The director, born in Lyon, France, had an interest in art from an early age and he’s now transformed that into a visually stunning movie called “The Book.” Weiss, who goes by the symbol Ø, explained the plot of the film, saying, “In the year 2284, a celebrated author is confronted by look-alike aliens from another dimension. They want to take over his identity and use his name to publish their manuscript of ‘The Book,’ their means for ‘saving’ humanity.”
Weiss continued, “Anyone reading ‘The Book’ is permanently transformed by having their negative emotions erased. Envy, greed, fear and anger disappear, creating a new Utopian civilization. Two hundred years later, a resistance movement rejects ‘The Book,’ wanting to keep the entire range of human emotions.”
Richard Weiss Explains How He Created The Book They Came from Inner Space
He recounted the genesis of his unique idea. “While searching for a name in the phone book, I stumbled on an entire page of people with my last name. Narrowing down my search, I found one with my first name as well.”
The coincidence resulted in some deep soul searching for Weiss. He recalled, “I wondered what he could possibly look like? Should I contact him? What about if I met him and he was my doppelganger? How would I react?”
Richard Weiss Talks About Developing The Book They Came from Inner Space
Weiss suddenly found himself with time on his hands to explore the concept in further detail. He noted, “Shortly later, I became bedridden for an entire week and drew pages after pages of seemingly unrelated sketches. When the fever receded I found that, when put together, these sketches fit into a storyboard. And the storyline recalled my earlier experience with the telephone book, but with a super-natural twist.”
While the specifics of “The Book They Came from Inner Space” were a new development, the underlying theories were ones Weiss had contemplated for some time. He admitted, “I’ve always had a fascination with the subject of other dimensions, but also with subliminal manipulation of the masses. It was a subject I had developed in a previous screenplay. I’ve often asked myself if subliminal manipulation is not already implemented, judging by how easily people repeat, word for word, political or advertising slogans.”
He took the concepts and put his own spin on them. “Usually, such manipulation serves to control and enslave the masses. In ‘The Book,’ the aliens use it to serve and uplift mankind. My previous incident with the telephone book had naturally morphed into a story of alien doppelgangers using subliminal manipulation to uplift humankind. I immediately loved the plot and decided to use it as my debut feature film.”
Richard Weiss Explains the Production Process on The Book They Came from Inner Space
The production took place in Northern California. According to Weiss, “Interiors were filmed in Marin County and Oakland. Exteriors were filmed in and around San Francisco. Production lasted about one year, with a major interruption due to a fire that destroyed the sets and some other bumps on the road.”
Difficulties aside, Weiss described the film “as a colorful kaleidoscopic visual trip. I use imagery, color and composition to control the emotional reaction of the audience. It’s an overload of visual information — there are over 3000 cuts in the editing — and a combination of harsh lighting, wide-angle lens and low angle framing.”
Richard Weiss Ponders the Notion of Good vs. Evil in The Book They Came from Inner Space
It’s also provides an unusual perspective on the struggles of good vs. evil. As Weiss acknowledged, “I personally don’t believe in good vs. evil. I think it is a fabrication used to manipulate human behavior. Life is made of choices and we use our free will to swing one way or the other, experiencing the consequences of the choices we make. In ‘The Book,’ the aliens use extreme methods to manipulate humans. That could be viewed as evil. But their actions are performed for the good of humankind.”
He went on to say, “I believe our lives are made of contradictions. Nothing is good or evil, black or white. There is a lot of grey area, and that’s what I explore in ‘The Book’. Even antagonists can become protagonists.”
Richard Weiss Is Developing More Film Projects
Weiss has two other projects in the works. He described the first, “Pandemonium,” as, “Peter Pan meets The Wizard of Oz. Imagine princesses and pirates, cowboys and Indians fairies and partying teenagers, living their adventures simultaneously on the screen without being aware of each other. It’s going to be a fun visual trip on the wild side, accompanied with catchy songs.”
He’s also working on the family oriented comedy, “Mayhem.” For this project Weiss plans to “put together unlikely protagonists such as a car and an elephant, a movie star and a gypsy, an angel of death and a magician. It’s also a combination of live action and computer generated imagery in which protagonists trick each other and nobody is who he/she seems to be.”
For information about “The Book They Came from Inner Space,” visit the official website. Check out the trailer on YouTube.
Nancy Harrington - Sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington, the Pop Culture Passionistas, are huge pop culture fans. In fact, you could say it's their passion. ...
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