. I'm looking forward to the 50th anniversary.

[Model Man]

Side Note:
Y'all probly saw this at Atomic City, but speaking of Must-Buy Books...
$70 Same basic book, No filmstrip
www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/film/all/44804/facts.the_stanley_kubrick_archives.htm

[Timeslip]

Just a couple of additions. The small Discovery at Wonderfest is mine, Timeslip Creations. It was a kit I sold a while ago. Also, the LONG over due book by Dave may be trumpt by a far better book in the works. I guess Dave, you snooze you looose.
George