A surreal dimension: Dali 3D is coming!

Unique filmmaker, artist and all-round raconteur Philippe Mora (Mad Dog Morgan, Communion, Howling II & III, A Breed Apart, Pterodactyl Woman from Beverly Hills) is in preparation for his cinematic ode to one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time with Dali 3D.

Starring Alan Cumming as the Spanish artist Salvador Dali and our own Judy Davis as his muse, Gala, ‘Dali 3D’ will combine live action with animation, melding into an aptly surreal vision of the great surrealist himself.

“I wish to take you on a trip into surrealism with spectacle, parody, and by the conceit of imagining this is the film Dali would have wanted you to see,” explained Mora exclusively to Popcorn Taxi of his ambitious project. “It’s challenging but I am well prepared since I have been working this out for many years. It will be innovative. It helps that I have a background in painting myself and grew up in an environment full of artists since I could walk.”

Mora has lived with Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp in London’s swinging ‘60s; illustrated for OZ Magazine; insulted Princess Margret with his artistic installation of rotting meat, and worked with the likes of Christopher Lee, Dennis Hopper, Rutger Hauer and scream queen Sybil Danning to name but a few. A mixed bag of adventures, characters and assorted egos that all go to strengthen Mora’s approach to creating a biopic, but what does he want to express most about the infamous artist?

“His quest for total freedom (as an artist) to express anything he wanted to,” Mora says. “This sounds simplistic, but the fact is an uncensored mind is the key to all great artists and should be celebrated.”

And as for Mora’s approach to 3D film-making; “I have been into 3D movies all my film-going life. There have been very few, if any, 3D films about grown-up subjects.” He continues, “This is not a gratuitous use of 3D – viscerally, surrealism and 3D fit together. Dali himself liked 3D movies when they hit big in the fifties and actually did some anaglyph paintings you had to wear glasses to look at. Man Ray and Duchamp experimented with 3D film and the first patents for stereoscopic movies start around 1900 with the birth of cinema. I recently discovered 3D films made by the Nazis in 1936–there is quite a history.”

“However, I always add, ‘if you like 3D, try reality!”

Dali 3D commences shooting in November 2011 in locations around Europe, as well as locations in Australia, January 2012.

NB: Many may not know that Dali was great friend of Walt Disney (their respective partners visual doppelgangers). Originally asked to contribute to a Fantasia sequel, (The original flopped upon release and follow-up initially abandoned) this short sequence is all that remains of the Dali/Disney collaboration.