Focus on Star Wars FX Legend Phil Tippett

Monstrously Talented

Our friends at firstshowing.net have highlighted a documentary on Phil Tippett, one of the original geniuses who worked on Star Wars.

“The word geek didn’t even apply to us, we were just ‘idiots’ that were doing this stuff.” VICE recently premiered this short documentary called My Life In Monsters, profiling the legendary Phil Tippett, a special effects legend who was worked on everything from Star Wars to Jurassic Park to Starship Troopers to RoboCop and so much more. His specialty is stop-motion, inspired by the great Ray Harryhausen, and he had a hand in designing so many of the iconic moments from the original Star Wars trilogy. This is an extensive and detailed doc that covers his entire career, and is a must watch for any who loves the magic of the movies. It also nicely compliments the recent Holochess making of video for The Force Awakens. Enjoy!

From YouTube: “Phil Tippett is the Oscar-winning stop-motion animator and designer behind some of the greatest fantasy creatures and sci-fi set pieces in cinema history. From his humble beginnings as an alien patron in the iconic Cantina sequence from Star Wars: A New Hope, to pioneering stop-motion techniques used throughout Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, to seamlessly merging practical animation and CGI in Jurassic Park and beyond. In My Life in Monsters, VICE chronicles Tippett’s legendary life work, illustrating the process behind his greatest creations, the emotional hardships of transitioning into Hollywood’s digital revolution, and completing his return-to-form, stop-motion opus with the brutal, dystopian Mad God.” Always great to see profiles of the very talented people who work extremely hard behind-the-scenes.

Firstshowing.net