It’s time to fortify the flotation tank with Espom salt and boil up the magic mushrooms, as tomorrow night we’ll salute the late William Hurt, with a discussion about his breakout role as Dr. Edward Jessup, the navel-gazing, commitment-phobic scientist at the center of the psychic maelstrom in Ken Russell’s “Altered States” (1980).
Paddy Chayefsky’s jargon-heavy screenplay is lent verisimilitude by Howard Hawks-style overlapping dialogue, and punched up by mind-bending hallucinations steeped in religious symbolism, apocalyptic sexuality, and Kubrick-worthy Rorschach revelation. Future Pulitzer Prize winner John Corigliano provides the eerie underscore, with tender interludes for the scenes between Hurt and Blair Brown.
Is it a horror movie or a relationship parable? The evolution of man or the evolution of self? Paradise lost or paradise found? In the quest for meaning, even to the origins of life, perhaps the most transformative answers are closer than we think.
The role of Jekyllesque Dr. Jessup fits Hurt like a surgical glove. It’s easy to see why he became one of the most interesting leading men of the 1980s.
Back in those days, whenever they couldn’t get Jeff Goldblum for the quirky scientific sidekick, they usually turned to Bob Balaban. Charles Haid brings just the right mix of skepticism and comic relief as Jessup’s skeptical colleague.
Complete sensory deprivation is guaranteed, when you join us for the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. The regression will be evident in the comments section, when everyone goes ape, as we livestream on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!