Altered States

Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers, 1980. Collection of ten vintage black and white borderless studio still photographs from the 1980 film.

Based on screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky's 1978 novel. Director Ken Russell's first American film, itself an "altered state" during production. Russell was constantly inebriated on the set, and had the actors mumble their lines in protest against Chayefsky's script. Chayefsky was subsequently banned from the set, and denounced the film even before production began.

Edward Jessup (William Hurt, in his film debut) is a Harvard professor whose studies of the limits of human consciousness inevitably lead him down a strange and horrible path, from early experiments with a sensory deprivation tank to participation in Mexican Ayahuasca ceremonies.

Set in Boston, shot on location in New York, California, Massachusetts, and Mexico.

9.5 x 7.5 inches. Near Fine.

[Book #150748]