Our final Matte Painter Spotlight lands on a figure once called “Matte Painting’s Monet”: ALBERT WHITLOCK. His prolific skill and candid attitude towards the often-secretive industry resulted in Whitlock becoming a figurehead of master matte painters. Pictured above is Whitlock's work on David Lynch's DUNE (1984)
Born in 1915 London, Whitlock got minimum-wage work at local film studios from the age of 14. Here he learnt the tricks of the trade and ran errands for many of Alfred Hitchcock’s early 1930s films – including, eventually, as a background scenic artist.
Whitlock eventually found work at Pinewood Studios alongside other matte legends like Les Bowie, Cliff Culley and Peter Ellenshaw. It was via Ellenshaw that Whitlock got work with Disney, with Walt himself hiring Whitlock to cross the pond and work in America.
When Whitlock actually arrived – wife and kids in tow – they realised no specific projects were assigned to him. So Whitlock got work painting signs at DisneyLand, which carried over into hand-painting the titles for 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954).
Whitlock worked under Ellenshaw at Disney, gaining plenty of experience under numerous films like POLYANNA (1960) and GREYFRIARS BOBBY (1961). But he then took the job as head of rival studio Universal’s matte department – reuniting him with Hitchcock.
THE BIRDS (1963) began the renewed creative partnership between Whitlock and Hitchcock, with astonishing detailed mattes of the murderous birds that feel alive with tension.
The two “Als” adored working with one another, Whitlock collaborating on all of Hitchcock’s later works. Including TORN CURTAIN (1966), an interior museum sequence which was entirely matte painted. Whitlock was even one of the last to see Hitchcock alive in 1980.
One of Whitlock’s peaks was winning the VFX Oscar two years running for EARTHQUAKE (1974) and then THE HINDENBURG (1975) – creating over 70 individual matte paintings for the former.
Other impression projects were the holy city in THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) and the “Dust Storm” in Hal Ashby’s BOUND FOR GLORY (1976), the latter created by moving cotton-covered disks across the surface.
A perhaps unexpected work was with Mel Brooks. During Brooks’ Hitchcock parody HIGH ANXIETY (1977), Hitch recommended Brooks use Whitlock. It radically reduced the budget, and Whitlock returned for HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART 1 (1980). He also cameoed as a “used chariot salesman”.
One of Whitlock’s last films was one of the best – John Carpenter’s THE THING (1982) – with Whitlock and the matte team creating the uncovered alien spaceship and isolated frozen base.
Credit to Craig Barron and Mark Cotta Vaz's The Invisible Art: The Legend of Movie Matte Painting as well as NZPete's thorough career retrospective of Albert Whitlock.
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