SPHE Press Release: Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniv. (DVD,BLU-RAY) (1 Viewer)

[Simon Howson]

I've got that book somewhere. Didn't she also say that cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was sacked for working too slowly?

 

[Steve Christou]

Was Zsigmond sacked? I know at one point Phillips was begging Spielberg to fire him.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Its possible. Spielberg also used Bill Fraker and Douglas Slocombe on the picture.

 

[Steve Christou]

Vilmos Zsigmond won an Oscar for his work on Close Encounters, I wonder what his thank you speech must have been like. "...and finally thank you Mr. Spielberg for sacking me..."

 

[WillG]

I vaguely recall reading about one incident involving Phillips and Zsigmond. I don't remember where I read it. It might have been on this forum. Basically it involved the dailies on one of the scenes coming back overexposed from Phillips' perspective. She went over Zsigmond's head and ordered the film to be reprocessed. Supposedly this infuriated Zsigmond who had the film processed exactly how he wanted it to look and there might have went to each other's throats over it. I could be wrong about these details though. Like I said, it was something I am vaguely remembering.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

KMR - I saw a print of the original version a couple of years ago at a theater in Seal Beach (don't know where they got it; it was a little aged, but certainly watchable), and I don't think that line was in there. ("Run, Mr. Neary.") The scene of Ray, Jillian, & Larry running is a little longer in the OV than in either of the other cuts, but Lacombe didn't have any lines there.

Of course, I can't confirm what might have been in 1977 prints, but as far as I can tell, the OV on the 30th Anniversary Edition is the same as what I saw that night. I'm sorry; I know that probably doesn't help.