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Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001: A Space Odyssey

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There have been several making-of-2001 books (Jerome Agel's "Making of 2001" in 1970; Piers Bizony's "2001: Filming the Future"; Arthur C. Clarke's "The Lost Worlds of 2001"; probably others). But the Dawn of Man prologue hasn't gotten a lot of coverage.

"Moonwatcher's Memoir" rectifies this oversight, and then some. Richter had a great, exhausting time during his year (!) working on apes with Kubrick, and tells all. In doing so, he throws new light on the movie's timeline; it started shooting in Dec. 65, yet the long-planned ape scenes weren't shot until very late in the game: fall of 67 (the movie came out in April 68). How Kubrick kept his poise during such a long project remains, as the film might say, "a total mystery."

To use book review jargon, this book is a must for all Kubrick completists. You know who you are.

Recommended reading for any 2001 fan, movie critic, and especially the members of the nominating committee and members who gave an Oscar to the makeup designer of Planet of the Apes (1967) (POA).

There is an apocryphal tale that the next year, after 2001 came out, that a member of The Acadamy nominating committee was asked "How could you give an award for the "ape" costumes in POA but pass over the hominids in 2001."

The telling answer was along the lines of "Those were actors in costumes? We thought they were real apes!" Even it the story isn't true, it's not totally unbelievable.

Some tidbits in the book detail the "ape" costumes, and the question of who to get to be in the costumes. Kubrick decidely did not want them to look like a human in a costume. They tried actors, but that didn't work out. Finally, they hit upon dancers, espescially skinney ones who would still look wild and hungry with a layer of costume over them.

I always wondered who was the man in the Monkey Suit and now I know. A fascinating easy to read memoir. An insiders view of the making of one of the most influential movies of all time. A must read for all 2001 fans.