Chris Carter Goes Green
The creator of The X-Files, Chris Carter, is green.
No, he wasn’t hit by gamma rays and turned into The Hulk – even though that would more entertaining than his last X-Files film, I Want To Believe.
I borrowed a DVD of XF: IWTB. After being disappointed by the main feature I checked out the so-called “special” features that included a short about how Chris went green during the production of his movie.
[Note to historians decades hence: “Green” refers to a fad popular at this time to save the earth from mankind’s impact by using less energy, eating local “organic” foods, and acting like a fanatic over ecology and the environment due to concerns about global warming. While commendable, this fad is out of hand in that some people are joining in because it’s the “cool thing” to do. A present-day individual doesn’t fit in unless he’s absolutely committed to being “green.” Green statements uttered without question act as a shibboleth to hip conformity. Like any fad –-wearing a zoot suit or twirling a Hula-Hoop – it will fade into the background, replaced by another “cool thing.”]
During the featurette Chris repeatedly mentions how a certain car company (that I’m not going to plug) provided hybrid cars for the stars and crew. This saved on gas and resulted in less pollution. Also catering was done using locally grown food.
Right after Chris Carter: Statements on Green Production, there was another featurette entitled Body Parts: Special Makeup Effects. The movie plot involved head transplants (think Grade Z sci fi thriller like The Brain That Wouldn’t Die) and so with the human chop-shop motif various bodies and their parts had to be fabricated out of plastic.
But if I may make a modest proposal like Jonathan Swift, why didn’t the movie production go organic and use real human bodies and parts? After all, unlike silicone, human flesh is biodegradable.
And with a creative chef, they could’ve done the ultimate in recycling with the catering service. Just use the soylent recipe.
(Sorry. Am I making you “green?”)
Comments
While you're living in DC maybe you'll see that famous long stairway that was in The Exorcist, the one where someone fell down and had his head twisted around (in the movie, of course.) I happened to be in DC when they were filming the movie; there were platforms set up outside the house on the hill, covering up the windows facing the street.
It's interesting how movies fake reality. In A Beautiful Mind the trees were bare on the university campus during the filming; it was late fall. CGI added the needed leaves. Walk The Line, the movie about Johnny Cash's life, had a scene in the country that was supposed to take place around Thanksgiving. They filmed too early so CGI made the green leaves yellow.
(Hmmmm, I think I'm watching too many of those Special Features includes with a movie DVD. Trouble is, they're more sometimes more entertaining than the main feature.)
Leigh:
Most Hollywood movies feel recycled, like classics remade (Psycho, The Day The Earth Stood Still) and TV shows converted into films (Wild, Wild West, Bewitched, McHale's Navy). Usually a recycled movie turns out to be a zombie shuffling through the motions.
Ray
Obviously you haven't seen the some of the local "food" here in Plattsburgh, NY. Even a zombie would pass.
Ray