John Dykstra

John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. (born June 3, 1947 in Long Beach, California, United States) is a two-time Academy Award-winning special effects supervisor and pioneer in the development of the use of computers in film making.

After studying industrial design at California State University, Long Beach (where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity), Dykstra landed a job working with Douglas Trumbull on Silent Running filming model effects.

John Dykstra and Star Wars

When George Lucas was recruiting people for the special effects work on Star Wars, he approached Trumbull who pointed him towards Dykstra. Dykstra led the development at Industrial Light & Magic of the Dykstraflex motion-controlled camera, which was responsible for many of the film’s groundbreaking effects. The system was made possible by the availability of off-the-shelf integrated-circuit RAMs at relatively low cost and secondhand VistaVision cameras.

However, there was tension between Dykstra and Lucas who later complained that too much of the special effects budget was spent on developing the camera systems and that the effects team did not deliver all the shots that he had wanted. These tensions would reportedly culminate with Dykstra’s firing from ILM following Lucas’ return from principal photography in Tunisia. Regardless, following the release of Star Wars Dykstra secured his status in the industry with Academy Awards for best special effects and special technical achievement.

Dykstra had a Production credit for the television series Battlestar Galactica and contributed to the series’ effects.

Dykstra also worked on the effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture with some of these effects being recycled in subsequent films.

Dykstra’s next major achievement was the effects work on Firefox in 1982. Here, he took on the same challenge that Lucas had set with The Empire Strikes Back of combining miniature effects with actual backgrounds and matte work on white backgrounds using reverse bluescreen. The film secured further awards but was only a modest box office hit.

Dykstra was supervisor for the special effects of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. He was also Senior Visual Effects Supervisor for Stuart Little. Dykstra was Visual Effects Designer on the first two Spider-Man films, and was rewarded with an Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for his efforts on Spider-Man 2.

Trivia

He studied Industrial Design at Long Beach State.

For Star Wars (1977) he designed and built the first computer-controlled motion control system. This system was dubbed the “Dykstraflex.”

Member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 1995.

The alternate, European pronunciation of his last name is, “Yik-struh”.

Brazil is a 1985 film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm. John Scalzi’s Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies describes the film as a “dystopian satire”.

The film centers on Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce), a young man trying to find a woman who appears in his dreams while he is working in a mind-numbing job and living a life in a small apartment, set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. Brazil’s bureaucratic, totalitarian government is reminiscent of the government depicted in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, except that it has a buffoonish, slap-stick quality and lacks a ‘Big Brother’ figure.

Jack Mathews, movie critic and author of The Battle of Brazil (1987), described the film as “satirizing the bureaucratic, largely dysfunctional industrial world that had been driving Gilliam crazy all his life”.[1] Though a success in Europe, the film was unsuccessful in its initial North America release. It has since become a cult film.

The film is named after the recurrent theme song, “Aquarela do Brasil”, as well as referring to the originally intended opening the film, which dealt with the destruction of a rain forest.

Trivia:

• Terry Gilliam tested more than half a dozen actors to play the part of Jill, interviewing or testing Jamie Lee Curtis, Rebecca De Mornay, Rae Dawn Chong, Joanna Pacula, Rosanna Arquette, Kelly McGillis, Ellen Barkin, and he even considered Madonna. Gilliam’s personal favorite was Barkin.
• Robert De Niro wanted to play the role of Jack, but Gilliam had already promised this to Michael Palin. De Niro still wanted to be in the film, so he was cast as Tuttle instead.
• Jonathan Pryce’s role as Sam was written years earlier with him in mind. The character was originally designed to be in his mid-twenties (Pryce was only about 30 when Gilliam was developing the script), but after many years in limbo, Gilliam changed the character’s age to mid-to-late thirties so that then-37-year-old Pryce could still play the role.
• Director Terry Gilliam was reported to have been rather unhappy with Kim Greist’s performance, and as a result many of her scenes were drastically cut and/or trimmed down. Some of these were added for the Sid Sheinberg “Love Conquers All” studio version.
• Gilliam had trouble with studio producers over the black ending he wanted on the film. The producers wanted a “happy Hollywood” film which eliminated (among other things) the final transition and a critical line of dialogue which reveals the fate of Jill. These changes were made, and this “butchered” version was shown on US television at least once. Gilliam threatened to disown the film, and consequently the cinematic release and all videotape versions show the film essentially as he intended it to be seen (although the US cinematic release still omitted the line about Jill).
• When Mr. Helpman spells out the code that Sam’s father used to get to Helpman’s floor on the elevator, the letters are ERE I AM JH. When you rearrange those letters it spells JEREMIAH, Sam’s father’s name.
• Lots of significant names: – Mr. Kurtzman: (German for “short man”): small in stature and success. Named after the editor of “Help” (Harvey Kurtzman), a magazine that director Terry Gilliam worked for in the mid-60s. It was at a photo shoot for this magazine that Gilliam met John Cleese, who would later invite him to join the Monty Python team. – Mr. Helpman: “helped” Sam – Mr. Warrenn: works in a rabbit-warren style place: a maze of corridors – Harvey Lime: possibly a reference to Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949).
• The “young Mrs. Lowry” was played by both Kim Greist and Katherine Helmond.
• The samurai warrior’s suit was covered in electronic components such as resistors and volume knobs. In an early version of the film, all of the samurai warrior’s scenes were in one block.
• The theme song (which Sam listens to in his car) was also featured in Brazil (1944).
• The technician who, right at the start of the film, swats the fly which falls into the printer causing the fatal misprint is Ray Cooper, the percussionist who, among other things, accompanied Elton John on his famous Russian concerts in 1979.
• Director Cameo: [Terry Gilliam] the smoker in the Shangri-La tower who bumps into Sam.
• Director Trademark: [Terry Gilliam] [burst] SWAT teams enter through ceiling.
• During the climactic shootout at Information Retrieval, the janitor is killed and her vacuum cleaner rolls down the steps as the storm troopers walk and fire their weapons in a skirmish line formation. This is a reference to Sergei M. Eisenstein’s film, Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925), when the Cossacks march down the steps of the Port of Odessa, firing away as a baby carriage rolls by.
• Kim Greist is mistakenly billed as “Kim Griest” in various locations, including the early DVD packaging. In the Criterion single-disc reissue of the film, the error is corrected.
• This was River Phoenix’s favorite movie, and he had been filming Dark Blood (1993) with Jonathan Pryce. As a gift, Pryce arranged for Phoenix to meet Terry Gilliam, his hero. The meeting was set to happen the day he died outside the Viper Room. Phoenix never met him.
• Director Trademark: [Terry Gilliam] [burst] at the diner.
• Charles McKeown, who shared the co-credit in writing the film, wrote most of the propaganda slogans that can be seen in the background throughout the film.
• Jack’s daughter Holly is played by Terry Gilliam’s daughter, Holly Gilliam.
• In the autumn of 1985, Terry Gilliam and Robert De Niro appeared on “Good Morning America” (1975) to promote this film which was finished but not yet released. Gilliam was struggling with the studio and the studio head, Sid Sheinberg, quite publicly. De Niro rarely made television appearances to but agreed to help Gilliam out. According to Gilliam “Bobby [De Niro] said very little, he was talkative that day so we might have gotten him to ten words.” Host Joan Lunden asked Gilliam “I hear you’re having trouble with the studio, is this correct?” Gilliam responded with “No, I’m having trouble with Sid Sheinberg, here is an 8×10 photo of him,” and showed the entire nation his photograph. Sheinberg was reportedly furious with this incident, and it helped Gilliam get the release of the film done the way he wanted.
• Terry Gilliam was asked to do a film class during the battle of this film at USC. Terry agreed, and took advantage of the situation by preparing to bring an “audio visual aid”, which was his cut of the film, which would have been allowed. Unfortunately, two days before the event, students advertised a free screening of the film. When he arrived it was announced that Universal would not allow him to show the film. During his speech to the class, he was interrupted by studio executives’ phone calls. They eventually allowed him to show a clip of the film. He showed the entire film, and repeated the screenings for over two weeks. It was during one of these screenings that Los Angeles film critics saw the film, and awarded it the Best Picture of the Year award, which was responsible for getting the film released the way Gilliam wanted it.
• During his trouble with a studio, Terry Gilliam asked daily variety for a full page ad, which cost around $1,500 at the time. He had it bordered like a funeral invitation and it said: “Dear Sid Sheinberg, when are you going to release my film? Signed: Terry Gilliam.”
• According to Terry Gilliam in the book “The Battle of Brazil”, the toolbelt worn by Tuttle and all of its gadgets were supplied by Robert De Niro himself
• In one of the final scenes of the movie, among Jack Lint’s instruments of torture can clearly be seen a rubber bouncy ball and a pacifier.
• Almost all of the soundtrack music is a variation on the main melody in the song “Brazil”.
• The title song (actually named “Aquarela do Brasil” by Ary Barroso) was used in a movie for the first time in Walt Disney’s 6th full length animation _Saludos Amigos (1943)_.
• According to Maxim magazine, director Terry Gilliam was reportedly so stressed during filming that he lost all feeling in his legs for a week.
• Early title for Brazil was “1984 and a 1/2″, an ode to Federico Fellini, but the film Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) was released and the idea was scrapped.
• The “Brazil” theme is heard several times within the film itself. When Sam types “Ere I am JH” into the secret elevator’s control panel, it plays the first eight notes. This is also what he hums when he sends the refund check up the pneumatic tube at Mr. Kurtzmann’s office. It is playing on the radio in his car, and Tuttle whistles in his flat.
• The very first sound in the film is the Telecaster of famous guitarist Amos Garrett.
• Jack Purvis, a regular in the films of Terry Gilliam appears as “Dr. Chapman”, a reference to fellow Python Graham Chapman, who had a medical degree.
• The samurai sequence was originally conceived to reflect Terry Gilliam’s love for Akira Kurosawa films.
• Archibald Buttle’s wife’s name is Veronica. A reference to Archie and Veronica of Archie Comics.
• Gilliam originally wanted to call the film “1984 1/2″, as a tribute to George Orwell’s book “1984″, a major inspiration behind the film, but was prevented by Orwell’s estate.
• Terry Gilliam and his crew were excited to have Robert De Niro on board at first, but as time wore on they found De Niro’s need for “research” and obsession with details increasingly irritating, saying that he “wanted to strangle him”.
• During the time when the studio was blocking the release of the film and were re-editing it for the infamous “Love conquers all” version copies of the directors cut were circulating on video around Hollywood. At one point a number of critics began asking if a film that had been completed, but not released, could be eligible for a Best Picture Oscar, it’s said that the potential embarrassment of this happening forced the studio to release the original version instead of their new one.
• Mrs. Buttle never blinks during the extended monologue Sam gives when he comes over to her apartment.
• The dream scenes were initially meant to form just one long sequence in the middle of the film, but technical difficulties made this impossible. The most important part of the dream sequence was intended to be a scene where Sam flies over a field of eyes, which then start slowly moving to follow his descent on a pillar. The eyes were made of snooker balls with false irises added; the eye symbol is also seen in other Terry Gilliam films including 12 Monkeys. The decision was later made to split the remaining dream scenes to fill the “empty” spaces between chapters.
• Body count: 25
• When Sam goes to see Jack Lint the elevator in Information Retrieval goes up to floor 84, as in 1984.
• When Sam is escaping at the end of the movie with Harry Tuttle, the female custodian is shot in the eye and the buffer falls down the stairs. This scene is based on Sergei M. Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin – during the Odessa massacre scene a mother is shot in the eye and the baby carriage falls down the stairs.
• The odd little bubble-topped car that Sam drives is a 3 wheeled, two stroke single cylinder Messerschmitt KR200 “Kabinroller” (covered scooter) built in Germany in the late 1950′s and up until 1964.
• During the opening scene where you see the paperwork floor with all of the runners dropping and picking up receipts. There is actually only one row of typing stations they just pass forward and backward along the same set of stations.
• The myth behind the name of the film relates to Terry Gilliam being at a beach in the UK one day. Apparently the weather wasn’t particularly great, but a man was sitting on the beach alone listening to the famous song (on a stereo) that we hear in the film. Gilliam was fascinated by the man sitting there despite all the “adversity”, and this became the theme and name for the film.
• The mask used by the torturer also appears used by several extras in the 1994 music video “Basket Case” by Green Day.
• In the Christmas shopping scene, a woman is carrying a banner outside the store with a cross that says “Consumers for Christ”.
• First cinema feature of Roger Ashton-Griffiths.
• The character of Harry Tuttle is most likely named for a character in the first season of “M*A*S*H” (1972), in which Hawkeye and Trapper “invent” an officer – Captain Tuttle so that they can funnel his salary to an orphanage as well as blame things on. When they are creating his personnel file, they list his father as Harry Tuttle.

Chris Carter

 

Christopher Carl Carter (born October 13, 1956) is an American screenwriter, film director and producer, best known as the creator of The X-Files and Millennium.

He was born in Bellflower, California to William and Catherine Carter. In college, he majored in journalism, graduating from California State University Long Beach in 1979. His brother, W. Craig Carter, is a Lord Foundation Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT.

Carter began writing for Surfing magazine out of college. For the next five years, he traveled around the world both as a freelance writer and as the magazine’s associate editor.

A big break in his career came in 1985, when Jeffrey Katzenberg, then chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment, read a screenplay he wrote and signed him to development with Walt Disney Pictures. While working with Katzenberg, Carter wrote and produced several television movies including pilots of Cameo By Night and The Nanny, an unsold pilot unrelated to the Fran Drescher sitcom. He co-produced the second season of the comedy series Rags to Riches. and in 1989 was creator and executive producer of a comedy series called Brand New Life for Disney’s Sunday night lineup.

Upon the creation and production of The X-Files in 1993, Chris Carter started a production company called Ten Thirteen Productions. It is named in honor of Carter’s own birthday and anniversary, which is October 13. Since 1993 it has produced:

• 202 episodes of The X-Files
• 67 episodes of Millennium
• 9 episodes of Harsh Realm
• 13 episodes of The Lone Gunmen
• The feature film The X-Files: Fight the Future
• The feature film The X-Files: I Want to Believe

During this time the Ten Thirteen offices were located in Century City, Los Angeles, California, with Frank Spotnitz serving as President, Mary Astadourian serving as Vice President and Jana Fain serving as Office Manager. Spotnitz has gone on to start his own production company, Big Light Productions, with Fain as director of development.

Trivia:

He is a Godfather of Gillian Anderson and Clyde Klotz’s daughter Piper Maru.

Has considered titling his eventual and as-yet-unwritten autobiography “Fridays At Nine,” the timeslot for the shows he’s created, due to their mix of successes and failures.

Brother Craig is a Full Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT

Two of his attempts for crossovers with other television shows failed for the same reasons. The first attempt was to crossover The X-Files with CBS’s Picket Fences; CBS feared losing ratings to the newer network. The second attempt was to crossover with WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer; FOX feared losing ratings to the newer network. David Kelley in the first incident and Joss Whedon in the second were on board with Chris Carter for their respective incidents.

Pitched X-Files to Brandon Tartikoff at NBC, who turned it down.

Under tremendous time crunch, Carter did an all-night audio mix session to finish the X-Files pilot, which was to be shown to FOX execs the following morning. He ended up sleeping on a couch in the FOX Studios lobby.

Amazon Specials!

Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas (1974)

Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian horror film, directed by Bob Clark, which has a very large cult following. It was written by A. Roy Moore, and based largely on a series of real-life murders in Montreal, Quebec, around Christmas time. Black Christmas stars Olivia Hussey as a young college student who must deal with a deranged killer lurking in her sorority house. Taking only 40 days to shoot ,it also features Margot Kidder and Andrea Martin, before either had gained fame in the United States, John Saxon and Keir Dullea round out the cast. The film’s inventively eerie score is by Carl Zittrer, and was marketed with the tagline “If this picture doesn’t make your skin crawl… It’s on too tight!”

Buy this Title Now!

Working from a budget of $620,000 and an eight week shooting schedule, the film was shot in 35mm format utilizing Panavision cameras and lenses in and around Toronto during the winter of 1974. Annesley Hall National Historic Site was used for some scenes. When originally released in the United States, Warner Bros., fearing that audiences might confuse it for a blaxploitation movie, changed the title to Silent Night, Evil Night. It performed poorly until its title was changed back to Black Christmas. It was later retitled Stranger in the House for television broadcast.

Trivia:

• Keir Dullea worked only for a week on this film, never meeting Margot Kidder and barely meeting John Saxon, but the film is edited in such a way that he appears to be present throughout.
• The role of Mrs. Mac was offered to Bette Davis
• The role of Peter was originally offered to Malcolm McDowell, but he turned it down.
• The role of Lieutenant Fuller was originally supposed to be played by Edmond O’Brien, but due to failing health he had to be replaced. John Saxon was brought in at the last minute.
• Gilda Radner was offered the role of Phyllis Carlson. She was attached, but dropped out one month before filming began owing to “Saturday Night Live” (1975) commitments.
• When NBC showed the film during prime time (under the title “Stranger in the House”), it was deemed ‘too scary’ for network television and was pulled off the air.
• Around 1986, Olivia Hussey met producers for the film Roxanne (1987), who were interested in casting her for the title role, co-star Steve Martin met her and said “Oh my God Olivia, you were in one of my all time favorite films”, thinking it was her classical performance in the phenomenal Romeo and Juliet (1968/I), Olivia was surprised to find out it was indeed Black Christmas (1974), Martin claimed he had seen it over 20 times.
• According to director Bob Clark about five people were responsible for voicing the frightening phone calls, including Clark, actor Nick Mancuso and an unnamed actress.
• During an interview with director Bob Clark, Clark said Olivia Hussey’s decision to take the role of Jess was based upon advice given to her by a psychic. According to Clark, Hussey said her psychic believed that the film would be successful and a wise career choice for her. She took the role.
• Art Hindle, in an interview included with the DVD, reveals that the fur coat he wore in this film was in fact his own. It still hangs in his closet to this day.
• The original title of the films script was “Stop Me”. It was director Bob Clark who came up with the title “Black Christmas” saying that he liked the irony of something dark occurring during such a festive holiday.
• Regarded among horror fans as the first film to come up with the popular convention of a killer calling from inside the house.
• Actress Lynne Griffin revealed that for the scenes where she’s wrapped in the plastic bag she would rip a hole in the bag, stuffing the opening into her open mouth so she could breath during filming.
• Composer Carl Zittrer said in an interview that he created the bizarre music score for the film by tying forks, combs, and knives to the strings of his piano so the sound would warp as he struck the keys. Zittrer also said he would distort the sound further by recording audio tape while putting pressure on the reels of the machine to make it turn slower.
• Upon initial release in the US the films title was changed to “Silent Night, Evil Night” because the American distributor feared the title “Black Christmas” might cause the film to be mistaken for a ‘blaxploitation’ flick. However the film didn’t do well under the new title and it was changed back to the original “Black Christmas” title, which it was a success under.
• Reportedly the story was inspired to writer Roy Moore by an actual series of murders that took place in Montreal, Quebec around the Christmas season.
• Star Margot Kidder admitted in an interview that she never thought that the film would become a hit and was surprised to learn that it had gained such a large cult following over the years.
• The audio for the demented phones calls was edited into the film during post-production. While shooting the footage for the phone call scenes the actresses were actually just reacting to threatening dialog being spoken from director Bob Clark from off-camera.
• The snow seen outside of the sorority house was actually fake, because there had been surprisingly little snow fall during the filming. A foam material that was provided by the local fire department was used for snow on the lawn and according to cinematographer Albert J. Dunk the substance actually caused the grass on the lawn to grow greener than ever the following spring.
• Shooting the search party scenes in the park proved to be quite difficult as the temperature was a freezing 10 degrees during the night of filming.
• Cinematographer Albert J. Dunk created Billy’s POV shots by rigging up a camera harness that would mount the camera on his shoulder as he walked about the house and climbed the trellis and attic ladder himself.
• It was composer Carl Zittrer who contacted star John Saxon, who he met on a previous film, about filling in for the role of Lt. Fuller at the last minute.
• The film was shot in 40 days.
• Co-producer Gerry Arbeid cameos in the film as the cab driver that arrives to pick up Mrs. Mac.
• According to director Bob Clark the original script for the film featured murder scenes that were more graphic. Clark however felt that it would be more effective if the murders were toned down and made more subtle on screen. Writer Roy Moore liked the idea as well.

David Naughton & Griffin Dunne

An American Werewolf in London is a 1981 American-British comedy/horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter. The movie won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and an Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. The film was one of three high-profile werewolf films released in 1981, alongside The Howling and Wolfen. Over the years, the film has accumulated a cult following and has been referred to as a cult classic.

Tagline: John Landis – the director of Animal House brings you a different kind of animal.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3FTkAS15zk]

Rick Baker

Blending the macabre with a wicked sense of humor, director John Landis (National Lampoon’s Animal House) delivers a contemporary take on the classic werewolf tale in this story of two American tourists who, while traveling in London, find their lives changed forever when a viscious wolf attacks them during a full moon. Featuring groundbreaking, Academy Award-winning make-up by Rick Baker (The Wolfman).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZogmO2aqQq0]

The film was followed by a 1997 sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, which featured a completely different cast and none of the original crew.

John Landis

John Landis came up with the story while he worked in Yugoslavia as a production assistant on the film Kelly’s Heroes. He and a Yugoslavian member of the crew were driving in the back of a car on location when they came across a group of gypsies. The gypsies appeared to be performing rituals on a man being buried so that he would not “rise from the grave.” This made Landis realize that he could never be able to confront the undead and gave him the idea for a film in which a man of his own age would go through such a thing.

John Landis wrote the first draft of An American Werewolf in London in 1969 and shelved it for over a decade. Two years later, Landis wrote, directed and starred in his debut film, Schlock, which developed a cult following. Landis developed box-office status in Hollywood through the successful comedy films The Kentucky Fried Movie, National Lampoon’s Animal House and The Blues Brothers before securing $10

Beware of the Moon

million financing for his werewolf film. Financiers believed that Landis’ script was too frightening to be a comedy and too funny to be a horror film.

Michael Jackson cited this film as his reason for working with Landis on his subsequent music videos, including Thriller and Black or White.

The various prosthetics and fake, robotic body parts used during the film’s painful, extended werewolf transformation scenes and on Griffin Dunne when his character returns as a bloody, mangled ghost impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences so much that they decided to create a new awards category at the Oscars specifically for the film – Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. Since the 1981 Academy Awards, this has been a regular category each year. During the body casting sessions, the crew danced around David Naughton singing, “I’m a werewolf, you’re a werewolf…wouldn’t you like to be a werewolf, too” in reference to his days as a pitchman for Dr Pepper.

Blueray DVD

In-Jokes:

Cameos and Bit Parts:

In the Piccadilly Circus sequence, the man hit by a car and thrown through a store window, is Landis himself.

As in most of the director’s movies, Frank Oz makes an appearance: first as Mr. Collins from the American embassy in the hospital scene, and later as Miss Piggy in a dream sequence, when David’s younger siblings watch a scene from The Muppet Show that was never shown in the United States.

Actors in bit parts who were already – or would become – more well-known include the two chess players David and Jack meet in the pub, played by the familiar character actor Brian Glover and then-rising comedian and actor Rik Mayall. One of the policemen helping to chase and kill the werewolf is John Altman, who would later achieve fame as “Nasty” Nick Cotton in EastEnders.   Alan Ford – later to appear in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch – plays a taxi driver. The policeman in the cinema is played by John Salthouse and the policeman in Piccadilly Circus is played by Peter Ellis. Both Salthouse and Ellis appeared in police drama The Bill.

A radio adaptation of the film was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1997, written and directed by Dirk Maggs and with Jenny Agutter, Brian Glover, and John Woodvine reprising the roles of Alex Price, the chess player (now named George Hackett, and with a more significant role as East Proctor’s special constable) and Dr. Hirsch. The roles of David and Jack were played by Eric Meyers and William Dufris.  Maggs’ script added a backstory that some people in East Proctor are settlers from Eastern Europe and brought lycanthropy with them. The werewolf who bites David is revealed to be related to Hackett, and has escaped from an asylum where he is held under the name “Larry Talbot”, the name of the title character in The Wolf Man.

Movie Poster 27x40

Make Up Department
  Elaine Baker … makeup effects crew
  Rick Baker … special makeup effects
  Doug Beswick … makeup effects crew
  Kevin Brennan … makeup effects crew
  Robin Grantham … makeup artist
  Tom Hester … makeup effects crew
  Steve Johnson … makeup effects assistant
  Beryl Lerman … makeup artist
  Shawn McEnroe … makeup effects crew
  Joseph Ross … makeup effects crew
  Bill Sturgeon … makeup effects crew
  Craig Reardon … makeup effects crew (uncredited)

Special Effects Department
  Neil Corbould … special effects assistant
  Martin Gutteridge … special effects
  Garth Inns … special effects