"MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN" About the Production... "Memoirs of An Invisible Man" captured the interest and passion of Chevy Chase and his producing partner, Bruce Bodner, five years ago, when it was still an unfinished manuscript by first-time novelist H.F. Saint. They acquired the property and set out to develop it as a motion picture. John Carpenter, whose films, such as the cult classics "Halloween" and "The Thing," have brought him international fame, was immediately asked by Chase and Bodner to direct "Memoirs of An Invisible Man." They were drawn, says Chase, to his sense of the darker aspects of the story, but just as important was Carpenter's thoughtful work on the much-praised "Starman," about an alien who assumes a human shape and falls in love with an American woman. "John understands the humor in difficult situations, and he has a great feel for illuminating the behavior of people who are out of their elements," says Chase. Adds Carpenter, "We're telling the story of a guy who is turned invisible and the terrible things he goes through. Many of those terrible things are funny, but they are motivated by reality -- or what we imagine reality would be in that situation. They're not fabricated for the sake of a gag. "Chevy has a tremendous ability to bring irony to his character without going over the top," continues the director. "The plot hinges on Nick's ability to think fast, to adapt and to be resourceful; Chevy develops Nick's personality before the accident and after to make the story seem plausible and involving." Daryl Hannah was cast as a woman who defies stereotyping: Alice, whose gorgeous appearance is wrapped around the active mind of a brilliant documentary filmmaker. "Daryl has played such diverse roles, from fantasy parts in films like 'Splash' to her recent role in 'At Play in the Fields of the Lord,'" says producer Bodner. "We wanted her character to be someone who takes the unexpected in stride, so that when the truly amazing comes along, she can handle that, too." The trio of lead roles was completed with Sam Neill playing the part of David Jenkins, a covert operative gone corrupt. Neill, whose quietly expressive presence on the screen has frequently had him cast as the protagonist in such films as "Dead Calm" and "Until the End of the World," enjoyed the chance to play a cool and calculating villain. "It's possible that a government operative in this day and age could become confused about what's right and wrong," muses Neill with a smile. "I think Jenkins is just a case of someone who tried a little too hard and lost his sense of perspective once and for all." Supporting roles were cast with MICHAEL McKEAN ("The Big Picture," "This is Spinal Tap") as George Talbot, Nick's best friend, and STEPHEN TOBOLOWSKY ("City Slickers," "The Grifters") as Singleton, the high- ranking government agent who tries to rein in Jenkins' manhunt. Academy Award-nominees WILLIAM A. FRAKER as director of photography and LAWRENCE G. PAULL as production designer brought their superb behind-the-camera skills to the project. Creating an Illusion The essence of making "Memoirs of An Invisible Man" work on the big screen lay in its ability to convincingly render Nick Holloway's invisibility. "This was the key to the entire movie," explains Carpenter, "because in order to empathize with Nick's predicament, the audience has to see how Nick experiences his environment once he's invisible. They have to share his confusion and discomfort, as well as his sense of triumph when he figures out how to turn things to his advantage." The production team turned to the filmmaking industry's pre-eminent talents at bringing the unbelievable to life: the special visual effects team at Industrial Light and Magic. Created by filmmaker George Lucas to provide effects for his "Star Wars" trilogy, ILM has since become responsible for award- winning images in some of the best-known films of the past two decades, including "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Field of Dreams," and "Ghost." Under the supervision of two-time Oscar-winner BRUCE NICHOLSON, the !LM team created some visual effects never before seen, many with the help of a computer technique called "digital compositing." Explains ILM's Digital Effects Manager STUART ROBERTSON, "Digital film technology allows a movie to be scanned into a computer and then converted to image digits. Each frame of film can then be manipulated on the screen like electronic clay, re-colored, re-sized, replicated or, as in the case of Chevy Chase's body, eliminated completely. The new pictures are then converted back into film and a new negative is run out of the computer." This technique allowed invisibility to be portrayed on-screen in a newly sophisticated way, so that backgrounds could change and move while the character's "invisible self" was in the foreground. "Some of the moments of outright physical humor would not have been possible without this technology," says Chevy Chase. "There's a scene where I'm being pursued by Jenkins' men and I have to take off my clothes in order to disappear from their sight. Using this computer technique, my invisible self was able to peel off clothing and keep running until nothing was left except my voice." The blue-screen process, which allows certain images to disappear or become superimposed on others in filmmaking post-production, also played an important role in creating the illusion of invisibility. Chase spent two painstaking weeks of process work at ILM's studios in San Rafael, California, varying his wardrobe and makeup to fit the scene: blue bodysuit, hood, makeup and special contact lenses and black wardrobe and makeup which included blackening his teeth, tongue and hair. The black contact lenses were designed to completely cover his eyeballs and could be worn for no more than 15 minutes at a time. "Shooting special effects is always demanding," comments Carpenter. "It requires a different attention span and focus than directing a regular scene. You have to be very patient and technically minded. At the same time, you have to retain the aesthetic of what you're trying to do." Locations, Real and Otherwise "Memoirs of An Invisible Man" takes place in San Francisco, where the production filmed on location for two-and-a-half weeks. "San Francisco is a romantic city in which mist and fog create the effect of obscuring things that you know are right in front of you," says producer Dan Kolsrud. "It's a kind of metaphor for Nick's own invisibility. Also, the city looks great on screen, which was a big factor in our choice." One of the problems encountered by the production involved the legendary changing weather of the Bay City, however. Perched atop specially constructed scaffolding on the roof of a high-rise office building, the cast and crew weathered several nights of cold air and heavy rainfall. While rain can often be written into a film's story when it occurs, such was not the case with "Memoirs of An Invisible Man." Because the Invisible Man's outline becomes visible when rain falls on him, it was crucial to the story line that his scenes be shot under dry conditions unless specified otherwise. For a few days, filming was done virtually between raindrops. In addition to several locations used in and around both San Francisco and Los Angeles, certain sets required the special controls of a soundstage. For these, a variety of stages at the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, California were used. The most impressive was production designer Larry Paull's semi-invisible Magnascopics Building, created on Stage 16. Stage 16 has a unique pit area, often used as a water tank for underwater scenes so the floor-to-ceiling dimensions of the stage made it the right choice for the huge Magnascopics set constructed there. The challenge presented to Paull was to create a six- story building, simple in form...and to make part of it "go away." After a lot of testing and experimentation, Paull and his team, which included Academy Award-winning set decorator RICK SIMPSON, came up with a sculptural design concept whereby they added layers of settings beyond the initial area where the action takes place. Structural steel cables, a rarity in set construction, were attached to the permanents of the stage and covered in black velvet to hang the various floating floors of the building. "We wanted to create interest way out there, not just in the foreground," Paull explains. "As you cut away part of each floor, you see a building articulated so carefully that it shows all these different levels and different holes --the negative and positive spaces in the building after the explosion has occurred." Paull concludes, "To make this work is the most important visual task of the whole film, because if it's not set up right and the audience doesn't buy the partially invisible environment, then they won't accept the fact that Nick Halloway is a man who is invisible." Director Carpenter was very happy with the finished product, likening it to being inside a Salvador Dali painting. "One thing about the set that was so unique," he says, "is that when you look at it, it's a building that's half-visible, half-invisible and it's disorienting to the eye. That's exactly what the scene should be, because the audience is discovering what the main character is discovering--that he's in this incredible nightmare and he's invisible. The building is partially there and partially not there--kind of like what happens to Nick's life."