Don Canfield – Part II

THE CHALLENGE: From IMDb I’ve selected either the First, Second or Third cast member, first billed only, from Don’s Filmography of 30 titles and challenged myself to a game of 6 Degrees to Kevin Bacon.

The # at the end, seen after Kevin Bacon’s name, represents the number of degrees of separation there are from one of the three top billed actors in a movie Don Canfields’ amazing talent contributed to.

THE GRAND FINALE: I will illustrate the complex network connections that join Don Canfields’ years of masterful work with the two most influential films in the history of motion control. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars as mentioned by Don in Part 1 of this story.

Let’s begin.

Here are the net results of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon;

Out of the 30 Films, Dons’ degree of separation:

• 5 times (17%) is just 1 Degree from Kevin Bacon
• 25 times (83%) a mere 2 Degrees from Kevin Bacon

It was a real chore, yet oh so poetically done, to come up with a reasonable connection and find someone who would be greater than 2 Degrees from Don to Bacon. My bonus round was to find a 3rd Degree from Kevin Bacon (as it relates to Don Canfield).  2 x 3 = 6 and that is just what I did. That someone was Nancy Spungen (Punk Rock aficionado’s may wish to venture a guess as to how).  Lets take a look:

2011 Limitless

Robert De Niro was in Sleepers (1996) with Kevin Bacon #1

2011 The Adjustment Bureau

Matt Damon was in School Ties (1992) with Will Lyman was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon#2

2009 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Michael Douglas was in The Sentinel (2006) with Jackie Burroughs was in Cavedweller (2004) with Kevin Bacon #2

2008 Synecdoche, New York

Phillip Seymour Hoffman was in Montana (1998) with Kyra Sedgwick was in Cavedweller (2004) with Kevin Bacon #2

2007 Across the Universe

Evan Rachel Wood was in Diggin to China (1998) with Kevin Bacon #1

2007 Evan Almighty

Morgan Freeman was in Thick as Thieves (2009) with Rade Serbedzija was in X-Men: First Class (2011) with Kevin Bacon  #2

2006 The Hoax

David Aaron Baker was in Edge of Darkness (2010) with Tom Kemp was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon #2

2005 Stay

Ewan McGregor was in Stay (2005) with Jose Ramon Rosario was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon #2

2004 Spider-Man 2

Tobey Maguire was in Beyond All Boundaries (2009) with Kevin Bacon #1

2002 Minority Report

Tom Cruise was in A Few Good Men (1992) with Kevin Bacon #1

2002 Spider-Man

Willem Dafoe was in Born on the Fourth of July (1989) with Beau Starr was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon #2

2001 Storytelling

Selma Blair was in The Fog (2005) with Sonja Bennett was in Where the Truth Lies (2005) with Kevin Bacon #2

2001 Down to Earth

Chris Rock was in Doctor Dolittle (1998) with Oliver Platt was in Loverboy (2005) with Kevin Bacon #2

2000 Little Nicky

Adam Sandler was in Reign Over Me (2007) with Liv Tyler was in Sper (2010) with Kevin Bacon #2

2000 Bless the Child

Kim Basinger was in The Sentinel (2006) with K irk Lambert was in My One and Only (2009) with Kevin Bacon #2

2000 Shaft

Samuel L. Jackson was in Coming to America (1988) with Louie Anderson was in Quicksilver (1986) with Kevin Bacon #2

1999 Fantasia/2000

Kathleen Battle was in Fantasia/2000 (1999) with Steve Martin was in Novocaine (2001) with Kevin Bacon #2

1999 Bringing Out the Dead

Nicolas Cage was in Astro Boy (2009) with David Alan Grier was in The Woodsman (2004) with Kevin Bacon #2

1999 The Rage: Carrie 2

Emily Bergl was in Grassroots (2011) with Tom Arnold was in We Married Margo (2000) with Kevin Bacon #2

1998 The Tempest (TV movie)

Peter Fonda was in Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) with Kennet Tobey was in Hero at Large (1980) with Kevin Bacon #2

1998 Practical Magic

Sandra Bullock was in Loverboy (2005) with Kevin Bacon #1

1998 Godzilla

Matthew Broderick was in Godzilla (1998) with Glenn Morshower was in X-Men: First Class (2011) with Kevin Bacon #2

1996 Marvin’s Room

Meryl Streep was in The Rive Wild (1994) with Kevin Bacon #1

1996 The First Wives Club

Bette Midler was in Then She Found Me (2007) with Tim Robbins was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon #2

1995 Die Hard: With a Vengeance

Bruce Willis was in The Siege (1998) with Sean Patrick Doherty was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon #2

1992 Malcolm X

Denzel Washington was in The Siege (1998) with Sean Patrick Doherty was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon #2

1990 Alice

Mia Farrow was in Alice (1990) with Joe Mantegna was in Queens Logic (1991) with Kevin Bacon #2

1990 Mo’ Better Blues

Spike Lee was in Summer of Sam (1999) with Peter Maloney was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon #2

1990 Ghost

Patrick Swayze was in Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) with Jamie Lee Curtis was in Queens Logic (1991) with Kevin Bacon #2

1989 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

William Shatner was in The Wild (2006) with Richard Kind was in Queens Logic (1991) with Kevin Bacon #2

 

Satisfying my own curiosity, I ran the top 3 billed actors in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars to gleefully find they were unanimously 2 Degrees away as well!

 

2001: A Space Odyssey

Keir Dullea was in The Good Shepherd (2006) with Laila Robins was in Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) #2

Gary Lockwood was in Tall Story (1960) with Alex Rodine was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon #2

William Sylvester was in Heaven Can Wait (1978) with Allison Caine was in Diner (1982) with Kevin Bacon #2

Douglas Rain  (Not a Top 3 Billing yet I had to include him as the Voice of HAL 9000 Voice) was in 2010 (1984) with Vladimir Skomarovsky was in The Big Picture (1989) with Kevin Bacon #2

 

Star Wars

Mark Hamill was in Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2010) with Chris Pine was in Beyond All Boundries (2009) with Kevin Bacon #2

Harrison Ford was in The Devil’s Own (1997) with Brad Pitt was in Beyond All Boundaries (2009) with Kevin Bacon #2

Carrie Fisher was in White Lightnin’ (2009) with Clay Steakley was in My One and Only (2009) with Kevin Bacon #2

 

Don being a New York based motion control specialist surely is familiar with the legendary Chelsea Hotel, or simply to us New Yorkers, the Chelsea.  A historic landmark property know for it history of notable, quotable, and infamous residents. A home to many a musician, writer, artist and actor including Bob Dylan (room #2011), Virgil Thomson, Janis Joplin (room #411), Leonard Cohen (room #424), Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Pollock, Thomas Wolfe (room #829) Jobriath, and Larry Rivers.

As a matter of fact (Monty Python style – nudge nudge wink wink) Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey during his stay at the Chelsea, and poets Allen Ginsberg, and Gregory Corso had many a philosophical and intellectual exchange there. Writer Dylan Thomas (also room #205) was staying at the Chelsea when he died of pneumonia on November 9, 1953 and it’s where Nancy Spungen (nudge nudge wink wink), girlfriend of Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols (room #100), was found stabbed to death on October 12, 1978. The list goes on and on and on and in the interest of “SPACE” pun intended, Stanley Kubrick also lived there.

So let’s wrap this up!

According to IMDb, George Lucas planned to score the film (Star Wars) with existing classical music like Stanley Kubrick had in 2001: A Space Odyssey, before Steven Spielberg introduced him to composer John Williams. Lucas and Williams agreed on a classical 19th-century Romantic music style with liberal use of leitmotif for the score. Since the movie would show worlds never seen before, the music had to serve as an “emotional anchor” for the audience to relate.

That takes care of connecting Don Canfield with his words “The first movie to use motion control to any extent was 2001: A Space Odyssey, however it was Star Wars that catapulted motion control off as an industry”

Now for the spectacular bonus complex connection link of all links! Don recently had the opportunity to work on a commercial with a Legend in the world of Motion Control, Mr. Douglas Huntley Trumbull, an American film director, special effects supervisor, and inventor. Doug Trumbull created the special photographic effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey, he also arguably is the Father of Motion Control.

Aaaaaaand drum roll please………..Douglas is the son of Donald Trumbull who created visual effects for the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz as well as later movies including Silent Running and Star Wars.

 

Cut, Print, That’s a Wrap!!!!!!

 

Well almost…finally, for those who may be wondering what the breakdown was for Sid Vicious at 2 Degrees and Nancy Spungen at 3 Degrees, feast your eyes on this:

Sid Vicious was in Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video (1979) with Joan Hackett was in Only When I Laugh (1981) with Kevin Bacon #2

Nancy Spungen was in The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1980) with Jean Warren was in I Capture the Castle (2003) with James Faulkner was in X-Men: First Class (2011) with Kevin Bacon #3

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