 |
| Triclops 'eyes' Samantha Katzman (Erin Waterhouse) |
Brett: I wanted to do a real throwback to 50s drive-in movies (I mean even more than I usually do). I'd have liked to do an actual remake of Bert Gordon's The Cyclops, because the concept was so brilliant in its simplicity, but then I realized that the basic idea --- a bunch of travelers trapped in a cave by a weird eyed giant --- wasn't really Gordon's it was Homer's and goes back around five thousand years so it was pretty much up for grabs. So Triclops is not a remake of The Cyclops --- they're both remakes of The Odyssey.
 |
| Pre-production sketch by Brett. |
2) How was the cast of Triclops to work with? Tell us about something memorable from the shoot.
Brett: All great. No trouble at all. Probably the most memorable event of the shoot was Ken Van Sant bashing his head and nearly killing himself. He jumped over a fallen tree but his foot got caught and he landed head first on solid rock. It was pretty scary. For a moment we thought we might have lost old Ken, but he's fine now.
 |
| Erin was willing to crawl through mud to star in Triclops. |
 |
| Behind the scenes: Triclops battles parts of a prehistoric beast (later to be combined with the stop-motion model) |
Brett: There's something fundamental about it, isn't there? It has a mythical quality, giants and titans fighting grotesque monsters. I don't think it'll ever go out of style.
 |
| Behind the scenes: Triclops gets bloodied up for his close-up. |
Brett: I'm pleased with little pieces here and there, but on the whole its the things that don't work that stand out. All the little flaws. I think the airplane flying through the chasm works pretty well, especially considering how tiny the model plane was. And the attack of the flying rats. I think that may be the most successful sequence in the movie.
 |
| Riley tries to keep a prehistoric monster away from the plane. |
 |
| Ken Van Sant and Rich Lounello as Carlton Denning and Riley. |
5) What was the most challenging aspect of making Triclops?
Brett: Turning a bunch of fields and back yards into a primitive lost world. Especially if by "challenging" you mean "frustrating".
Check out Brett's work in Triclops for yourself at:
 |
| I wish my backyard had a bad-ass cave like that. |
