Top SFX shots No.29: 2001: A Space Odyssey

The pioneering rotoscoping and miniature work of Douglas Trumbull, Wally Veevers and Les Bowie often overshadows one of the most effective zero-gravity shots ever filmed - and, unlike on Apollo 13, the film-makers had no need to hire NASA's 'vomit comet' to obtain it. In the movie Dave Bowman - Keir Dullea - is forced to re-enter a spaceship without a space-helmet, and does so by depressurising his lungs and blowing the explosive bolts of his EVA vehicle, which is pressed hard to the airlock. The shot was accomplished by positioning the camera directly beneath the pod and airlock set and ejecting a roped Dullea from the prop pod with a puff of propane. The angle hides the rope and the lack of any sound (until the cabin repressurises) is what sells the shot. Arguably the ejection of the oxygen in one blast might have moved the pod away, but it remains an amazing shot. There are too many other contenders from 2001 to even begin to list them here.

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