The Worst Idea Of All Time - Introducing: Eye of the Duck

Starting point is 00:00:00 Do you love movies? Have you ever heard of an Eye of the Duck scene? Fans of filmmaker David Lynch may be familiar with the idea. Lynch says that a duck's eye is like a little jewel. It's in the perfect place, it's the perfect shape, and a duck just wouldn't be a duck without it. According to Lynch, every movie has a scene that defines the whole. I'm Dom Nero. And I'm Adam Volarich. And on each episode of our podcast, Eye of the Duck,

Starting point is 00:00:28 Dom and I explore a movie by finding its most essential scene. Remember the chestburster sequence in Alien? That sudden explosion of body horror says everything you need to know about the joltingly scary 1979 space movie. It's a classic Eye of the Duck. Right now, Dom and I are exploring movies set in the vacuum of space. 2001, Interstellar, Gravity, Solaris, Apollo 13, Wall-E. There are so many fantastic films that take place outside of Earth's orbit, and we're searching for Eye of the Duck scenes in all of them.

Starting point is 00:01:05 We're about to play a clip from our episode on the foundational 1993 Steven Spielberg film, Jurassic Park. While you're listening, follow Eye of the Duck on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Download the Amazon Music app today. I'll just say that my scene is the scene where they first encounter the Brachiosaurus. Is that also your scene? Of course. This was one of the scenes, I think, early on in Eye of the Duck history when This was one of the scenes, I think, early on in Eye of the Duck history when we were talking about this series. I think you're right. I think we did. This podcast, this idea that like,

Starting point is 00:01:32 it's such an Eye of the Duck scene, right? So to be clear for the audience, you will know the scene, I'm gonna describe it anyway. So this is the scene where the gang pulls up in the Jeep. The Williams score begins nice and low and slow. Dr. Alan Grant stands up in his seat and does williams score begins nice and low and slow dr alan grant stands up in his seat and does this incredible thing where he takes off his hat and then his glasses and the camera moves in on him you cut to dr sadler you know holding this leaf and being like

Starting point is 00:01:55 what the hell this leaf is like a million years old it shouldn't exist because for her like the the leaf is her brachiosaurus because she is a because she's a paleo bot yeah like she's seeing a leaf that hasn't existed in millions of years grant leans down and kind of like pulls her up into frame and they both stand up they're looking off screen and they're looking up high and they're looking so high up above camera that you have this immediate sense of the scale of the scene and then you cut ultra wide to the reverse the music kicks in with that perfect like john williams theme and the camera cannot even contain the entire dinosaur this humongous brachiosaurus like that's the scene it has to be yeah it is undeniable this is that this is what

Starting point is 00:02:38 you you seek in life this is all this is all that matters this is what we live for is this it's it's a dinosaur you're dead you crazy son of a bitch you're dead the low angle looking up over the backs of ellie sattler and alan grant that like it's looking so high up that their heads are barely even in the shot to see the top of this brachiosaurus I mean it's just like the most like wonderful you know you're a kid looking over your parents shoulders at some monster that's so like it just defies words yes yes and so I feel like the reason why this is the scene, this is an example of everything that Spielberg does best in blockbuster filmmaking.

Starting point is 00:03:31 You know, like this is like God tier blocking of the scene. Like, you know, you're in a wild new place that you've never been. And yet the way he shot it, you have a full understanding of the scope and scale of the place, even before the dinosaurs are revealed. And the way he moves the dinosaurs are revealed and the way he moves the camera through the scene is like driven by emotion and action it's never arbitrary you start wide show the scale push in on grant for the wonder in his eyes audience feels it too

Starting point is 00:03:55 you cut to saddler interrupted by grant's hand coming down and raising her up then look up all these you know small little things that tell you you're about to be wowed like i don't think you can actually name a filmmaker who is able to convey a sense of wonder better than steven spielberg yeah that is like probably his lasting like gift right film is the sense of wonder right if you look at any of his like sci-fi or like adventure films. Like that's like above all that I feel like is like the trademark, you know? And also it's hard to break this apart because it's become such a part of like our language and in film and in pop culture.

Starting point is 00:04:35 But as you're saying, like we understand this space also because it feels like we've been here before. Like it feels kind of like that, like six flags, like safari you went on when Like it feels kind of like that, like Six Flags, like safari you went on when you were a kid and like the monkey jumped on the roof of your car. Like it has enough,

Starting point is 00:04:52 everything about Jurassic Park itself feels kind of like this Disney world, like, you know, the colors and the textures. And then, I mean, they've gone from making films that feel like theme park rides to making films that are theme park rides. Yeah. I mean, they've gone from making films that feel like theme park rides to making films that are theme park rides. Yeah. And then the costumes here, too, with Alan Grant with the blue shirt and the handkerchief and the hat and then John Hammond in all white and Ellie Sattler in the red.

Starting point is 00:05:20 Like, it's just such like... And Malcolm in the all black. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't get more like just iconic looking but that's that's the thing about this scene though right is that like you could like as far as like eye of the ducks go like you could stop here you could be like this is the perfect blending of filmmaker and material and this is the scene that changes everything in the film and like tells you how to watch the rest of the movie like it's got all of those eye of the duck elements this is not just a film about what if they made dinosaurs this is a film about blockbuster filmmaking it's about like how blockbusters

Starting point is 00:05:54 used to be made and the tipping point that changed them forever and the consequences of it yeah it's the uh what is the line from alien covenant gaze upon Gaze upon my works, you mighty in despair. Yes, it is that moment. It is 100% that.

The Worst Idea Of All Time - Introducing: Eye of the Duck

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.