The Elstree Project is an oral history project which began in 2010, interviewing cast and crew members who worked at Elstree Studios. The project is conducted in partnership Howard Berry, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, and formerly involved Elstree Screen Heritage as a partner. [1] The project is endorsed by the BECTU History Project [2] [3] and Elstree Film Studios. [2]
The Elstree Project interviews cast and crew members who have worked at any of the six main studios in Elstree and Borehamwood: Elstree Film Studios (formerly ABPC, later EMI), BBC Elstree Centre (formerly ATV), MGM-British Studios, Danziger's New Elstree Studios, British and Dominion Studios and The Gate Studios.
The project has interviewed crew members from various departments including continuity, sound, post-production, camera and lighting, props and scenery and construction. Writers, producers and directors have also been interviewed, including Jan Harlan, Roger Moore, [4] Brian Blessed, [5] Kenneth Cope, [5] Walter Murch, [6] and Steven Spielberg. [6] [7]
There is currently no method of public access to the complete archive of interviews. However, the project content has been gradually made available through excerpts and edited documentaries. Content is also accessible in the Elstree and Borehamwood museum. [8]
The project has hosted three seasons of screenings, showing either three films or two films and a double-bill of television episodes of productions made at the studios in Elstree and Borehamwood. These have included The Shining (1980), [9] The Prisoner (TV 1967-68), [10] Flash Gordon (1980) [5] and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (TV 1969-70). [5] Edited extracts from the interviews recorded have been made into documentaries which have been premiered before each screening.
The 17-minute-long documentary which preceded The Shining, entitled Staircases to Nowhere: Making Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining', gained attention from film blogs. [11] [12] [13] Originally containing interviews with five crew members from the film, [2] it was expanded to fifty-five minutes with additional interviews with four more crew members and with Kubrick's widow Christiane. Project content has been used by researchers and authors, such as Kiri Waldon's book British Film Studios, [14] as well as specially created for publication in published works such as the DVD release of Elstree Story. [15]
A documentary, made from project interviews, was completed in October 2014. From Borehamwood to Hollywood: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Elstree, is a 100-minute-long film which tells the story of 100 years of filmmaking in the two towns. The film is narrated by Barbara Windsor. [16]
The project has run several screenings local to the area, and also notably gathered together the crew of The Shining to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of the film, in partnership with Warner Brothers. The organisers reunited 25 crew members from the film, along with Pixar director Lee Unkrich, a fan of the film, and brought them back to Elstree Studios for the first time, before screening the film to an audience, with Q&A. Danny Lloyd, who played Danny in the film, also provided a pre-recorded message for the audience, describing his enjoyment of making the film. [17] [18] [19] [20]
Interviewed for ‘The Elstree Project’:
Interviewed for ‘Kubrick Visions’:
Stanley Kubrick was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or short stories, spanning a number of genres and gaining recognition for their intense attention to detail, innovative cinematography, extensive set design, and dark humor.
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Borehamwood is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, 12 miles (19 km) from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known as Elstree Studios.
Hertsmere is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in Borehamwood. Other settlements in the borough include Bushey, Elstree, Radlett and Potters Bar. The borough contains several film studios, including Elstree Studios and the BBC Elstree Centre at Borehamwood. The borough borders Three Rivers, Watford, St Albans, and Welwyn Hatfield in Hertfordshire and the three north London boroughs of Harrow, Barnet and Enfield. Hertsmere is located mainly within the M25 Motorway.
Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios have been located in the area since 1914 when film production began there.
Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about 15 miles northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree.
Dark Side of the Moon is a French mockumentary by director William Karel. It originally aired on the Franco-German television network Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune.
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Hertsmere is a constituency in Hertfordshire, England, represented in the House of Commons since 2015 by Oliver Dowden, who currently serves as deputy prime minister.
Vivian Vanessa Kubrick, also credited under the pseudonym Abigail Mead, is an American filmmaker and composer. She is the daughter of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick.
Jan Harlan is a German-American executive producer and the brother of Christiane Kubrick, director Stanley Kubrick's widow. He is the nephew of the film director Veit Harlan.
The following is a list of unproduced Stanley Kubrick projects in roughly chronological order. During his long career, American film director Stanley Kubrick had worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond the pre-production stage under his direction. Some of these projects fell into development hell or are officially cancelled.
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Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) directed thirteen feature films and three short documentaries over the course of his career. His work as a director, spanning diverse genres, is widely regarded as extremely influential.
Part of the New Hollywood wave, Kubrick's films are considered by film historian Michel Ciment to be "among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century", and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in the history of cinema. According to film historian and Kubrick scholar Robert Kolker, Kubrick's films were "more intellectually rigorous than the work of any other American filmmaker."
Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and photographer.
Elstree Studios on Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire is a British film and television production centre operated by Elstree Film Studios Limited. One of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios, the Shenley Road studios originally opened in 1925.
Filmworker is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Tony Zierra about Leon Vitali, a successful British actor who, after playing the role of Lord Bullingdon in the Stanley Kubrick-directed Barry Lyndon, gave up his acting career to work for decades as Kubrick’s assistant. Filmworker premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival on May 19 and was nominated for the L'Œil d'or, le prix du documentaire – Cannes.
The Shining is an American supernatural horror media franchise that originated from the 1977 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The novel was later adapted into a 1980 film and a 1997 television miniseries. King later wrote a 2013 sequel novel, Doctor Sleep, which was adapted to film in 2019.
multiple-Oscar winner Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Return to Oz) were also interviewed for the Project.
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