Why You Shouldn't Drop Acid and Go to the Movies
Ever thought it'd be cool to take some hallucinogenic drugs and check out a movie—say, sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey? This guy thought it'd be cool. And his trip—and resultant freakout—was recorded by five different audience members.
Los Angeles' Egyptian Theater held a retrospective for legendary directory Stanley Kubrick this past week, complete with a Friday-night showing of mystical science-fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. A lot of people showed up (it's the kind of movie you really have to see on the big screen, man), including a guy named "Robert."
At the movie's climactic scene (Spoiler alert! If you have traveled here from the year 1968), when astronaut David Bowman (played by Keir Dullea) confronts visions of himself as an old man before being transformed into a fetus-like "star child" (really, you have to see it), "Robert" started yelling. Not, like, funny things! Stuff like: "Everybody get rid of your drugs! No, listen! Everybody listen to me—yes, fat man! Fat man!"
Two things happened: One, people started heckling him. And two, everyone pulled out their cell phones or flip cams. Robert kept yelling as the Egyptian's employees forcibly removed him from the auditorium: "Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick. Speak! No, listen; I know you believe me! We are all human beings! Is life a comedy? Is? Life? A? Comedy?" And, of course, everyone kept recording.
And so now we have (at least) five YouTube videos of poor Robert's extremely public freakout. The one above, looks to be the one taken closest to "the action," as it were. (It's also got a very slick presentation, including an inset showing you what was happening on screen during the meltdown. How servicey!)
This one, from YouTube user stro32, appears to be the first one to have been uploaded. It looks like it was taken with an iPhone:
This one was taken from the balcony up top:
This one, on an Android:
Another one from Friday night:
So, what's the lesson? Well, first of all, don't take acid and see 2001, unless you are, you know, a "veteran." And second of all, be aware that your public freakout is now almost guaranteed to be recorded and displayed for public consumption. Five times! At least!
Update: Via commenter AllTheMuppetsAreDead, here's IndieWire (and former Variety) critic Todd McCarthy's take, including what happened after "Robert" was removed:
By the time he was finally pushed down the far aisle of the theater's east side-I'd say about six or seven minutes since the initial outburst-several cops arrived and hauled him away; no doubt in the morning he won't have a clue what happened. With the audience still buzzing, a Cinematheque staffer ran up to announce that, after a few minutes to decompress and rewind several minutes' worth of film, the screening would recommence, right from the start of the final aging section.