The Andromeda Strain
Short description
When a satellite returns to Earth near the small town of Piedmont, New Mexico, nearly everyone there is found dead. The exceptions are an elderly man and an infant, whose survival puzzles the authorities. Dr. Jeremy Stone, who heads a government scientific project, is called in along with other researchers, and the group moves to an underground laboratory built to contain dangerous organisms. There they work to identify the alien agent responsible and understand why two people were spared, while the facility itself is fitted with a nuclear self-destruct system meant to keep any contamination from spreading.
The film is a science fiction thriller adapted from Michael Crichton's novel. Robert Wise directed and produced it, with a screenplay by Nelson Gidding, marking the eleventh of the thirteen features Wise directed and following The Sand Pebbles. Arthur Hill plays Stone, and the cast includes David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly and George Mitchell. With 71 credited cast and 47 credited crew members, it is a large-scale production. Made for 7 million dollars, it took in 12 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 7.1 rating from 845 votes, while the critics' score of 6.3 from 39 reviews is somewhat lower, so audiences have rated it more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- Michael Crichton wrote the first version of the 1969 novel, which served as the literary source for the screenplay, while studying medicine at Harvard. He was inspired to write the novel by a conversation with one of his professors regarding the concept of life forms with a crystalline structure.
- While preparing to work on the screenplay for this film, Nelson Gidding read a vast amount of science fiction literature. He coined many of the technical jargon terms used in the film, particularly in the announcements broadcast over the public address system in the scientific complex.
- The construction of the sets for the 'Wildfire' science laboratory cost $300,000. For its time, this laboratory became one of the most meticulously detailed sets in history.
- When the film's producers invited Michael Crichton (credited as the screenwriter) to the set and asked if the scenery matched his vision, Crichton admitted that he had not visually imagined the events described in the novel and screenplay.
- It was screenwriter Nelson Gidding who suggested to director Robert Wise that one of the scientists be a woman. Initially, Wise envisioned the female character as someone similar to Raquel Welch's role in Richard Fleischer's adventure film 'Fantastic Voyage' (1966) and insisted on portraying her in that light. However, once Gidding outlined the character's image in detail and Wise consulted with scientists, he agreed with Gidding, and the role was given to Kate Reid.
- The film was shot before the era of computer graphics, so the filmmakers had to rely exclusively on photography and practical effects. For example, the rotating holographic diagram of the scientific complex was created using a projector and photographs pasted onto cardboard.
- Creating one of the sets required digging a shaft over 20 meters deep and 12 meters in diameter.
- The laboratory consisted of five levels, each distinguished by a different color. In reality, only a small section of a circular corridor was constructed. As soon as filming for the events on one level was completed, it was immediately repainted in another color.
- All scenes set in Piedmont, Arizona, were actually filmed in Shafter, Texas. On a nearby hillside, a giant 'S'—the first letter of the town's name—had been laid out in stones. For the filming, the stones were rearranged to form the letter 'P' for Piedmont.
- Sets from some of the science center locations were later used in the filming of the television series 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' (1979-1981).
- Laboratory scenes featuring the spectrograph were filmed on the premises of the California Institute of Technology.
- While filming the plane crash scene, the actor playing the soldier broke his leg. He was replaced by Robert 'Bob' Olen, whose name was not included in the credits.
- The character Kate Reed delivers a line about the risk of 'drowning in this shit.' In the original novel, it is mentioned that the scientists involved in the project underwent a full treatment with a special solution. This episode was evidently cut from the film, leaving only the line.
- When filming the scene of the monkey's death, the animal was 'knocked out' with carbon dioxide, after which an off-screen assistant director immediately placed a breathing apparatus to its face, and the monkey regained consciousness.
- In the scene where the animals are first exposed to the alien virus, the reflection on the metal walls at the right edge of the frame reveals crew members rushing to the monkey's cage to help the animal recover before the camera cuts back to the scientists.
- The characters played by Arthur Hill and James Olson enter a single-story house and find its elderly owner, who has committed suicide by hanging herself from the railing of the stairs leading to the second floor.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
