"Four men and one woman on the most fantastic, spectacular and terrifying journey of their lives!"
Director Richard Fleischer helmed this classic 1966 sci-fi film about five intrepid individuals who undertake the most fantastic voyage of their lives - a journey through the bloodstream of an ailing scientist. Shrunk to microscopic size, they battle the body's incredible defenses to make a desperate attempt to save his life.
Stephen Boyd, Edmund O'Brien, Donald Pleasance, Arthur O'Connell and Arthur Kennedy all have feature parts but the film became popular primarily due to the presence of the curvaceous Raquel Welch. This exciting adventure features a clever premise of microscopic medical research.... years before nano-technology was even developed!
Let's take a peek at some behind-the-scenes images of the cast and crew during the making of Fantastic Voyage:
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| A contact sheet featuring behind-the-scenes images of Stephen Boyd, Donald Pleasance, and Raquel Welch |
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| A view of the Proteus Submarine before being miniaturized. |
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| Interior view of the Proteus |
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| Constructing the "intestines" |
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| Ick...the human body can be difficult to travel through! |
Dale Hennesy and Jack Martin Smith were responsible for the art direction of Fantastic Voyage while Stuart A. Reiss and Walter M. Scott handled set decor. Hennesy was also the production designer for Young Frankenstein ( 1974 ) and King Kong ( 1976 ).
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| Raquel Welch, taking a breather during filming |
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| Raquel Welch pictured in that famous tight-fitting diver suit |
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| "Fantastic Voyage" utilized the "blue screen" which was later replaced with graphics of the insides of a human body |
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| Ms. Welch posing in front of the screen |
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| Another contact sheet, this time with Raquel striking some glamour poses for the photographer |
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A scene with the blue-screen visible in the background....
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| ...and a similar scene with the graphics inserted. |
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| Publicity photo of Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch |
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| A contact sheet of the publicity shots that were taken |
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| A costume test photo showing that the film was in production in April 1965 |
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| An original ABC television publicity photo |
Great amazing photos (and I don't mean just the ones of Ms. Welch)! FANTASTIC VOYAGE has become one of my favorite sci fi pictures. L.B. Abbott was in charge of 20th Century Fox's SFX back then and also worked on TV series like VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA and LOST IN SPACE.
ReplyDeleteWow! Keebler elves of medicine.
ReplyDeleteIs there an actual ‘making of’ book at all ? I’m watching the film now and want to know about the making of the escape from the antibodies on the ear.was all the ‘swimming’ clever blue screen and similar to the Batman type ‘wall walking ‘ ? I really would like to know as I have the 1/100 ‘Proteus’ model too.
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