Phil Tippet is a legend in the visual effects industry. He's created or been apart of most of the films that formed my childhood (Star Wars, Robocop, Jurassic Park). I guess with the new Star Wars release, outlets like Vice are getting nostalgic and revisiting the filmmakers that help create the original franchise. I love profiles like this. They're like windows into their genius. More importantly it humanizes and simplifies a creative processes that can sometime seem so mystical and impossible to attain. Watching this, I appreciate Phil so much more as a creative. You really get a sense of the things that scare and inspire him. You also get to explore how he's evolved in his creative and personal approach. Ultimately, we find that much of the magic on screen comes through hard work and grit, both of which we all have access to.
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.