On July 16, 1993, Steven Spielberg wowed the world with his illustrious adaptation of Michael Crichtons Jurassic Park. Among the film's star-studded cast were household names such as Samuel L. Jackson, Laura Dern, and Richard Attenborough, but perhaps its most memorable character was Ian Malcolm, portrayed by the lovably eccentric Jeff Goldblum.
Although Goldblum famously came back for Jurassic Park 2 in 1997, he was actually involved in another Spielberg project in the meantime. This wasnt a movie, and it had absolutely nothing to do with dinosaur-infested islands. Instead, it was a video game based on R.L. Stines Goosebumps novels, and saw Goldblum take on the riveting role of Count Dracula. Heres the story of how it was made.
Larry Guterman, who served as creative director on Goosebumps: Escape From Horrorland, had just shown off his Masters thesis film at USC. A wonderful executive at Dreamworks Interactive (which was just starting) saw it and encouraged the president of production to watch it, Guterman tells me. It took some time, so eventually he gave it to Steven Spielberg. I got a call in early 1996 saying that Steven liked it, thought I had a good eye, and wanted to meet.
Naturally, Guterman was on cloud nine. Spielberg was one of his filmmaking heroes, and a job at the new Dreamworks studio was a dream worked (Eh? Eh?) into reality. After meeting with the production team, Guterman got the gig and started a hectic 25-day shoot. According to art department assistant Paul Eppleston, the last two days were 20 hours each, with a then-standard ten-hour turnaround between them. Digital artist Craig Clark, meanwhile recalls six-day weeks of crunch, noting that the team even got personal massages one day. Within a month, filming was finished.
The shoot was pretty complex, even relative to a feature, Guterman explains. According to him, filming primarily involved integrating motion control miniatures with live action sequences, and there was even a guy in a gigantic werewolf robot-controlled suit. The team was investing huge amounts of time in a process called non-motion control CGI-background matching something that was pretty unheard of at the time. I remember Spielberg came by once and saw our footage of that, and liked the fact that we were pushing the envelope, Guterman says.
Ultimately, Goosebumps: Escape From Horrorland was a success. It won Best Kids Game in Time Magazine and sold relatively well. Dreamworks was happy with it, too, according to its new CEO. The old one had recently left to become head of DARPA at the Pentagon interesting career move.
Related:The Last Of Us: Jeffrey Pierce Interview - Tommy Tells All
It was a great team, Guterman says. I got along really well with the group and the shoot, while complex, went very well. There was a sense we were in somewhat uncharted territory in terms of combining live action and gaming, and that was exciting.
Eppleston can also speak to this new methodology of combining live action with gaming. After a string of twists of fate, he happened to help an art director in LA load his truck one day. When asked what he wanted to do here, he said art direction, and the guy took his number. Naturally Eppleston thought nothing of it not a whole lot of people actually follow up on these things. However, about a week later he received a phone call, and was offered a job as a personal assistant to the art director on a new project. Eppleston said yes, and soon found out hed been drafted onto Goosebumps.
Epplestons primary job on set was to arrange props and set each take for continuity, but he also drove an 18 cube truck used for transporting furniture to location. He often visited Image Q Studios, which is where the miniatures for Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were filmed. As part of this, he had some pretty interesting experiences when it came to dressing sets for what was ostensibly a childrens game.
I did some emergency pull-it-out-of-thin-air things, Eppleston tells me. For instance, the werewolf has a mummy hand around its neck in the game and you're supposed to try and grab it. My boss was told it would be CG and that he just needed a model to be photographed. Well, come the day of, the director wanted a prop around the werewolf's neck. The problem was, the mummy hand to be photographed was a 2" toy and he wanted a life-sized hand. The other art PA and I found a spare body part as you do wrapped some cloth around it, sprayed it with some flower colorant which, unnervingly, warns you not to get it on you because it will de-fat the skin and ran it out to set.
I can't tell you how impressive the werewolf was, Eppleston continues. Hand punched hair. All of it. I had to tie the mummy's hand around its neck and I genuinely felt nervous being that close to it. First time I saw dog-leg stilts in action, which was cool as hell. There were literal wolves on set too, according to Guterman. The trained wolf who played Two Socks in 1990s blockbuster Dances With Wolves was brought in for filming, but it was a closed-set day due to concerns from the higher-ups that the massive 25-foot cyclorama would psych him out. Turns out he was fine, Eppleston explains.
Eppleston also improvised for the games dining hall scene, where he was instructed to find the oddest produce he could. The star fruit and horned melon were staples for sci-fi, but he quickly learned that aubergines went transparent courtesy of the latest chroma-keying tech of the time still, spooky ghost eggplant sort of worked. On top of that, he scoured the town in search of creepy crawly molds and chocolate clay to pass as edible bugs Charles Martin Smith, director of Dolphins Tale and A Dogs Way Home, politely asked if they could add a bit more flavour to them, but all they could find was a few mints. If you're reading this, I'm really sorry, Eppleston says. I'd send some properly flavored treats to make up for it, but I think after 24 years it would seem a bit... stalker-y.
Speaking of the art department, digital legacy artist Craig Clark already had previous experience with Goosebumps formidable exec team. Clark had been a part of Amblimation a subsidiary of Spielbergs Amblin Entertainment and had worked with the iconic director doing 3D previs for Jurassic Park 2 prior to coming on board for Goosebumps. The project was a very big deal, Clark explains. It was the second release from the overall Dreamworks Studio, the Peacemaker movie being the first. This was the first game, and received lots of attention on national TV and at E3. Eppleston echoes this sentiment, noting that everyone could tell how excited and invested Spielberg and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg were.
Guterman, who worked directly alongside Spielberg, also notes that he was far more engaged than he expected throughout production. He likes video games, he explains. He came by during the casting of Lizzy. I was picking between the girl who got the part and another girl. One really looked the part more, and was a good actress, but the other was a slightly better actress. Spielberg paused, then chose the better actress. I thought that was telling.
Eppleston notes that he only saw Spielberg and Goldblum on set once the same time Guterman mentioned above.
Funny story about that, Eppleston says. So, someone in the art department long ago tried to be helpful and offered to move around the directors chairs. From then on, it became an industry-wide practice for the art department to handle them. The chairs were usually centered around a single monitor, especially for this shoot because the camera video had to be composited with stills in order to check how the final product would look. Well, one day I came in and saw someone who was Not The Director sitting in Larry's chair. Monitoring the chairs was in my wheelhouse of things to do, so I started to go over, ready to tell the person that they'd have to find another seat. When I got closer, I got a better view and moved to the side a bit. I asked someone standing nearby, Is that Spielberg? Yes, and the guy next to the monitor is [CEO and founder of Dreamworks Animation Jeffrey] Katzenberg. Spielberg had come that day to say hello to Jeff and see how things were going. It is one of my deep regrets that I had the sense to look at him first, because what an awesome story it would have been to be The Guy Who Asked Spielberg To Get Out Of The Director's Chair.
Guterman also notes that Goldblum was a pleasure to work with as Count Dracula. I worked with him again on Cats & Dogs, he says. Hes the same quirky, charming guy he is when you see him in interviews, and obviously a very engaging actor. Eppleston, meanwhile, recalls an interesting anecdote. Jeff Goldblum seemed cool, he explains. His performance was... unique. It came across on screen a lot different, but in person it felt like he was doing an Elvis impersonation via Transylvania I wanna be your Dark Prince, baby. In the game it doesn't look like that at all so kudos to him for knowing what he's doing.
Theres much more to Goosebumps than Spielberg and Goldblum, though. As it turns out, Bill Gates had played a part in investing seed capital about $50 million into Dreamworks Interactive in order to give it a bit of a head start. He came by one day to see what we were doing with Goosebumps, since it was the flagship game, Guterman tells me. Jeffrey Katzenberg brought him through, and I was there to show him some of the early prep work that was being done on the game. After the tour, he sat down with folks from our and other projects going on there and answered questions. This is 1996, right before DVDs. He talked about the coming transition from VHS to DVDs and someone in the audience asked some sort of snarky question, implying that VHS tapes would never go away. Gates answered graciously but I remember thinking a few years later, boy was that guy wrong!
According to Clark, the success of Goosebumps: Escape From Horrorland really rubbed off on Spielberg, to the extent that he became increasingly interested in developing Jurassic Park video games. A year after shipping Goosebumps, his department at Dreamworks Interactive launched The Lost World: Jurassic Park to coincide with the 1997 film of the same name. Meanwhile Katzenberg took a more hands-on approach to the studios video games department, simultaneously juggling Goosebumps, Jurassic Park, Prince of Egypt, Antz, and even early Shrek tests.
Its a curious story, how Dreamworks entered the games sphere. Having Spielberg produce a Goosebumps game starring Jeff Goldblum is definitely a way to enter the industry with a bang, while bringing Bill Gates on set to argue with people about the impermanence of VHS tapes mid-shoot is definitely something that isnt featured in every origin story. But even today its relevant Dreamworks Interactive folded in 2000, having been acquired by EA Los Angeles, before converting to Danger Close Games in 2010. Three years later, the remaining devs moved to DICE LA which is now part of Respawn Entertainment and are currently hard at work on a Medal of Honor VR game.
So, if you really think about it, Medal of Honors future is inadvertently defined by Jeff Goldblum playing an Elvis-impersonating Count Dracula. Everything ties back to Goldblum being endearingly odd, doesnt it? Literally everything.
Read next:Rockstar Buys Crackdown 2 Developer Ruffian Games, Rebrands To Rockstar Dundee
Doom Eternal Is Now Playable On A Fridge
Cian Maher is an Associate Editor at TheGamer. He's also had work published in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Verge, Vice, Wired, and more. His favourite game of all time is and always will be The Witcher 3, but he also loves The Last Guardian, NieR: Automata, Dishonored, and pretty much every Pokemon game ever released. You can find him on Twitter @cianmaher0.
See the original post here:
Spielberg, Goldblum, And Goosebumps: The Story Of Dreamworks' First Video Game - TheGamer
- Vlad The Impaler, Inspiration For Dracula, May Have Cried Tears of Blood: Study - NDTV - March 24th, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC): Does the Reward Outweigh the Risks? - InvestorsObserver - March 24th, 2024
- Abigail's 1936 Inspiration Teases An Appearance By 1 Classic Horror Character (Not Dracula) - Screen Rant - March 24th, 2024
- Off The Telly - 4. "She is basically the sister of Dracula" - BBC - March 24th, 2024
- Is Dracula Token (DRC) Heading the Right Direction Thursday? - InvestorsObserver - March 16th, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC), High Volatility and Rising Sunday: Is it Time to Cash Out? - InvestorsObserver - March 16th, 2024
- 'Dracula A.D. 1972': when the iconic vampire met the hippies - Far Out Magazine - March 16th, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC) Do the Risks Outweigh the Rewards Wednesday? - InvestorsObserver - March 8th, 2024
- Luc Besson to Direct Dracula, Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz Will Lead Retelling of Bram Stokers Gothic Classic - Variety - February 19th, 2024
- Luc Besson to Direct Dracula, Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz Will Lead Retelling of Bram Stokers Gothic ... - IMDb - February 19th, 2024
- New Dracula Movie Is In Development With Different Retelling Of Bram Stoker's Story - Screen Rant - February 19th, 2024
- Caleb Landry Jones to Re-Team With Luc Besson on Dracula Origin Story - Hollywood Reporter - February 19th, 2024
- Caleb Landry Jones And Christoph Waltz To Star In Luc Besson's Dracula - Empire - February 19th, 2024
- New Dracula Feature Will Delve Into The Vampire Lord's Origins - Horror News Network - February 19th, 2024
- In This Moment to Launch the Godmode Tour with Kim Dracula - Knotfest - February 19th, 2024
- Dracula's Chivito: New protoplanetary disk discovered with Pan-STARRS - Phys.org - February 19th, 2024
- In 'Dracula: Blood Hunt,' the Lord of Vampires Takes the Daughter of Blade Under His Wing - Marvel.com - February 19th, 2024
- Embrace The Darkside! Richmond Ballet Redefines Valentine's with Dracula - rvamag.com - February 19th, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC) What Does the Chart Say Sunday? - InvestorsObserver - February 19th, 2024
- Dracula's Chivito Is This Year's Best Name For A Newly Found Astronomical Object - IFLScience - February 19th, 2024
- From Billie Holiday to Dracula, is there anyone Zahra Newman cant play? - Sydney Morning Herald - February 19th, 2024
- Review: Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Presents a New Take on 'Dracula' From a Female Perspective - Cincinnati CityBeat - February 11th, 2024
- A 103-Year-Old Lost Film Was Actually The First Dracula Movie, Not The Movie People Think Is The First - Screen Rant - February 11th, 2024
- February 2020 (version 1.43) - Visual Studio Code - February 3rd, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC), High Volatility and Falling Friday: Is it Time to Cash Out? - InvestorsObserver - February 3rd, 2024
- Is Dracula Token (DRC) Heading the Right Direction Wednesday? - InvestorsObserver - February 3rd, 2024
- The Weekly Pull: Detective Comics, Resurrection of Magneto, Universe Monsters: Dracula, and More - ComicBook.com - January 26th, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC) Do the Risks Outweigh the Rewards Monday? - InvestorsObserver - January 26th, 2024
- Dracula Token (DRC) Falls 47.02% Wednesday: What's Next for This Bearish Rated Crypto? - InvestorsObserver - January 26th, 2024
- The Real History That Went Into Bram Stoker's Dracula | TIME - January 18th, 2024
- Dracula writer Bram Stoker revealed as a humble minute taker for actor charity - The Guardian - January 18th, 2024
- 'Abigail' Trailer Dracula's Daughter Is on the Hunt - Collider - January 18th, 2024
- Which 'Dracula' Movie Is the Most Book-Accurate? - Collider - January 9th, 2024
- Arundel Playhouse celebrates a successful 2023 and kicks off 2024 with 'Dracula: The Bloody Truth' - SussexWorld - January 9th, 2024
- THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER Almost Featured Van Helsing and a Werewolf-Like Dracula GeekTyrant - GeekTyrant - January 1st, 2024
- The strong Dracula Open Youth & Junior Tournament will take place in Romania on February 11-19 - Asian Boxing Confederation - January 1st, 2024
- Is Dracula Token (DRC) Heading the Right Direction Tuesday? - InvestorsObserver - January 1st, 2024
- Defining Dracula: A Century Of Vampire Evolution : NPR - December 23rd, 2023
- Was Dracula a Real Person? | Britannica - December 12th, 2023
- Dracula, a Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really Is Easy, Entertaining, and Empowering - Portland Mercury - December 12th, 2023
- Dracula: The women fight back - Oregon ArtsWatch - December 12th, 2023
- Dracula parrots: what are they and do they feed on blood? - BBC Discover Wildlife - December 12th, 2023
- Wonka | How Hook and Dracula informed the look of this autumn's musical - Filmstories - December 12th, 2023
- Dracula and rabbits and the tooth fairy...oh my! Omaha dentists trade in their traditional scrubs, making the experience less frightening - KETV Omaha - November 2nd, 2023
- Week in theater: Dracula flies into Denver, Sweeney Todd in Longmont and holiday productions are on the horizon - Boulder Daily Camera - October 16th, 2023
- When Keanu Reeves & Winona Ryder Accidentally Got Hitched On The Sets Of Bram Stokers Dracula & They Didnt Realize It Was For Real - Koimoi - February 10th, 2023
- Nina Price and Dracula Will Be the Villains of #Blade #MarvelStudios - Latest Tweet by Marvel Updates - LatestLY - January 1st, 2023
- A Dracula where the women fight back - The Boston Globe - October 19th, 2022
- Owners infuse Romanian history to Dracula-themed wine bar in downtown St. Pete The Crow's Nest at USF St. Petersburg - The Crow's Nest - October 19th, 2022
- Meet Dracula authors great-grand nephew tonight! - wnky.com - October 19th, 2022
- Cape Cod theater: Halloween season with 'The Addams Family,' Dracula - Cape Cod Times - October 19th, 2022
- "A Tale of Two Villains: Theme and Symbolism in Dracula and the Harry Potter Saga" Available Now from Histria Books - openPR - October 19th, 2022
- Netflix Added 36 New Movies and Series This Week - What's on Netflix - October 19th, 2022
- The Vampire and Its Cultural History Exponent - Exponent - October 19th, 2022
- Corin Hardy Releases The Schedule For His Halloween Horrorthon 2022 - Empire - October 19th, 2022
- Shows like Interview with the Vampire: 8 titles to sink your teeth into next - Android Authority - October 19th, 2022
- 2022: The Year of Dracula, Vampire Interviews, Nosferatu, Renfield and more - PW-Philadelphia Weekly - October 11th, 2022
- Bram Stokers Dracula review Gary Oldman is Pierrot from hell in blood-red 90s take - The Guardian - October 11th, 2022
- Cary Elwes on Bram Stokers Dracula at 30: Gary Oldman spent most of the time sleeping in a coffin - Yahoo Movies UK - October 11th, 2022
- The Best New Horror Comics in October 2022: Werewolf by Night, Creepshow, Dracula, and More! - Den of Geek - October 11th, 2022
- Ranking The Horror Movie Sequels That Sent Their Monsters To Space - Den of Geek - October 11th, 2022
- I picked up a book for 1 at a charity shop I was stunned when I found out its true value... - The US Sun - October 11th, 2022
- Abbyr Shen Reesht - Say That Again 9th October 2022 - Abbyr Shen Reesht - Say That Again - Manx Radio - October 11th, 2022
- Top 8 Horror Classics To See In Theaters This October - Bounding Into Comics - October 11th, 2022
- 'Dracula' in Spanish finds new blood after 91 years : NPR - October 2nd, 2022
- Watch Dracula Season 1 | Prime Video - amazon.com - October 2nd, 2022
- Feature: Ben Stevenson's Dracula, presented by the Nevada Ballet Theatre, to Bring Gothic Grandness - Broadway World - October 2nd, 2022
- We get real about love, sex and beauty this October on SBS VICELAND - SBS - October 2nd, 2022
- Celebrating the Glorious Horror Films of 1992 - Nerdist - October 2nd, 2022
- Plan your October in North Texas with these spirited events - KERA News - October 2nd, 2022
- October 2022 Programming on the Criterion Channel Announced - CriterionCast.com - October 2nd, 2022
- Horror as Folk: Viy and Even More Pastoral Folk Horror - Signal Horizon - October 2nd, 2022
- Intimacy and Manipulation: A Reading List of Fictional Diaries - Literary Hub - October 2nd, 2022
- 8 Horror Movies To Watch This Fall - Study Breaks - October 2nd, 2022
- 5 times Horror Franchises went to space and struggled to return to Earth - We Got This Covered - October 2nd, 2022
- Inside the life of a vampire tourist - I've even written a PhD about Dracula - iNews - September 8th, 2022
- Cinespia's October Line-up to Frightfully Finish Its Season - NBC Southern California - September 8th, 2022
- REVIEW: Major Sweets Ice Cream Sandwich, Petrified Rat Tails and More from Dracula Booth at Halloween Horror Nights 31 - WDW News Today - September 8th, 2022
- What's coming to the big stage: theater preview - The Vantage - September 8th, 2022
- Review: House of Darkness Brings an Ominous, Seductive Twist to a Classic Tale - The Mary Sue - September 8th, 2022
Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero