Mutiny in Outer Space, The Human Duplicators, Film Scam 101
Written by Joe D on December 5th, 2007Once Upon A Time a producer type guy told me a funny story. It involved these two films, Mutiny In Outer Space and The Human Duplicators. This guy claimed he had been sent to Rome by the producer Bernard Woolner, best known for his el cheapo classic of Pop Iconography Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman.
Woolner had gotten a budget from an East Coast Supermarket magnate to make a SciFi Space Opera, Mutiny In Outer Space.
But Mr. W had a brainstorm, why not make two films at the same time and charge them both to Mr. Magnate! According to my source he had the sets built back to back on the same stage, in the morning they’d shoot one movie, after lunch they’d shoot the other. All the film went to the same lab and supposedly a lot of the same crew worked on both films.
The grips at Cinecitta knew what was up, they’d shrug and laugh when anyone asked what was going on. Dolores Faith was the female lead in both films. So they finished both films with Mr. Supermarkets footing the bill. When they were all done they turned his film over to him and they kept the other one, free of charge! Creative Film Financing 101! Both films were directed by the same guy, Hugo Grimaldi and both were written by the same guy Arthur C. Pierce, funny name for a Sci/Fi writer.
Is this story true? Who knows, I’m just repeating what I was told but it is suspicious.
I’m going to the SuperMarket!
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I hope it’s true. I am a sucker for hearing about indie filmmakers creatively beating the odds. There’s something vaguely romantic about it.
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From what I hear this wasn’t the first time this trick had been pulled.
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Please remove the two photos of Arthur C. Pierce (“mos_dir.jpg” and “thd_sit.jpg”) from your blog. They are my personal property and are meant to be posted on the Flickhead.com site only.
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Thanks. 🙂
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No problem, It looks like Pierce directed these films, not Hugo Grimaldi according to your website. Is that true?
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Absolutely. Pierce directed them both, 100%. According to Pierce, it was a case of Grimaldi having difficulties on the first day of shooting of the first film (Mutiny), and since *somebody* needed to get the films going, Pierce stepped in. He said it took him a day just to explain it to the cast and crew, to get them on his team. The cameraman and production manager helped him a lot, as it was his first time directing anything other than wooden puppets. The budget on Mutiny was $90k, with Duplicators being $140k, mostly due to it being in color. Each was shot in about a week. And I’m really indebted to Larry Woolner, as it was he who put me in touch with Pierce, back in 1975.
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This happens a lot in Hollywood, the guy that actually does the work doesn’t get the credit. I’m happy to publicize the real creator of these films.
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The saddest part is that some of his best work was never produced, but I think that’s the case with many people in the industry. As a result, he is pigeonholed as a b-movie hack and maker of “bad” or “cheesy” films.
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To my surprise, can’t believe they are talking about this B sicfi film. I was the duplicated Chinese Doctor, and I never said a word. How fun to see this after all these years.
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Dont worry.
this trick been used many times.
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My dad had the lead in this film-William leslie,but bailed after this one to do pictures with John wayne.
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My dad william leslie was offered the part as batman on tv but thought it would hurt his career,oops,he did a jungle jim flick instead,big mistake to the tune of $20,000,000 syndication of Bat Man.
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Your dad was in some great stuff, like Don Siegal’s The Line Up with Eli Wallach and Combat, a classic TV show. Thanks for writing in.