Ray Harryhausen Documentary & Interview with Co-Producer Tony Dalton
Stop-frame animators rejoice as this week sees the UK release of the new documentary: Ray Harryhausen – Special Effects Titan.
Over 10 years in the making, this definitive documentary celebrates the work of the most influential animator / visual effects master of the past century. A career that includes The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), One Million Years BC (1966) and Clash of the Titans (1981) to name but a few of one man’s masterpieces.
The film boasts interviews from more A-list directors than Medusa has snakes on her head.
Heavyweights of the fantasy and sci-fi world, such as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron and Guillermo Del Toro are all on hand to speak about why Ray’s work has had such a resounding influence on their careers and fantasy cinema as we know it today.
The film encompasses Harryhausen’s entire career, from his earliest influence of seeing the 1933 version of King Kong (the film that would have a major influence on his life and career) through his years in the Hollywood dream factory, to his long and happy retirement and status as the father of stop-frame animation.
Now aged 92, Ray is taking a well deserved rest, however I recently met Tony Dalton; documentary co-producer, author and curator of the Harryhausen collection, who was kind enough to answer some questions about the new film.
Hi Tony, welcome back to Skwigy. Please tell us what can we expect to see in the new Ray Harryhausen documentary?
The documentary is a whole new way of looking at Ray’s career and art, through the eyes of today’s fantasy film makers. It shows the influence of Ray’s creations on directors, animators, producers, writers and artists. We were looking to make a new definitive documentary but didn’t want to make the usual assessment of Ray and his work. We wanted something different. This is it.
How did this project get started? Has it been in the making for a long time?
I received a call from visual effects artist Randy Cook in the States about three years ago, and he told me that two French lads were looking for an interview with him about Ray. They were making a documentary. I wrote to them and asked for a rough cut of what they had done and at the same time I discovered that Ray had carried out two interviews with them some years before. It turned out that both Gilles Penso and Alexandre Ponset had been working on the project for over 10 years! A labour of love. When I saw the documentary I loved it and knew we had to join with them to make it the perfect documentary.
How hard was it to tell Ray’s incredible story in just one film? Are there chapters of his life you had to skip over?
It was difficult, but both Gilles as the writer/director and Alexandre as the producer somehow managed to do it, even with all the logistical and copyright problems we encountered. It does follow Ray’s life and career in chronological order but it presents it in such a way as to make it entertaining in it’s own right. It is a powerful trip into a world of visual effects, all created by one man.
Has Ray seen the documentary yet and what did he make of it?
Oh yes,and he loves it. He too feels it is completely different than anything before.
The list of interviewees feature some of the biggest names in the film world. What do you think it is about Ray’s work that has had such a lasting effect on film makers today?
It was amazing how many people wanted to be in it: Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Nick Park, Terry Glliam, John Landis – the list goes on and on. They all wanted to say that he was the biggest influence in their lives and to illustrate why. Peter Jackson even shows us his version of the Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. That was his starting point as a young teenager.
Are there plans to release the documentary on DVD in the coming months?
The documentary runs 93 minutes and will receive a worldwide release on DVD and Blu-ray in March next year after it has finished any festival, theatrical and television screenings.
Does Ray have any favourite current animators / film makers who he believes have carried on the baton of stop frame animation?
Nick Park, Peter Lord, Henry Selick, Barry Purves, Mark Waring, Tim Allen and the whole Tim Burton crew. Stop-motion is growing, not dying.
This year saw an exhibition of Ray’s work at the London Film Museum. What’s next for his family of creatures?
The London Film Museum exhibition ended on the 28th October which we were all sad about, but items of Ray’s collection can been seen next year in Montreal and in the Leicester Museum next year and the year after. As yet we have no further plans to exhibit, but that changes each month as people and organisations approach us. We are hoping to have an exhibition in Mallorca, Spain as that is where Ray shot a great number of classic scenes in his movies.
The film begins it’s UK run on 9th November at The Gate Picturehouse, Notting Hill.