MovieChat Forums > Voyage of Time: Life's Journey (2017) Discussion > Trumbull responds 'I did not 'exit' the ...

Trumbull responds 'I did not 'exit' the movie' ...

posted 11 years ago by HarryPowell
2 replies | jump to latest

... because he was never on it. Or perhaps just a positive spin on Seven Seas' negative spin?

From: dlvr.it/3jF8HJ (The Playlist)

Douglas Trumbull Clarifies Involvement In Terrence Malick's 'Voyage Of Time,' Was Unable To Work On The Film - by Kevin Jagernauth

At the start of the week, news surfaced that Terrence Malick was facing a lawsuit from the investors of his long-developing trio of films, "The Voyage Of Time," over alleged, persistent delays in completing the years in the making project. As with most Malick projects, the exact makeup of the creative team tends to kept under wraps but one of the juicier parts of the reports that circulated noted that "an Academy Award-winning special effects artist" had walked off the film. Legendary FX talent Douglas Trumbull — who won an Academy Scientific and Engineering Award in 1993, worked with Malick on "The Tree Of Life" and was reported previously to be helping on 'Voyage' — has been speculated in some quarters to be that person. But as he revealed to us, he was never really involved in the first place.

"I have the deepest respect for Terrence Malick, and greatly enjoyed helping him on 'Tree of Life.' I consider him to be a good personal friend and professional contemporary," Trumbull told The Playlist. "I offered my consulting services to him as a friend, since I do not offer special photographic effects services. Due to delays in his schedule as well as my own directing projects, it became impossible for me to come aboard 'Voyage of Time.' I did not 'exit' the movie."

Indeed, Trumbull has been busy assembling his high tech short film entitled "UFOTOG" — shot in 4K 3D at 120 frames per second — in addition to a couple more sci-fi full length features, while Malick has been on tear since "The Tree Of Life," shooting "To The Wonder," "Knight Of Cups" an currently untitled third feature. So, it's easy to see how their calendars were unable to mesh.

More likely to come as "The Voyage Of Time" lawsuit rolls along, while we also wait to see when Malick's next couple of features will surface.

[–] HarryPowell 11 years ago

The above report states that Trumbull isn't named in the court document, but he very much is, and extensively.

[–] HarryPowell 11 years ago

Trumbull's contribution to TTOL was over-stated I feel due to his past fame, built on not too many credits to be honest. He wasn't even in charge of over-all FX on that film. In that context, I've reproduced below the extracts from the Seven Seas complaint that mention him. N.B. There may be typos as I couldn't just copy and paste from the document:

Page 12:

45. In August 2012, Academy Award-winning and acclaimed special effects artist Douglas Trumbull signalled to SSPL [Seven Seas] that Malick had misled him. Trumbull believed that the scope of his special effects work for the VOT Films would be limited and built upon the production efforts up to that time. But since Malick had accomplished very little progress on the VOT Films, suddenly Sycamore [Malick's company] was attemting to rely on Trumbull for more and more special effects work to compensate for the gap. On August 27, 2012, Trumbull notified Rosenfeld, the producer who worked to procure SSPL's investment, via email that he was reconsidering his deal to work on the VOT Films because he had asked Malick for direction and to see the current footage for the VOT Films and received neither.

Page 14

53. In another significant setback to the VOT Films' production, Trumbull also informed Rosenfeld on November 2, 2012, that he was no longer interested in working on the VOT Films. Trumbull recounted his last meeting in a letter to Malick, stating, "Your time was limited, and it seemed that everyone there was really focused on other film productions." With regards to Malick's growing expectation that Trumbull provide special effects to make up for the gaps in the VOT Films, encompassing as much as 35 minutes of the planned 45-minute IMAX films, Trumbull concluded in his letter to Malick, "My experience is that all the greatest special effects cannot save a film."

page 15

54. After Trumbull told Malick he was not going to work on the VOT Films, Sycamore's Gonda attempted to reengage Trumbull on the VOT Films to conceal that the production was not on schedule. The so-called ground-breaking and extraordinary special effects that were to be incorporated into the VOT Films had not yet been developed in any production efforts. On December 11, 2012, Trumbull informed Rosenfeld by email that he was terminating any further communications with Sycamore and Malick once and for all.