
The Story of a Voice: HAL in ‘2001’ Wasn’t Always So Eerily Calm - dwighttk
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/movies/hal-2001-a-space-odyssey-voice-douglas-rain.html
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helloworld
This part surprised me:

 _Douglas Rain [the voice of HAL] himself has never seen “2001: A Space
Odyssey.” For the retired actor who spent decades at the Stratford Festival
and turns 90 in May, the performance was simply a job._

This was his best-known role by far, and he's never been curious, in 50 years,
to see the movie?

~~~
mieseratte
I'm not much of an artist but for a while I was dabbling in graphic design,
and would make desktop background images. Problem was, I could always spot the
flaws. Every. Single. Time.

If I made art for a living, I'd want to avoid the final product. I'd surely
torture myself with the little flaws that no one actually notices.

~~~
hvidgaard
Don't you think that is counter productive if you're actively trying to
improve?

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nothrabannosir
Maybe with graphic design, but not necessarily with acting. The death of an
actor is self awareness. The last thing you want to do on stage is think about
the fact you’re acting. You’re not. You’re there, you’re feeling this, this is
happening. Not knowing what you look like can be very liberating.

Let your coach look at the performance and tell you what to change.

This is why Stanislavski himself, the alpha and omega of modern acting, said
never to rehearse in a mirror.

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DoreenMichele
I think if they had gone with their first take on it, where the AI even cries,
the movie would be much less famous. I think that's not terribly believable.
Emotion has a strong visceral component.

The possibility of somehow adding emotion to an AI was explored in _I, Robot_.
But I suspect that robots and computers as emotionless intelligence fits with
them not being organic, living creatures. I don't think it is mere coincidence
that the word _feeling_ applies to both emotion and tactile sensation.

~~~
khedoros1
Your comment reminds me of a character in a show called "The Good Place". The
character is basically an AI construct in a human shape. There's a whole line
of jokes about people forgetting that "she" isn't human, or even alive.

Anyhow, at some point in the plot, someone is going to push a button to
destroy her. She reminds them that she will attempt to persuade them not to
"kill" her, as part of a self-preservation protocol. Whenever someone
approaches the button, she starts sobbing, pleading for her (non-existent)
family, and so on.

HAL was manipulative. If the scene was carefully written to show that the
crying was a form of emotional manipulation, I could see that working. Of
course, the version used in the movie highlights HAL's inhuman qualities
nicely. It's a tough call which would be more interesting.

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lobster_johnson
I looked, and couldn't find any audio from the Martin Balsam version anywhere.
I assume Kubrick sat on these tapes, which means they might be buried in his
extensive archive [1], since it seems he never threw anything away. I hope
they'll surface someday.

[1]
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1263704/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1263704/)

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wernerb
Paul Bettany (Jarvis from Iron man) claimed he did not watch the iron Man
movies either. [0]

[0]: [https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Paul-Bettany-Says-He-
Never-S...](https://www.cinemablend.com/new/Paul-Bettany-Says-He-Never-Seen-
Any-Iron-Man-Films-33623.html)

------
js2
Tangentially related (probably most HN readers know this?): Back to the Future
was originally filmed with Eric Stoltz as Marty. Kurt Russell auditioned for
both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

