Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story

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Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story is a 2002 American television miniseries. It was directed by Brian Henson and was a co-production of CBS and Jim Henson Television. It is an alternative version of the classic English fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. The story was considerably reworked to reflect what Henson believed to be a more ethical, humanist view. The cast includes Matthew Modine (as the modern day descendent of Jack), Mia Sara (as a mysterious woman attempting to bring him to justice for the murder of a giant), Jon Voight, and Vanessa Redgrave,. Richard Attenborough and Darryl Hannah play giants. Among the other giants in the film are beings from the mythology of various cultures, including Hebrew, Buddhist, and Nordic.

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[edit] Plot

Jack Robinson is a rich CEO of a large company. Throughout his family's past, no Robinson male has lived to be over 40, and Jack keeps having a dream about his father and an angry giant. He tries very hard to stay healthy with the help of his Albanian butler. The man who manages his business affairs (Jon Voight) convinces him to turn down a project involving alternative food supplies of genetically-engineered plants to feed the third world, and also to build a casino complex in a small town. The locals object. During construction, the workers discover the skeleton of a giant. A strange young woman called Andine then appears and accuses Jack of being a murderer. That night a man sneaks into his house and takes him to see a strange old lady who tells him the traditional version of the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk". She gives him the last magic bean. The bean grows into a huge beanstalk, which leads him into the world of the giants, where he discovers the truth; in reality, the giant was a benevolent individual, with Jack betraying his trust and stealing the harp and the goose, although the giant's death was only an accident as Jack hadn't expected him to follow him. Unfortunately, the loss of the harp and the goose resulted in the loss of the magic that sustains the giant's world, and it is only with the death of the Robinson family that the magic will be restored, hence the Robinson family curse. Despite her doubts about Jack after what happened when she fell for his ancestor- due to the different flow of time between the two worlds, time in the giant's world travels slower than on Earth, and thus only a few years have passed up there as opposed to the centuries that have passed here-, Andine recognises that Jack is not the man his ancestor was, and thus transports him back to Earth to help her find the harp and the goose. With their return, the giants' world is restored, and the giants thank Jack for undoing his ancestors' mistakes.

[edit] Origin

When CBS executive Michael Wright originally proposed the idea of a Jack and the Beanstalk TV miniseries, Henson originally refused, but reconsidered when he was told he would be allowed to alter the original story. He then worked on the story with screenwriter James V. Hart, who had previously collaborated with Henson on Muppet Treasure Island. Henson later declared that during that time he came to hate the original story. “It’s a fairy tale that became part of British culture during a time when empire building and conquering other cultures was heroic”, he said. “No matter how bad you say the giant was and all of that, the morality really stinks.”

Ultimately, the story ended up taking place in the present time, with Jack Robinson, the head of a large company journeying to the land of the giants to right the wrongs of his family’s past. “Again, it returns thematically to how we all should be sharing in the responsibility to bring balance back to the world..." states Henson.

These changes resulted in a darker story. “It’s not particularly a piece that kids should watch on their own, but it’s a great piece for adults to watch with their children” said Henson on that subject.

[edit] Production

To create the special and visual effects in the film, Jim Henson's Creature Shop was given the task of branching out into computer animation, compositing and matte painting, as well as creating animatronic characters. "It made sense to use The Creature Shop not only from a financial perspective but also for the benefits of having everyone working under one roof. The same group that conceived the characters and visual effects were also responsible for their creation, resulting in a unified, consistent look," said Henson. With 400 effects shots, the film includes many fantasy elements, but Henson described it as having more human characters and more reality than many of his other fantasy and science-fiction projects, which he said was refreshing.

In order to create the giant beanstalk, which, in the film, shoots up out of the forest floor and into the sky, there was an extensive use of CGI, However, a practical, 20-foot tall section was built for actor Matthew Modine to climb.

The Creature Shop also created an entirely computer-generated character. Harmonia is a human-like, animated, talking statue that is part of the Golden Harp (one of the giant’s original treasures). Originally, Henson and his team originally considered using a live-action actress, because Henson wanted the character to be very life-like. However, the decision was made to instead try to achieve such an effect with computer animation. “… If we had used an actress, she wouldn’t have looked magical - she would have simply looked like a person with gold paint hugging a harp,” said Sean Feeney, CGI supervisor for the film.

Several animatronic characters were also created… a puppeteered goose and an animatronic head for the giant Cernos. All of the giants in the film are played by regular-sized actors and actresses composited into the film so that they appear to be much larger. Their movements were also slowed down.

“In each instance, we tried to use the most appropriate technique, whether it was through animatronics, puppetry, prosthetics, CGI, or hybrids,” said Feeney.

[edit] Sources

  • Joe Nazzaro, Back to the Beanstalk, Starlog Fantasy Worlds (magazine), February 2002, pages 56-59
  • Karen Moltenbrey, A Twisted Tale: Artists use digital effects to give a modern-day slant to a classic fairy tale, Computer Graphics World (magazine), January 2002, Volume 25, Number 1, pages 24-27