Silent Running - Growing Pains, Part III

How to create the future without breaking the bank.

Douglas Trumbull also proved to be a dab hand when it came to casting a picture. In the original version of the script, Freeman Lowell was a crotchety old man at odds with the rapidly evolving world around him. When the decision was taken to rewrite the character as a young, anti-hero type, Trumbull knew exactly who he wanted.

“If you wanted an anti-hero in the early 1970s, you gave me a call,” laughs Bruce Dern. “I’d gotten a reputation for it, and out of that I got the part in Silent Running.”

Besides playing crazy, mixed-up kids, Dern had also worked for the budget-busting producer-director Roger Corman. So how did Trumbull’s cost-cutting compare with that of Corman The Penny-Pincher? “Well, when I signed on for the film, I assumed we’d be shooting on the backlot. But it turned out most of the interiors were shot aboard an old aircraft carrier. I’m sure we were there because it was less expensive than renting studio space but it turned out to be an amazing place to work in.