.gif)
Lifeforce (film)
Encyclopedia
Lifeforce is a 1985 science fiction film
directed by Tobe Hooper
from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
and Don Jakoby, from the novel The Space Vampires
, published in 1976, by Colin Wilson
.
Churchill finds a 150-mile long spaceship hidden in the corona of the comet. Upon entering the alien spacecraft, the crew finds hundreds of dead and shrivelled bat-like creatures and three naked humanoid bodies (two male and one female) in suspended animation
within glass coffin-like containers. The crew recovers the three aliens and begins the return trip to Earth
.
During the return journey, Mission Control loses contact with the shuttle as it nears Earth and a rescue mission is sent to find out what happened on board. The rescuers find the Churchill completely gutted by fire, except for the three suspended animation cases bearing the aliens. All three are taken to European Space Research Centre in London where they are watched over by Dr Leonard Bukovski (Michael Gothard
) and Dr Hans Fallada (Frank Finlay
). Prior to an autopsy
taking place the naked female 'vampire' (Mathilda May
) awakens and sucks the titular "life force" out of a guard. She then escapes the research facility and begins draining various humans of their life force and moving through various host bodies. It transpires the aliens are a race of space vampires that consume the life force
of a living being, rather than blood.
Meanwhile, in Texas
, an escape pod from the shuttle Churchill is found with Col. Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback
) still alive. He is flown to London
and tells how the crew were drained of their life force. To save Earth from this fate, Carlsen set fire to the shuttle and escaped in the pod. During hypnosis it is clear Carlsen has a psychic link to the female alien. Carlsen and Col. Colin Caine (Peter Firth
), a member of the SAS
, trace the alien to the body of a nurse at a hospital for the mentally disturbed in Yorkshire. They believe they have managed to trap the alien girl within the heavily sedated body of the hospital's manager, Dr Armstrong (Patrick Stewart
). However, the entire episode was a trick to lure them away from London.
As Carlsen and Caine are transporting Dr Armstrong in a helicopter back to London, the alien girl breaks free from a sedated Dr Armstrong and disappears. When they arrive back in London it is clear that a plague has taken full control - even the prime minister has been infected and martial law has been enacted to prevent the spread of the plague out of London. The two male vampires - previously thought destroyed - have also escaped from confinement by taking the forms of the soldiers guarding them, and begun to transform most of London
's population into vampiric zombies. Once transformed, the victims cycle into living-dead every two hours and seek out the living, absorbing the life force from their victims. These people themselves become zombies and the transformation process repeats. This energy is then collected by the male vampires who direct it to the female vampire who transfers it to the waiting spaceship in Earth's orbit.
Fallada manages to impale one of the male vampires with a sword made of lead. He surmises that the legends of vampires may well be drawn from a previous visit by this space vampire race. Carlsen then admits to Caine that whilst on the shuttle he felt compelled to open the female vampire's container and to have shared his life force with hers. Carlsen realises his psychic connection is being used to lure him back to the alien so she can regain the life force she shared with him. She is located lying upon a church's altar transferring the energy to her spaceship.
Caine follows Carlsen and dispatches the second male vampire (with the lead sword, obtained from Fallada, who Caine had to kill due to becoming infected as with the others at the research centre) before locating Carlsen who sacrifices himself by impaling himself and the female alien in the process. Wounded but not fatally, the female vampire returns to her ship, releasing a burst of energy that blasts the top off the church building in the process and taking Carlsen with her. The two ascend up the column of light to the vessel, which then departs towards the comet it came from.
's three-picture deal with Cannon. The other two films are the remake of Invaders from Mars
and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Filming began on February 2, 1984. Before Tobe Hooper was finally approved, Michael Winner
, at one point, was offered the chance to direct the film.
The movie was originally filmed and promoted under the same title as Colin Wilson source novel. But Cannon Films, which was the studio that backed and produced the film, reportedly spent nearly US$
25 million in hopes of creating a full blown blockbuster
, and ridiculed The Space Vampires for sounding too much like another of the studio's typical low budget exploitation films. So, the title was changed to Lifeforce, referring to the spiritual energy the space vampires drain from their victims, and it was edited for its U.S. theatrical release by Tri-Star Pictures into a 101 min. domestic cut version that was partially re-scored by Michael Kamen
, with a majority of Henry Mancini
's original music remaining.
and Don Jakoby. Script doctors Michael Armstrong
and Olaf Pooley
did some uncredited work on the script. Incidentally, it was Tobe Hooper who came up with the idea of using Halley's Comet in the screenplay.
, Klaus Kinski
and Olivia Hussey
were originally announced to star in late 1983, according to the film news section of Teletext
. At one time, George Peppard
was attached to the role of Colonel Carlsen, and over 1000 actresses were considered and/or interviewed for the female vampire. Meanwhile, Cannon tried to get Anthony Hopkins
to play Caine who turned it down; then the film company thought they had a deal with Terence Stamp
but for some reason that fell through. Michael Gothard
screen tested for Caine too, but when Tobe Hooper met Peter Firth
, he offered him the role and Firth was approved by the studio.
When filming began the important cameo of Dr. Armstrong had not been yet cast. Later, John Gielgud was initially cast for the role, but was replaced by Patrick Stewart
. According to some biographies of Gielgud, he departed the production because of a disagreement over his fee. Frank Finlay
replaced Klaus Kinski in the role of Fallada, while Olivia Hussey was replaced by Nancy Paul in the role of Ellen Donaldson. Tim Dry
and Sean Crawford were interviewed for the male vampires, and Billy Idol
was considered for the role of one of them as well.
The role of Kelly, played by Chris Sullivan, was actually 6 roles joined together by Tobe Hooper after he met Sullivan who was initially offered the role of a crew member before they decided that the role should be played by a female.
Chris Jagger (brother of Sir Mick) played one of the male vampires.
The BBC newsreader early in the film, John Edmunds
, really was a BBC newsreader from the 1960s to early 1980s.
Jerome Willis
spent three weeks working on this film, playing the role of the pathologist.
, the umbrella-like alien spaceship was modelled after an artichoke
, while the model London destroyed in the film was actually the remains of Tucktonia
, a model village
near Christchurch
, UK that had closed not long before the shooting of the film. It took a week to film the death scene of the pathologist played by Jerome Willis, and bodycasts of Frank Finlay, Patrick Stewart and Aubrey Morris
were made by make-up effects supervisor Nick Maley for their death scenes.
was first asked to write the film score
before Henry Mancini
was brought in and composed a sometimes atonal score. For the US domestic cut version, Michael Kamen
was approved to write the occasional alternative music cues that were partially re-scored and placed in at the last minute for some of the US domestic prints of the film.
According to Nicholas Ball, who played the main British
astronaut Derebridge, it was felt that there was too much material in space
and so the majority of the Churchill scenes were deleted. Also, most of Nicholas Ball's performance ended up on the cutting room floor
according to an interview he gave on the UK talk show Wogan
in 1985.
Patrick Stewart said in interviews that he was disappointed at the cuts made to the film and that Tobe Hooper was his favorite director to work with.
According to interviews with Bill Malin, who plays one of the male vampires, the film went over schedule so some important scenes were never shot and also that the film was shut down at one time because they had run out of money.
Despite being credited on the US domestic cut, the following actors were deleted from that cut of the film: John Woodnutt
, John Forbes-Robertson
and Russell Sommers. The Churchill commanding officer
Rawlins, played by Geoffrey Frederick, was British, but in post-production
it was decided to re-voice him by Patrick Jordan
, a US performer. Also in the US version, some of Geoffrey Frederick's voiceover heard on the Churchill is also dubbed.
, with a majority of Henry Mancini
's original music still left remaining. The original 116 min international theatrical cut version, which is now currently available on video and DVD, contains more violent and erotic footage that Tri-Star cut from the domestic version, along with the entirety of Mancini's full music score in place of Kamen's occasional music cues placed at the last minute for U.S. domestic prints of the film.
sci-fi film, Cocoon
. In total, Lifeforce earned $11,603,545 at the US box office, a poor return on its estimated $25 million dollar budget.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
directed by Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...
from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
Dan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
and Don Jakoby, from the novel The Space Vampires
The Space Vampires
The Space Vampires is a British science fiction horror novel written by author Colin Wilson, and first published in England and the United States by Random House in 1976. This is Wilson's fifty-first book...
, published in 1976, by Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson
Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
.
Plot
While investigating Halley's Comet, the crew of the space shuttleSpace Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
Churchill finds a 150-mile long spaceship hidden in the corona of the comet. Upon entering the alien spacecraft, the crew finds hundreds of dead and shrivelled bat-like creatures and three naked humanoid bodies (two male and one female) in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
within glass coffin-like containers. The crew recovers the three aliens and begins the return trip to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
During the return journey, Mission Control loses contact with the shuttle as it nears Earth and a rescue mission is sent to find out what happened on board. The rescuers find the Churchill completely gutted by fire, except for the three suspended animation cases bearing the aliens. All three are taken to European Space Research Centre in London where they are watched over by Dr Leonard Bukovski (Michael Gothard
Michael Gothard
Michael Alan Gothard was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Kai in the television series Arthur of the Britons and for his role as the mysterious villain Emile Leopold Locque in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.-Early life:Michael Gothard was born in London in 1939...
) and Dr Hans Fallada (Frank Finlay
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
). Prior to an autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
taking place the naked female 'vampire' (Mathilda May
Mathilda May
Mathilda May is a French film actress.-Early life:May was born in Paris. Her father is playwright Victor Haïm, who is of Greek and Turkish descent. Her mother is Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson...
) awakens and sucks the titular "life force" out of a guard. She then escapes the research facility and begins draining various humans of their life force and moving through various host bodies. It transpires the aliens are a race of space vampires that consume the life force
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
of a living being, rather than blood.
Meanwhile, in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, an escape pod from the shuttle Churchill is found with Col. Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback
Steve Railsback
Steve Railsback is an American theatre, film and television actor, born in Dallas, Texas.-Personal life:Railsback was born Stephen Hall Railsback, in Dallas, Texas, the son of Emerett Spencer and Clyde Webb Railsback.-Career:Railsback was a student of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio and in...
) still alive. He is flown to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and tells how the crew were drained of their life force. To save Earth from this fate, Carlsen set fire to the shuttle and escaped in the pod. During hypnosis it is clear Carlsen has a psychic link to the female alien. Carlsen and Col. Colin Caine (Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
), a member of the SAS
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
, trace the alien to the body of a nurse at a hospital for the mentally disturbed in Yorkshire. They believe they have managed to trap the alien girl within the heavily sedated body of the hospital's manager, Dr Armstrong (Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
). However, the entire episode was a trick to lure them away from London.
As Carlsen and Caine are transporting Dr Armstrong in a helicopter back to London, the alien girl breaks free from a sedated Dr Armstrong and disappears. When they arrive back in London it is clear that a plague has taken full control - even the prime minister has been infected and martial law has been enacted to prevent the spread of the plague out of London. The two male vampires - previously thought destroyed - have also escaped from confinement by taking the forms of the soldiers guarding them, and begun to transform most of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's population into vampiric zombies. Once transformed, the victims cycle into living-dead every two hours and seek out the living, absorbing the life force from their victims. These people themselves become zombies and the transformation process repeats. This energy is then collected by the male vampires who direct it to the female vampire who transfers it to the waiting spaceship in Earth's orbit.
Fallada manages to impale one of the male vampires with a sword made of lead. He surmises that the legends of vampires may well be drawn from a previous visit by this space vampire race. Carlsen then admits to Caine that whilst on the shuttle he felt compelled to open the female vampire's container and to have shared his life force with hers. Carlsen realises his psychic connection is being used to lure him back to the alien so she can regain the life force she shared with him. She is located lying upon a church's altar transferring the energy to her spaceship.
Caine follows Carlsen and dispatches the second male vampire (with the lead sword, obtained from Fallada, who Caine had to kill due to becoming infected as with the others at the research centre) before locating Carlsen who sacrifices himself by impaling himself and the female alien in the process. Wounded but not fatally, the female vampire returns to her ship, releasing a burst of energy that blasts the top off the church building in the process and taking Carlsen with her. The two ascend up the column of light to the vessel, which then departs towards the comet it came from.
Principal cast
- Steve RailsbackSteve RailsbackSteve Railsback is an American theatre, film and television actor, born in Dallas, Texas.-Personal life:Railsback was born Stephen Hall Railsback, in Dallas, Texas, the son of Emerett Spencer and Clyde Webb Railsback.-Career:Railsback was a student of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio and in...
as Col. Tom Carlsen - Peter FirthPeter FirthPeter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
as Col. Colin Caine - Frank FinlayFrank FinlayFrancis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
as Dr. Hans Fallada - Mathilda MayMathilda MayMathilda May is a French film actress.-Early life:May was born in Paris. Her father is playwright Victor Haïm, who is of Greek and Turkish descent. Her mother is Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson...
as Female Vampire - Patrick StewartPatrick StewartSir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
as Dr. Armstrong - Michael GothardMichael GothardMichael Alan Gothard was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Kai in the television series Arthur of the Britons and for his role as the mysterious villain Emile Leopold Locque in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.-Early life:Michael Gothard was born in London in 1939...
as Dr. Bukovsky - Nicholas Ball as Roger Derebridge
- Aubrey MorrisAubrey MorrisAubrey Morris is a British actor perhaps best known for his appearances in the cult 1970s films A Clockwork Orange and The Wicker Man....
as Sir Percy Heseltine - Nancy Paul as Ellen Donaldson
- John HallamJohn HallamJohn William Francis Hallam was a Northern Irish character actor.- Career :He appeared in many film and television roles including Nicholas and Alexandra , Murphy's War , The Pallisers , The Mallens , Flash Gordon , Dragonslayer , the BBC television adaptations of Prince Caspian...
as Lamson
Main background
Lifeforce was the first film of Tobe HooperTobe Hooper
Tobe Hooper is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in the horror film genre. His works include the cult classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , along with its first sequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ; the three-time Emmy-nominated Stephen King film adaptation...
's three-picture deal with Cannon. The other two films are the remake of Invaders from Mars
Invaders from Mars (1986 film)
Invaders from Mars is a 1986 science fiction film directed by Tobe Hooper from a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby. It is a remake of the 1953 science fiction film Invaders from Mars, and is a reworking of that film's screenplay by Richard Blake from an original story by John Tucker Battle...
and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Filming began on February 2, 1984. Before Tobe Hooper was finally approved, Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
, at one point, was offered the chance to direct the film.
The movie was originally filmed and promoted under the same title as Colin Wilson source novel. But Cannon Films, which was the studio that backed and produced the film, reportedly spent nearly US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
25 million in hopes of creating a full blown blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
, and ridiculed The Space Vampires for sounding too much like another of the studio's typical low budget exploitation films. So, the title was changed to Lifeforce, referring to the spiritual energy the space vampires drain from their victims, and it was edited for its U.S. theatrical release by Tri-Star Pictures into a 101 min. domestic cut version that was partially re-scored by Michael Kamen
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
, with a majority of Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
's original music remaining.
Screenplay
The screenplay was written by Dan O'BannonDan O'Bannon
Daniel Thomas "Dan" O'Bannon was an American motion picture screenwriter, director and occasional actor, usually in the science fiction and horror genres.-Early life and career:...
and Don Jakoby. Script doctors Michael Armstrong
Michael Armstrong (cinematographer)
Michael Armstrong is a British writer and directorArmstrong trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was writing and directing films at the age of 22 with the award-winning short, The Image starring David Bowie and Michael Byrne...
and Olaf Pooley
Olaf Pooley
Olaf Pooley is a British actor and writer born February 2, 1916, in Parkstone, Poole, Dorset, England, of an English father and Danish mother.Pooley married the actress Irlin Hall in 1946 and together they had a daughter, the actress Kirstie Pooley and son comedian Seyton Pooley...
did some uncredited work on the script. Incidentally, it was Tobe Hooper who came up with the idea of using Halley's Comet in the screenplay.
Casting
John GielgudJohn Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
and Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...
were originally announced to star in late 1983, according to the film news section of Teletext
Teletext
Teletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
. At one time, George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
was attached to the role of Colonel Carlsen, and over 1000 actresses were considered and/or interviewed for the female vampire. Meanwhile, Cannon tried to get Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
to play Caine who turned it down; then the film company thought they had a deal with Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp
Terence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
but for some reason that fell through. Michael Gothard
Michael Gothard
Michael Alan Gothard was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Kai in the television series Arthur of the Britons and for his role as the mysterious villain Emile Leopold Locque in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.-Early life:Michael Gothard was born in London in 1939...
screen tested for Caine too, but when Tobe Hooper met Peter Firth
Peter Firth
Peter Firth is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Sir Harry Pearce in the BBC show Spooks, of which he is the only actor to have starred in every episode of the show's 10 series lifespan...
, he offered him the role and Firth was approved by the studio.
When filming began the important cameo of Dr. Armstrong had not been yet cast. Later, John Gielgud was initially cast for the role, but was replaced by Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television for around half a century...
. According to some biographies of Gielgud, he departed the production because of a disagreement over his fee. Frank Finlay
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
replaced Klaus Kinski in the role of Fallada, while Olivia Hussey was replaced by Nancy Paul in the role of Ellen Donaldson. Tim Dry
Tim Dry
Tim Dry is a mime artist, writer, songwriter and actor, best known for appearing in ‘Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ and for being half of a duo, Tik and Tok, that popularized robotic mime in the UK in the 1980s.-Early years:...
and Sean Crawford were interviewed for the male vampires, and Billy Idol
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
was considered for the role of one of them as well.
The role of Kelly, played by Chris Sullivan, was actually 6 roles joined together by Tobe Hooper after he met Sullivan who was initially offered the role of a crew member before they decided that the role should be played by a female.
Chris Jagger (brother of Sir Mick) played one of the male vampires.
The BBC newsreader early in the film, John Edmunds
John Edmunds (presenter)
Professor John Edmunds trained as an actor but is best known as an ABC TV and Associated Rediffusion continuity announcer who later presented BBC Children's TV's Top of the Form, 1966 - 1967. He was a BBC TV newsreader from September 1968 until September 1973, and then again in October 1974 and...
, really was a BBC newsreader from the 1960s to early 1980s.
Jerome Willis
Jerome Willis
Jerome Willis is a prominent British stage and screen actor with more than 100 screen credits to his name.Willis had a leading role in the ITV drama series The Sandbaggers as Matthew Peele. He also appeared in Z Cars as DCS Richards, Within These Walls as Charles Radley, and Doctor Who as...
spent three weeks working on this film, playing the role of the pathologist.
Special effects
The film marked the fourth project to feature special effects produced by Academy Award winner John DykstraJohn Dykstra
John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. is an Academy Award-winning special effects supervisor and pioneer in the development of the use of computers in filmmaking.-Education and early career:...
, the umbrella-like alien spaceship was modelled after an artichoke
Artichoke
-Plants:* Globe artichoke, a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean* Jerusalem artichoke, a species of sunflower with an edible tuber...
, while the model London destroyed in the film was actually the remains of Tucktonia
Tucktonia
Tucktonia was a late 1970s theme park located on Stour Road, Christchurch, Dorset, England. It was officially opened on 23 May 1976 by Arthur Askey. It originally occupied of the Tuckton Park Leisure Complex. The park was closed down in 1986, having become rather run-down and neglected...
, a model village
Model village
A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, in most cases built from the late eighteenth century onwards by industrialists to house their workers...
near Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, UK that had closed not long before the shooting of the film. It took a week to film the death scene of the pathologist played by Jerome Willis, and bodycasts of Frank Finlay, Patrick Stewart and Aubrey Morris
Aubrey Morris
Aubrey Morris is a British actor perhaps best known for his appearances in the cult 1970s films A Clockwork Orange and The Wicker Man....
were made by make-up effects supervisor Nick Maley for their death scenes.
Music
James HornerJames Horner
James Roy Horner is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music. He is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements...
was first asked to write the film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
before Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
was brought in and composed a sometimes atonal score. For the US domestic cut version, Michael Kamen
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
was approved to write the occasional alternative music cues that were partially re-scored and placed in at the last minute for some of the US domestic prints of the film.
Editing and post-production
The initial first cut of Lifeforce, as done by Tobe Hooper, was 128 mins long, which was 12 minutes longer than the final version, with mostly scenes on the space shuttle Churchill cut.According to Nicholas Ball, who played the main British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
astronaut Derebridge, it was felt that there was too much material in space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
and so the majority of the Churchill scenes were deleted. Also, most of Nicholas Ball's performance ended up on the cutting room floor
Cutting room floor
The term cutting room floor is used in the film industry as a figure of speech referring to unused footage not included in the finished film. In fact offcuts of film are retained in a special cutting room bin and numbered during the editing process in case they are required later...
according to an interview he gave on the UK talk show Wogan
Wogan
Wogan was a chat show on British television, hosted by Terry Wogan. It followed the format of a series broadcast in 1980 entitled What's On Wogan?, which failed to gather viewers. The Wogan show was initially broadcast on Tuesday evenings on BBC1 in 1981 and from 1982 to 1984, it moved into the...
in 1985.
Patrick Stewart said in interviews that he was disappointed at the cuts made to the film and that Tobe Hooper was his favorite director to work with.
According to interviews with Bill Malin, who plays one of the male vampires, the film went over schedule so some important scenes were never shot and also that the film was shut down at one time because they had run out of money.
Despite being credited on the US domestic cut, the following actors were deleted from that cut of the film: John Woodnutt
John Woodnutt
John Woodnutt was a British actor.He was born in London, and at the age of 18 made his acting debut at the Oxford Playhouse....
, John Forbes-Robertson
John Forbes-Robertson (actor)
John Forbes-Robertson was a British actor best-known for being the only actor other than Christopher Lee to play the title role in the Hammer horror series of Dracula films....
and Russell Sommers. The Churchill commanding officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
Rawlins, played by Geoffrey Frederick, was British, but in post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
it was decided to re-voice him by Patrick Jordan
Patrick Jordan
-Selected filmography:* Companions in Crime * No Smoking * The Battle of the River Plate * Cloak Without Dagger * The Man Upstairs * The Angry Hills * The League of Gentlemen...
, a US performer. Also in the US version, some of Geoffrey Frederick's voiceover heard on the Churchill is also dubbed.
The US domestic cut version
The film was edited for its U.S. theatrical release by Tri-Star Pictures to a 101 min domestic cut version that was partially re-scored by Michael KamenMichael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
, with a majority of Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
's original music still left remaining. The original 116 min international theatrical cut version, which is now currently available on video and DVD, contains more violent and erotic footage that Tri-Star cut from the domestic version, along with the entirety of Mancini's full music score in place of Kamen's occasional music cues placed at the last minute for U.S. domestic prints of the film.
Box office
Lifeforce was released on June 21, 1985 to disappointing box office returns. The film opened in fourth place, losing the head-to-head release battle against the Ron HowardRon Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
sci-fi film, Cocoon
Cocoon (film)
The score for Cocoon was composed and conducted by James Horner. The soundtrack was released twice, through Polydor Records in 1985 and a reprint through P.E.G. in 1997 and features eleven tracks of score and a vocal track performed by Michael Sembello...
. In total, Lifeforce earned $11,603,545 at the US box office, a poor return on its estimated $25 million dollar budget.