The pa♑inting was used in a presentation that Douglas Trumbull developed in collaboration wi༒th Peter Guber, Head of Casablanca Productions. 

♒A COLLABORATION⛄ BY THE SPECIAL EFFECTS TEAM BEHIND 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY   

After their innovative collaboration on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Robert McCall and Douglas Trumbul♓l sought to capitalize on the sci-fi mania sweeping the wo🎀rld to pitch “Caesar’s Universe” to Caesar’s Palace casino in Las Vegas.   

 “Caesar’s Universe” set out to revolutionize dinner theater and entertainment by combining Cirque du Soleil -style acrobatics with science fiction visuals. The guests were meant to be on a trip to space aboard an intergalactic starship that was then hijacked and brought to an alien planet.  Already grand in scale, the production required the use of several giant screens to project images out of the ornate viewports seen in this painting. These projected images were tightly choreographed with live performers, giant robots, and animals in alien costumes. Trumbull planned to accomplish a🔜 smooth interaction between the film and reality with the technology SHOWSCAN, whichℱ increased the frame rate of film to coincide with the viewers’ brainwave activity, thereby heightening emotional reaction beyond that of a conventional film.  

Several elements of this painting could be visual references to other vintage visions of the future, such as the C-3PO-esque giant robot in the center of the stage and futuristic spacecraft resembling that of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Brought altogether, this painting offers a colorful snapshot of the future, with enthusiastic technicians on gunner-like structures in the foreground monitoring light🐼s and executing special effects necessary to transport the hundreds of guests to the alien worlds of Caesar’s Universe each evening.