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Director: Peter
By SHAWN BEHLEN
Staff Writer
The thought of being com-
E ared to Stanley Kubrick, says
•irector Peter Hyams, makes
him "scared stiff."
But he says he went ahead
and made a sequel to "2001"
anyway because he thought he
could make "2010" a completely
different film.
"I did it because I thought
there was a chance to make a
film so different from '2001' that
it would be difficult to compare
them side by side," he says. "I
don't think there's a film direc
tor around who is as good as
Stanley Kubrick, so you can't go
into anything thinking you
could do it as good as he could,
in many ways he is my idol.
"When l saw '2001,' 1 was 25
years old and I saw that movie
and I told someone once that it
was like getting a note in a bot
tle that said, 'Forget everything
you have been told. There are
no limits. You can do on film
whatever you want. The only
constraints you will have is
your own imagination.'
"That, to me, was positively
wonderful. The size of the
screen was limitless. The depth
was limitless. It so increased my
perception of what I wanted to
do."
Hyams says "2010" has given
him a chance to do two of those
things he has always wanted to
do.
"One, it was a chance to
make a film about the things I
find exciting," he says. "Two, it
was a chance to make a movie
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Hyams
that didn't aim just for the eye
ball, but for the heart as well. I
think so often films that are am
bitious technically forget about
the heart."
Hyams says a major goal of
his was to not let the visual ef
fects in "2010" take control of
the film.
"The biggest problem with
directing a film like this is not to
be waylaid by logistics," he
says. "You are in fact telling a
story. A story about people.
Sometimes, in a simple conver
sation between two people you
must deal with technology that
requires great concentration.
"The sets, the effects, the
lights are all clothing. They are
not the story. I think everyone,
myself included, is long past
the point where they are going
to enjoy a movie that is solely
about lavish pieces of plastic
floating across the screen.
That's not a story.
"I think in some respects this
film is the beneficiary of a good
eight, nine years of technologi
cal advances. During that same
time, audiences have become
sated with staring at nothing
but pretty images. So, unless
there is a compelling story, it
doesn't matter how great the ef
fects are."
Hyams says the fact that he
wanted an aspect of emotional
ism in his film was the main
reason he cast Roy Scheider as
Dr. Heywood Floyd.
"I wanted this film to be an
emotional, personal film about
people, not a series of events,"
he says. "So, I felt that it was
my number one pnority to cast
this film with the best and
strongest actors so they would
overpower the effects and the
settings.
"Roy Scheider, to me, is one
of those very rare actors who
manages to be thoroughly be
lievable. His emotions seem
very close to the skin so we
know what he's feeling. And
he's a skillful and strong
enough personality on the
screen that he can dominate."
Hyams says he counted on
getting the actors that were in
the film from the verv begin-
mng.
"I draw before I write," he
See "Hyams page 11
Novelist Arthur C. Clarke
Actor: Roy Scheider
By SHAWN BEHLEN
Staff Writer
He usually plays the hero.
"For some particular reason, I
do play a lot of those types," he
says.
Scheider says he was at- .
tracted to the role of Dr. Hey
wood Floyd in "2010" because
of a good script.
"I thought it was a movie I'd
like to see," he says. "That is
usually the first criteria I have
for a role — would I like to see
it?"
And Scheider thought the
Floyd character was "fleshed
out" well.
"He's the character you see
the movie through," he says.
"He's the man you take the
journey with. He's the man
who expresses the audiences'
and every man's anxieties and
fears and ambitions and worries
about how successful it will be,
can it be pulled off, what are the
mysteries out there.
"As my character went
through the film in 'Jaws,' so
does Floyd go through this
film."
Scheider as Floyd provides
the narration for the film.
"The narration was always in
the script," he says. "It was
molded and shifted and
changed constantly, so what
you heard was the end result of
a lot of versions. You know,
'How much should we explain,
how much should we say?'.
"For my own personal feeling
—- I don't know if Peter
(Hyams) feels this way — we
erred on the side of giving too
much information. But I would
rather do that than give too
little because so much of the
first film left people out in
space, if you'll forgive the ex
pression. In this film we
wanted to make sure we ex
plained things."
Scheider says that he thought
"2001" was dazzling, yet one of
a kind.
"It was very bold, a real
stroke by Kubrick," he says.
"There were parts of it I
thought were slow and boring,
but overall it was an absolutely
original and fascinating movie
and certainly the kickoff for sci
ence fiction.
"But it was the kind of a film
you couldn't repeat. The partic
ular social comments, for in
stance, of making all the charac
ters as bland and mundane as
possible while they hurled
through all these galaxies, well,
you couldn't do that twice.
That's a conceit that will only
work once."
So, "2010" is simpler and
Scheider says he thinks it will
get more of an optimistic re
sponse because of tnat.
"I think they'll get it and I
think they'll appreciate it," he
says. "It's very uplifting and al
truistic.
"It's a mass communicative
movie. It's a movie meant to en
tertain. I think it has to be sim
ple. The adventure itself is com
plex enough, there's plenty of
excitement. You don't want to
be too heavy-handed or too in
tellectual with the message."
That "simple" aspect of
"2010" was chosen by Director
Peter Hyams, whom Scheider
characterizes as paranoid.
"I think he is obsessed with
conspiracies," he says. "If you
look at his films, there is always
a conspiracy. It's always 'them'
doing something, even in this
film. It's 'them' who screwed
up HAL. Where was Floyd be
trayed? What was the plot
against the mission going on?
"And then there's always a
kind of morality in Peter's films
as well. He could be accused of
some of the things Arthur
Miller is accused of, a preachy
kind of morality in his work."
Even though Scheider liked
working with Hyams and en
joyed his role as Floyd, he says
See "Scheider" page 12