2009年7月时刊出的访问，我是先从mjjasia.com上看到中文翻译再找到原文的。 我自己很喜欢Ghosts，也认为这是MJ被许多人忽略的伟大作品， 考虑了一下是否转贴MJJCN的翻译就好，但有些地方不太满意， 终於还是决定自己翻一下… -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cold Case: Director Mick Garris on Michael Jackson’s Forgotten Ghosts Mick Garris谈Michael Jackson被遗忘的Ghosts By Michael Adams 原文：http://ppt.cc/bzrP Exhausted by endless replays of Thriller? Fed up with CNN treating Michael Jacksons’s “ghost” as actual news ? This week, a special edition of The Cold Case talks to Mick Garris about 1997’s Ghosts, the all-but-forgotten 38-minute film he created with Michael Jackson, the late Stan Winston and horror legend Stephen King. 厌倦了无止境放送的Thriller？受够了CNN把Michael Jackson的“ghosts”当成新闻片段 来播放？本周的The Cold Case将访问Mick Garris，谈论1997年的Ghosts，那一部几乎被 人遗忘的他和Michael Jackson、已故Stan Winston、恐怖大师Stephen King共同创作的 38分钟影片。 In the 24/7 media meltdown that surrounded Michael Jackson’s untimely death, it appeared that every clip of the superstar was unearthed, dusted off and replayed over and over. Even so, somehow, every story or tribute package led to 1983’s Thriller, that game-changing 14-minute horror short that remains the highest-selling music video of all time. We should probably be grateful that the networks didn’t have a working VCR and a copy of 1997’s Ghosts, lest we be subject to an immediate overload of TV talking heads’ endless analysis of what it meant and, God forbid, what it predicted. 在媒体24小时针对Michael Jackson骤逝所作的报导中，似乎有关这位巨星的每一段影片 都被挖掘出来且重复播放。即便如此，所有的报导或致敬专辑一定会有1983年的“ Thriller”，这部史上销售量最高的MV。我们或许应该觉得庆幸，媒体没有1997年的 Ghosts的拷贝，要不然我们就会被电视里那些所谓名嘴滔滔不絶的分析这代表了什麽、那 预测了什麽的言论疲劳轰炸。 To be fair, this 38-minute short film, not so much a sequel to Thriller than an operatic bookend, lends itself to such discussion. In it, Michael Jackson depicts himself as a misunderstood monster who’s persecuted by those who love and hate him — led by himself. The singer messes with his face, turns white, dies, is resurrected and moonwalks as a skeleton. Most poignantly, Jackson asks his fans and followers whether they’ve been scared and whether they’ve had fun. The answers are yes and yes. 平心而论，这部38分钟的短片并不是Thriller的续集，它自己就有很多可以讨论的地方。 在这部片中，Michael Jackson饰演一名不被了解的怪物，被喜爱及厌恶他的人们（有些 也由MJ自己扮演）侵扰及迫害。他撕毁了自己的面容、变成白色、死了、然後又复活并变 成骷髅的样子跳着moonwalk。尤有甚者，MJ还问他的粉丝和追随者说，你们是否受到惊吓 及是否觉得好玩，答案都是肯定的。 Early in his career, Mick Garris, creator of the Masters Of Horror TV series and director of Stephen King adaptations such as The Shining and The Stand, and his wife Cynthia donned zombie make-up for Thriller. A decade later, Garris became part of the team that put Ghosts together. He spoke with Movieline recently about developing the project, working with his formidable creative partners and how Jackson battled monsterdom both onscreen and in real life. 在Mick Garris事业的早期，他创作了Masters Of Horror电视影集、执导了Stephen King 的改编作品The Shining及The Stand、他的太太Cynthia并且是Thriller中的一名殭屍。 十多年後，Garris成为Ghosts创作团队的一员，他谈到这个计画的发想、和这几位杰出的 创意人才共事的过程、以及MJ如何在银幕上和现实生活中和怪物传言对抗。 First things first: How did you come to be a zombie in Thriller? 首先，你是如何成为“Thriller”的一员的？ John Landis had already been a friend for several years. We actually met when I was a receptionist for the original Star Wars at an off-lot office at Universal. John’s office was next door to mine when he was prepping Animal House. And Rick and his wife at the time, Elaine, had been very close friends and neighbors to me and Cynthia. So when they invited us, we came running. I was a hopeful writer then, doing publicity for studios and the like, just starting to get screenwriting jobs. 我和John Landis成为朋友已有数年。我们在Universal他的办公室相遇。我那时刚开始写 剧本。 Was there the sense that you were seeing pop-culture history being made? 你当时有意识到你将会见证流行文化史上新的一页吗？ We knew we were doing something special, but had no idea just how special. We knew it was a much bigger scale than music videos at the time had been, and so much different than the usual 1980s performance things. But watching Michael come alive on that first night I was there was electrifying. I became a fan right there. 我们知道我们正在做一项很特别的东西，但不知道它有这麽特别。我们知道它比当时所有 的MV都要伟大，和1980年代其他的表演完全不同。但当我第一次看到MJ表演时我彷佛像触 电了一样。我当下立刻成为他的粉丝。 Did you become friends with Michael Jackson then? 你当时就和MJ成为朋友了吗？ We did not become friends at that point. Later on, when I was shooting The Stand, Stephen King and Michael put together a script for another scary music video — one with huge scale, even compared to Thriller. King recommended me for it, and that’s where I really met Michael on a one-to-one basis. We became friends through that experience. 那时我们还不是朋友。之後，当我在拍摄The Stand的时候，Stephen King和MJ正在为另 一个惊悚MV写剧本—即使和Thriller相比也算是很大规模的制作。Stephen King推荐我加 入，这才是我和Michael一对一接触的开始。从那之後我们成了朋友。 What did you think Michael wanted to achieve with Ghosts? 你认为Michael想透过Ghosts表达什麽？ Michael wanted to make the biggest, scariest music film ever. Well, I don’t know that that’s what happened; you can’t really be scary in this context, but it’s huge, the music and dancing are great, and it’s quite the spectacle. And it definitely got its point across. That theme of the outcast stranger that he and King created was important, and stayed the focus through various incarnations. Michael想做史上最伟大的、最骇人的MV。我其实并不太了解；从剧本上看起来并没有那 麽可怕，但它规模很大，音乐和舞蹈也都很棒，非常壮观。而它确实也传达了他想表达 的想法。那个MJ和Stephen King所创造的主题︰一名被孤立遗弃的陌生人相当重要， 在许多分身中依然是注目的焦点。 How did you get involved, and how did the collaboration between you, Michael, Stan Winston and Stephen King work? 你是怎麽加入的？你和Michael、Stan Winston、Stephen King间的合作是怎样的？ I was actually the original director. It was begun in 1993, and I worked with him throughout pre-production and two weeks of production. It shut down for three years before resuming under Stan Winston, who was doing the effects work when I was directing. I recommended him to finish shooting when it resumed, as I was about to shoot The Shining. So yeah, I was on set a lot. But I was not there when the production continued in 1996. I’d get midnight calls from Michael, who was so passionate about finishing it, making it special. He and Stan had become friends way back when they did The Wiz together. 其实我是一开始的导演。从1993年开始，我和他从前置作业开始一起工作到制作开始後的 两周。之後停工了三年，由原本负责特效的Stan Winston担任後来的导演。复工时我正要 拍The Shining，所以我推荐Stan Winston接续拍摄。所以，一开始我常在现场，但1996 年复拍後我就不常在那了。我会在半夜接到Michael的电话，他对於要完成这部影片、使 它成为一部特殊的影片这事感到很兴奋。他和Stan Winston在一起创作The Wiz那时候就 是朋友了。 In the beginning, he and Steve did the script together, and I wasn’t really privy to what went on then. It was when it was greenlit that Michael and I and Stan would get together for hours on end, planning the complicated effects as well as the music and storytelling. But it started as something completely different. Nobody knows this, but it was originally going to be a video to promote Addams Family Values. In fact, Christina Ricci and the boy who played Pugsley were both in it. We shot for two weeks and never got to the musical numbers. It was very expensive and ambitious. And when the first so-called scandal happened, it was when we were shooting. Suddenly, Michael was out of the country, and the studio no longer wanted him to help promote that film. 一开始的时候，他和Steve一起写剧本，我那时并不清楚他们的进度。然後在整个作品成 型的过程中，Michael和我和Stan会聚在一起好几个小时，一起构思特效、音乐、故事。 不过一开始是完全不同的东西。没有人知道，这原本是要用来宣传Addams Family Values （电影“阿达一族”续集）的短片。事实上，Christina Ricci和饰演Pugsley的男孩原本 都要参与演出。我们拍摄了两个星期却没有拿到乐谱。片子花了很多钱，是部很有野心的 大制作。然後，正当我们在拍摄的时候，所谓的第一次丑闻发生了。Michael出国了，而 电影公司不希望他来宣传这部片。 What does it mean to you now that Stan and Michael are both gone? 现在Stan和Michael都离开人世了，你的感觉是？ It’s incredibly sad, of course, and really tragic. Stan was a very talented and funny and friendly man. But I was closer to Michael, spent more time with him. It really breaks my heart to see what happened to him. He was always very fragile, had lots of trouble sleeping. He reminded me a lot of Don McLean ’s song about Vincent Van Gogh. The world can be mean, and Michael didn’t have a mean bone in him. Very vulnerable and sweet. And what most people don’ t realize is how smart he was and especially how funny he could be. A very witty, explosively talented guy. 当然很难过，极度悲伤。Stan是个非常有天赋、风趣、友善的人。但我和Michael比较亲 近，有比较多时间和他在一起。看到发生在他身上的事情让我心碎。他总是很脆弱敏感， 有严重的失眠问题。他时常让我想到Don McLean写Vincent Van Gogh的那首歌。这世界可 以很刻薄，但Michael全身上下找不到一根刻薄的骨头。他是如此的脆弱易感和贴心。而 大多数人也不知道他有多聪明，特别是他有多风趣。一个非常机智的、极度有天份的人。 --

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