VIDEO: the history of Disney's "The Black Hole"

[blewis17]

This is one of the most comprehensive and fascinating tellings of the making of The Black Hole. Lots of narration and still pics, but very well researched. Some fascinating info, like:

1) A young Sigourney Weaver was recommended for the role of Dr. Kate McCrae, which was ultimately filled by Yvette Mimieux (RIP)
2) When they passed on Sigourney, they hired bombshell Stephanie O'Neal for the role, but demanded that she cut her hair short for the part (screen test, it didn't flow right during the wirework for the 0-G scenes). She drank lots of wine to go through with the haircut (by her stylist Vidal Sassoon), and on her drive home she suffered a car crash and was hospitalized with her injuries. Her role was re-cast the next day.
3) They considered hundreds of film titles before settling on "The Black Hole"
4) Disney designed their own "Dykstra-flex" motion controlled camera rig after finding out the high expense of "renting" the setup from LucasFilm /ILM

 

[Apollo]

“The Back Hole” is where all the fun shenigans go on where I am from!

 

[modelcitizen]

frankie say "relax"....

 

[joberg]

I had just seen "2001 A Space Odyssey" followed by "StarWars" Two movies that influenced me to this day. Then..."The Black Hole"; hard pass for me at the time

 

[Halliwax]

Totally forgot about this

 

[Mottrex]

And a killer soundtrack!

I had just seen "2001 A Space Odyssey" followed by "StarWars" Two movies that influenced me to this day. Then..."The Black Hole"; hard pass for me at the time

And a killer soundtrack!

 

[Krieger]

It’s a Disney classic - I have to watch it once every decade or so

 

[Mottrex]

It’s a Disney classic - I have to watch it once every decade or so

I still don't like the Angel bit but the Demonic Maximillian in Hell was satisfying.. Although I always thought he was Kates father..?

 

[Krieger]

I still don't like the Angel bit but the Demonic Maximillian in Hell was satisfying.. Although I always thought he was Kates father..?

its possible, good point - i sort of thought that but didnt really make the connection until you said it. and yes, the ending is so 70s Disney

 

[Metaluna mutant]

4) Disney designed their own "Dykstra-flex" motion controlled camera rig after finding out the high expense of "renting" the setup from LucasFilm /ILM

This just blows my mind. Have Disney money and resources but don't want to rent someone else's tech? Design and build a version of it yourself.

IIRC it was never used again, either.

 

[joberg]

^^
Weird indeed; when you think that most of the camera equipment is rented by the Studios in the first place...why build one from scratch?

 

[batguy]

This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine.

The problem with the female actors' hair in zero gravity never made any sense. They could have tied her hair up in bun or a hat or something. It's not that big of a deal. It would have been realistic for a character to do that. FFS, they only had zero-G for a few scenes. Did none of this ever occur to anybody at any point during the movie's pre-production & casting?

 

[robn1]

I still don't like the Angel bit but the Demonic Maximillian in Hell was satisfying.. Although I always thought he was Kates father..?

Kate's father was part of the crew, Reinhart said he had died.

^^
Weird indeed; when you think that most of the camera equipment is rented by the Studios in the first place...why build one from scratch?

It was the motion control system that was built, named A.C.E.S. for automatic camera effects system.

 

[Mottrex]

Yeah but Reinheart lied about just about everything..
And he does mention about loosing his best friend ?

There's a great documentary about The Blackhole and how it was stuck in development hell for years and also delves into the A. C. E. S and why they had to build it..