Movie Trailer: 'Beyond The Infinite: The Making Of A Masterpiece,' Douglas Trumbull's Documentary About The Making Of '2001: A Space Odyssey'

Douglas Trumbull, the special effects supervisor for Stanley Kubrick on 2001: A Space Odyssey, is making a film about the making of 2001. Called Beyond the Infinite: The Making of  a Masterpiece, Trumbull's film draws on his own experience, a decade of interviews conducted by David Larson, and a wealth of original production materials and stills. There's a trailer for the film now, which does more to advertise how the final film will be created than to promote the final product. Still, it's impressive stuff, and if Trumbull pulls it off, Beyond the Infinite could be a valuable documentary for more than 2001 / Kubrick geeks. Watch the trailer after the break.

What might be a bit different about Beyond the Infinite is that Trumbull plans to use HD interviews and large, high-res images of original production sets to actually put viewers inside the making of 2001. He wants to be able to virtually walk around the sets, showing off various elements and explaining their origin and purpose. He demonstrates that in the trailer, and while some of the moments are a little precious (like the interactions with HAL) there are already many rare and impressive materials from 2001 on display.

There's more info on Trumbull's own website, which is already a treasure trove for fans of '60s,  '70s and '80s science fiction films. There's great stuff there on Blade Runner, The Andromeda Strain, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Silent Running and more. There might not be much new for those who've read books and devoured commentaries about the making of some of those films, but for less exhaustively-researched fans, Trumbull's site is a must.

Here's the synopsis:

A documentary that really tells the story of the making of 2001, not just the technical story but the human story, the personal story, the experiences of people who interacted with Kubrick that is really true to the style and look of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[io9]