On The H2G2 Movie Set
Created | Updated Sep 10, 2004
Friday July 16, 2004
Elstree
I arrived in London on Thursday night and was picked up at Liverpool station by the lovely couple Nick and Sue Webb. Nick, the chef, had hocus pocused together his famous steak and kidney pie with which he treated me once we had got back to chez Webb. It was delicious, served with peas, mustard and Stella Artois. After having caught up on our lives since we last met we made an early evening, since we were getting up at an extremely ungodly hour to go and pick up Nicolas Botti and then head out for Elstree.
Friday morning, Nick and reached, I believe it was, Victoria station and hung around outside Barclay's where we had arranged to meet Nicolas Botti, who was coming in from Brighton. The trouble was, neither of us had even a remote clue what he looked like. It turned out, eventually, that we were waiting for a young but balding Robert De Niro. Greetings were exchanged and we got seated in Nicks Volkswagen and drove off to Elstree.
After initial difficulties finding the exact location and then the additional problems of finding a parking space, we were ushered by the Gate Keeper to a labyrinth of offices, one of which belonged to executive producer Robbie Stamp, who is the sweetiepie who organised this visit and who was going also to function as our guide. Assembled in his office, along with another hardcore fan; Simon Hall, we were briefed about the procedure of the tour.
We then set out into the winding maze of offices and walked wearily from door to door, until Robbie, leading our little pack, suddenly made an unprovoked stop in front of an insignificant door. Inside awaited dreamland in the shape of the H2G2 movie story board and models of the Heart of Gold, Vogons and also real life-sized vogon tea cups. Also, pinned up on one of the walls, was something that so deeply signifies the sense of detail, admiration for Douglas and respect for the story, that it literally gave me goose bumps. In addition it had taken 4 months to make and will hardly be detectable in the actual movie...
Robbie gave a great and inspired performance in walking us through the storyboard and he interrupted the walkthrough by showing us related items that were sitting around on tables and desks in the room or on the walls. I would like to state again, that if you are a diehard h2g2 fan awaiting to see the filmatisation of either the radio show or the books and feel that nothing else will do, you are in for a shock. Douglas, and later Karey Kirkpatrick, Garth Jennings, Nick Goldsmith and Robbie, have condensed and altered his narrative story into something quite different, yet at the same time perfectly recognisable. It's tight, it makes sense, it's a new angle with new scenes and characters, and it's funny. I am 100 per cent confident and all these people involved are so dedicated it brings tears to ones eyes. And if I wasn't already convinced, I surely would be a bit later on, when we talked to Nick Goldsmith over at Shepperton. More of that later.
Now, Robbie also showed us the teaser trailer that was shown at the Comic-con in late July. Again, the hair on my arms stood in attennnnSHUN. It's a crying shame and tragedy that Douglas didn't live to see these wonderful things that are happening to his story. And, re the story, I'm sure I'm not allowed to divulge any crucial bits, but I felt warm to discover that a new item invented by Douglas and which I have been talking about earlier is, indeed, still in the script and not only that; it plays quite an essential part.
Next we headed off to one of the workshops where we were introduced to, among other things, Prostetnic Vogon Jelz. The Vogons had us in absolute mindbogged awe; they are quite breathtaking in their detailed structure, and their appearance is absolutely ingenious and has also, I can be the first to reveal, a history of artificial evolution to it, which will have us in convulsions in the theatre chairs.
And again we saw examples of the efforts put into detail. A Vogon arse print in a special 'throne', specially made shoes on which you can actually see the imprints from their two toes, the list goes on and on. The extra material on the DVD will have you glued to the screen. And I won't even mention the Vogon space ship we were in, and the soily drippings from the ventilation and broken concrete that we saw there. It's huge and wonderful.
While we were still struggling to grasp what we were seeing, the tour at the Elstree studios was over and we hung back at Robbies office for a while to let it all sink in with some serious and constructive discussions, like 'Did you see the camera in the nostril?' and 'Oh my god, this is absolutely unbelievably cool' and 'Uhm, why has Robbie got Gremlin toys still in their packages in his office?' After that, we made an appointment to meet up again in a few hours at Shepperton studios to see some live action filming.
Shepperton
To get to Shepperton, you take the hideous M25, get stuck in traffic and then discover that you are probably irresurrectably lost, only to counter discover in the last minute that you are actually not. You then say hi to Denise at the gate and go and park your car a nice 2 hour walk in the blazing sun away from the actual studios.
While waiting for Robbie, we shamelessly helped ourselves to the tea and sandwiches that was sitting on a table in the corner of the set. We were absolutely starving and, frankly, starvation dampens pretty much all moral issues you might have.
Then Robbie arrived and he took us for a nice stroll through the studio streets and I could easily identify the fair haired hippie that was leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette and talking to some friends, as we approached our destined set. The day was hot and sunny and it came rather as a surprise when we ducked under a canvas draped entrance and got hit all over the body with a heat beyond understanding. And on the set, in the 35 degrees celsius blazing heat, was Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin, Despite the heat, the hair on our arms once again awoke. The scene being shot was one where our heroes walk 40 yards from A to B, towards the camera. This scene had to be taken 5 times and that's another thing that makes me sure that these people know what they are doing. I happened to be standing next to a monitor and saw it all from camera angle and I could not tell one take from the other, at least not to an extent that justified the cast to have to sweat it out 5 times...
We were also caught up there by producer Nick Goldsmith and let me tell you this; Nick Goldsmith is an absolutely frantically nice and devoted and keen and charming fellow, who took time off from his busy schedule to chat with us. We talked a lot about the movie, the story and the history of the story and he seemed so amazed and enthusiastic by the things he and Garth and the rest of the crew are doing that he totally took in all of us. And he also seemed quite amazed that we were there and had interest in the thing. It was indeed a treat and an honour to meet him.
Well, that wrapped up our visit. We bowed and thanked the dear Robbie Stamp who had arranged all this for us. We also saluted Simon Hall who was heading back home and returned to London and casa de Webb, where we were greated by Nicks wife Sue and Kevin Davies. It was time for alcohol and food. We sat down in the Webb garden and chatted about the day. Kevin said he was going to visit the set later on and then the doorbell rang. Flown in from Paris came Hassan, known as Alkamar on The Douglas Adams Continuum forum, and his lovely wife Nadine. Later on we were to be joined by Tony Mansfield (also a forum regular) and we all headed out to an Indian restaurant not far from the Webb house. And, as a final reminder of how great a day we had, the adjoining house next to the restaurant was up for sale. The sign outside told interested parties not to hesitate to contact Hotblack & Desiato for information about the object...
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