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Ray Harryhausen Speaks!
July 9, 2007

On the occasion of the upcoming release of Sony's 50^th Anniversary DVD Edition of the 1957 sci-fi flick 20 Millions Miles to Earth (Street: July 31, $24.95 srp), I (that is, Laurence Lerman) spoke to special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, the movie magician behind the rendering of film’s remarkable stop-motion monster, the Ymir, who crashes down on Earth from Venus and wreaks some serious havoc in The Eternal City, Rome. In addition to the black & white original, 20 Million Miles will also be available in a newly colorized version supervised by Harryhausen himself.

  

VB: We spoke a few years back about your early black-and-white films and I remember you telling us specifically that 20 Million Miles to Earth was the one you wish you could have made in color.

HARRYHAUSEN: Very much so, but our budget wouldn’t allow for that. The studios were so strict on low-budget science fiction films, which weren’t all that popular at that time.

VB: And you supervised the colorization process on the film?

HARRYHAUSEN: Yes. Last year we colorized the Merian Cooper production of She (1935) and it was beautiful. Now Sony is moving on to 20 Million Miles to Earth and the tests I’ve seen look fantastic.

VB: What scenes in this newly colorized version stand out in particular? 
HARRYHAUSEN: Well, the colorizing improves the whole film. It’s hard to pick one particular scene, but I will tell you that Rome and The Coliseum have never looked more beautiful!

VB: And it looks like you’re also getting colorized--don’t you have a quick walk-on in the film as an elephant herder at the Rome Zoo where the Ymir is being held?

HARRYHAUSEN: Yes, that’s me, I’m told. We broke for lunch during the shooting of that scene and the man who was supposed to be there didn’t come back. So I took off my sweater and ran in there and started feeding the elephant peanuts while the camera was running. I’ve actually never seen myself, but people keep telling me I’m there.

VB: Where does the Ymir rank in your pantheon of monsters? Is he one of your favorites?

HARRYHAUSEN: Oh yes. He went through a lot of changes from the original concept to what you see on the screen. I tried to make something that was very different but still believable. And I was the one who originally brought the 20,000 Miles to Earth story in to the producers, but I gave all the credit to [writer] Charlott Knight. I was very modest in those days.

VB: Modesty and Hollywood don’t seem to mix.

HARRYHAUSEN: No, they don’t. “Modesty” is a dirty word.

Check out the second half of my conversation with Ray later on this week!

Posted by Laurence Lerman on July 9, 2007 | Comments (0)