I was watching Congo, the
other night, the 1995 movie based on Michael Crichton’s book of the same
name. I had never heard of either, so as
the movie went along I kept thinking is this a comedy, a political thriller, a
monster movie? Well yes and no to all of
those, although perhaps more accurately it could be seen as a fantasy update of
King Solomon’s Mines.
Anyway it was entertaining enough, but as the end titles rolled I saw
on the credits “martini illusion” by Ricky Jay. Now, as regular readers will know, I’m a great admirer of Ricky Jay
(isn’t everybody?) and I know he does movie consultancy work via his company
Deceptive Practices, providing “arcane knowledge on a need to know basis”
Still I was surprised to see his name there, and even more surprised
that there was a “martini illusion.” Of
course I knew there was a martini scene in the movie (above): Amy the talking gorilla (don’t ask) demands a
“green drop drink,” is given a martini and drinks it. This was one of the reasons I thought the
movie was a comedy. But it wasn’t a major
scene, and certainly it was no big deal, especially since this wasn’t a real gorilla
but obviously somebody in a gorilla suit. Couldn’t
the actor inside have drunk whatever was in the glass? Or failing that, just poured the contents down into the
cavity of the suit?
Well no, apparently not. I
tracked down an interview with Ricky Jay on the AV Club website:
AVC: On Congo, you were a technical
consultant.
RJ: Oh God, yeah. Well, actually, there, when
working with producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, our main task was
to have an extraordinarily expensive gorilla suit protected. The gorilla was
drinking martinis, and we had to make it look like the gorilla in fact did
this, while making sure that there was no risk to a suit that cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars. I mean, it is fascinating on some level how varied and
different what we’re asked to do might be.
We were creating, basically, a cocktail that
drank itself, so there was no chance of anything spilling or gumming up the
works. “
I think the real surprise here is that the costume cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, because frankly it looked like it cost
about 50 bucks. But who am I to be
critical?
An early version of this “illusion” was devised by Pythagoras, although
his version didn’t involve either a martini or a glass, but rather an earthenware
vessel with a kind of reservoir in the centered which siphoned off the
liquid. It was supposed to promote moderation.
If wine was poured in above a certain
level, the vessel acted as a siphon and the whole drink would come pouring out the bottom
and into your lap.
My wife also tells me that her dad, who was a sometime amateur
magician, did a “disappearing milk trick” – milk poured into newspaper cone but
never coming out. He performed it for
her and her siblings when they were small children. I’d have thought an audience of your own kids
would be more rather than less skeptical, but they loved it apparently, and I
suppose tricks with liquids are always going to be impressive.
Want to see a picture from the New York Times
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