John Stephenson (director)

Last updated

John Stephenson
Born (1952-05-28) 28 May 1952 (age 71)
London, England
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, director, special effects
Years active1980–present
Children3

John Stephenson, OBE (born 28 May 1952) is a British director and a former vice-president and creative supervisor for Jim Henson's Creature Shop. [1] He was nominated for a BAFTA film award in 1985 for Dreamchild and in 1991, he won an Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Contents

Early life

Stephenson was born in London, England. Educated at the Kingston School of Art and then the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1979. He moved to the USA and had a brief spell working as a designer of prestigious-fashion West End Interiors in Los Angeles.

Career

Joining the Jim Henson's Creature Shop in the early 80s, Stephenson became a member of the unique group of artists designers and crafts people working on the ground-breaking film The Dark Crystal. in addition to working as a mechanical designer, he also served as an assistant cable control puppeteer on Dreamchild. Subsequently, in 1985, he became Creative Supervisor and later served as Executive Vice President and CEO of the Creature Shop. [2]

His work for Henson productions included The Storyteller (TV series), Labyrinth (1986 film), The Witches (1990 film), and Dinosaurs (TV Series). Stephenson art directed Jacque Annaud's The Bear (1988 film) and contributed to the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film) for which Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided ninja turtle suit puppets. [3]

In 1987, along with two other colleagues, Stephenson was nominated for a BAFTA film award for best special visual effects in the 1985 British drama film Dreamchild. [4] [5]

In the 1991 64th Academy Awards, John, along with four other colleagues, received a Scientific and Engineering Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of the Henson Performance Control System. [6] [7] In the same year, he was also nominated in the Saturn Award for Best Make-up at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his work in The Witches (1990 film). [8]

John Stephenson gained vast experience with supervising puppetry, CG animation, creature-effects, animatronics and visual effects which span a wide range of stories and styles that include Return to Oz, The Flintstones (film), The Neverending Story III, Babe (film), Loch Ness (film), The English Patient (film) and Lost in Space (film).

With this broad experience, he drew on to launch his directing career, applying his hand to both commercials and feature films involving creature-effects, helming the Hallmark/Creature Shop co-production of Animal Farm (1999 film) [9] and it's this background that has shaped his directing style into what it is today. [10]

In 2000, John was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Millennium 2000 New Year Honours list for services to computer animation industry as a designer for the Millennium Project. [11] His film Animal Farm (1999 film) was also nominated for best film in the 2000s Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award [12] and nominated for the Starboy Award in the 2000s Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival. [13]

In 2001, John worked as Animation Director for the French historical action horror film Brotherhood of the Wolf which involved creating special effects for the creature are a combination of computer generated imagery, as well as puppetry and animatronics. [14]

Stephenson directed the film adaptation of the novel Five Children and It in 2004, which features live action and computer animation. Additionally, in 2013 Stephenson directed the film adaptation of Max Lucado's novel The Christmas Candle (novel) which was distributed by EchoLight Studios in the US and by Pinewood Pictures in the UK.

In 2014, John Stephenson developed, co-wrote and directed Interlude in Prague which was shot entirely on location in the Czech Republic. In November 2017, the film won a Golden Angel Award for the Best International Co-Production Film at the Chinese American Film Festival. [15] [16] [17]

In February 2019, John directed a short film for the British electronic music group Hybrid starring James Purefoy who he worked with on his film Interlude in Prague the year before. [18] [19]

In June 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Stephenson was directing the epic historical drama feature film The Lady of Heaven with Enlightened Kingdom production company. [20]

Filmography

YearTitleNotes
1996 The Adventures of Pinocchio Second Unit Director
1998 Lost in Space Second Unit Director
1999 Animal Farm Director
2001 Brotherhood of the Wolf Animation Director
2004 Five Children and It Director
2010 The Nutcracker in 3D Second Unit Director
2013 The Christmas Candle Director
2017 Interlude in Prague Director
2021 The Lady of Heaven Creative Consultant

Commercials

Additional credits

YearTitleRole
1982 The Dark Crystal Special mechanical designer
1985 Return to Oz Mechanical characters mechanical designer
1986 Max mon amour Makeup special effects collaborator
1987 The Storyteller (TV series) Special effects creative supervisor
1990 The Witches Animatronic designer
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Special effects creative supervisor
1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II Special effects creative supervisor
The Storyteller: Greek Myths (TV Mini-Series)Special effects creative supervisor
1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol Special effects creative supervisor
1994 The Flintstones Special effects supervisor
The NeverEnding Story III Special effects creative supervisor
1995 Babe Special effects creature shop supervisor
1996 Loch Ness Special effects creative supervisor
James and the Giant Peach Animatronic puppeteer
The English Patient Special effects visual supervisor
101 Dalmatians Special effects creature shop supervisor
1997 The Odyssey Special effects creative supervisor
Buddy Special effects supervisor
1998 Lost in Space Special effects creature shop supervisor
2019Hold Your Breath (video short)Director

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
1987 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Special Visual Effects Dreamchild Nominated
1991 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Scientific and Engineering AwardN/AWon
1991 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Make-up The Witches (1990 film) Nominated
2000Queen's Millennium 2000 New Year Honours OBE N/AWon
2000 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film AwardBest Film Animal Farm (1999 film) Nominated
2000 Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival Starboy Award Animal Farm (1999 film) Nominated
2017 Chinese American Film Festival Golden Angel Award for the Best International Co-Production Film Interlude in Prague Won

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Framestore</span> British animation and visual effects company

Framestore Limited(The) is a British animation and visual effects studio based in Chancery Lane in London. Formed in 1986, it acquired and subsequently merged with the Computer Film Company in 1997. Framestore specialises in effects for film, television, video games, and other media. It is the largest production house within Europe, employing roughly 2500 staff — 1000 in London, and 1500 across offices in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Vancouver, Mumbai and Beijing.

Nickelodeon Movies is an American production company, animation studio, and the film production arm of American children's network Nickelodeon and the family film distribution label of Paramount Pictures, launched on February 25, 1995.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze</i> 1991 film by Michael Pressman

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze is a 1991 American superhero action comedy film. It is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, and is directed by Michael Pressman and written by Todd W. Langen. It is the sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) within the original Turtles film trilogy. It stars Paige Turco and David Warner, with the voices of Brian Tochi, Robbie Rist, Adam Carl, and Laurie Faso. Resuming from the events of the first film, the Shredder returns at command of the Foot Clan for revenge on the Turtles. When he learns the secret behind the Turtles' mutation, he becomes more dangerous than ever. The film reveals the origins of Splinter and the Turtles and introduces two new villains, Tokka and Rahzar. Unlike the first film, the Turtles mostly fight bare-fisted, to tone down the violence.

<i>The Witches</i> (1990 film) 1990 film by Nicolas Roeg

The Witches is a 1990 American dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Nicolas Roeg from a screenplay by Allan Scott, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film stars Anjelica Huston and Mai Zetterling. The plot features evil witches who masquerade as ordinary women and follows a boy and his grandmother, who must find a way to foil their plans of turning children into mice.

William Todd-Jones is a Welsh puppeteer, puppet designer, performer, director, movement consultant and writer for film, television and theatre in the UK and abroad.

Peter Hewitt is an English film director and writer.

Tony Gardner is an American makeup designer, special effects designer and puppeteer. He has designed and created effects for many feature films, including the films Zombieland, 127 Hours, Smokin' Aces, Hairspray, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, The Addams Family, Seed of Chucky,Shallow Hal and There's Something About Mary. Gardner helped create the signature helmets for Daft Punk, as well as an animatronic robot for their "Technologic" music video. He wrote and directed Daft Punk's music video for the song "The Prime Time of Your Life," which also, his two daughters were in and associate produced and populated a world full of robots for the duo's feature-length directorial debut, Daft Punk's Electroma. Beyond the film-making arena, Gardner's special effects company Alterian, Inc. has also designed and created the popular GEICO Cavemen characters as well as the current iteration of Smokey Bear. Alterian's makeup effects for Johnny Knoxville's character in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa were nominated for an Academy Award as well as a Makeup Artist & Hair Stylist Guild Award, and won the Makeup Artist & Hair Stylist Guild Award for Best Special Makeup Effects in the Feature Film category for 2014.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a superhero team created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, have appeared in seven theatrical feature-length films since their debut. The first film was released in 1990, at the height of the franchise's popularity. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a commercial success that garnered two direct sequels, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in 1991 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III in 1993, both of which were modest successes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Henson's Creature Shop</span> Special/visual effects company

Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States.

Shane Patrick Mahan is an American special effects creator, creature designer, puppeteer and producer known for his work at Stan Winston Studio and its successor, Legacy Effects. His film credits include The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Aliens; Predator and Predator 2; The Lost World: Jurassic Park; Iron Man, Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3; Pacific Rim and The Shape of Water.

Nick Dudman is a British make-up effects and creature designer for motion pictures.

Mak Wilson is a now retired English puppeteer, writer, CG animation director, and mocap artist. He is also known as Mac Wilson and Malcolm Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Barclay (puppeteer)</span> British puppeteer

David Alan Barclay is a British puppeteer who had worked on some projects of The Jim Henson Company. He has been at the cutting edge of animatronic puppetry since 1979. Barclay, who hails from London, is a Master Puppeteer, Animatronic Designer and Supervisor, a CG key frame Animator, and Director and Producer of animatronic and animation projects for film and television.

Marek Skrobecki is a Polish director of animated films, mainly using classical puppetry techniques. He works with the film studio Se-ma-for in Łódź.

<i>Adam</i> (1992 film) 1992 British film

Adam is a 1992 British stop-motion clay animated short film written, animated and directed by Peter Lord of Aardman Animations. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short and the BAFTA Film Award for Short Animation in 1992, and won two awards at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 1993. It is based on the beginning of the Book of Genesis. It was distributed by Aardman Animations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Coleman</span> Canadian animation director

Rob Coleman is a Canadian animation director; he is currently the creative director at Industrial Light & Magic's Sydney branch. Previously, he was the Head of Animation at the award-winning Australian visual effects and animation studio, Animal Logic from 2012-2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bruno (special effects)</span> American director and visual effects artist

John Bruno is an American visual effects artist and filmmaker known for his prolific collaborations with director James Cameron on films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, Titanic, Avatar, and The Abyss, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Dave Elsey is a make-up artist known for special make-up effects, creature effects and animatronics in films such as X-Men: First Class, Ghost Rider, Star Wars, Hellraiser, Alien 3, and Indiana Jones. He was born on February 2, 1967, in London, England to Marie and Derek Elsey. From 1999 to 2011, Elsey lived in Sydney, Australia with his wife Lou while working on the TV science fiction series Farscape. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Pablo Helman is an Argentine visual effects supervisor. He was nominated for three Academy Awards for his work on the films Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), War of the Worlds (2005) and The Irishman (2019).

Damian Martin is an Australian make-up artist specializing in prosthetic and creature makeup. He worked with Jim Henson's Creature Shop on the TV series Farscape and has worked on such films as Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. In 2016, he won an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling along with Elka Wardega and Lesley Vanderwalt at the 88th Academy Awards for his work on the movie Mad Max: Fury Road. He was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair in the 69th British Academy Film Awards.

References

  1. ↑ "How One Man Became the Farmer in the Dell". Los Angeles Times. 1 October 1999.
  2. ↑ "The Dark Crystal – Encyclopedia – John Stephenson". www.darkcrystal.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  3. ↑ "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': Untold Story of the Movie "Every Studio in Hollywood" Rejected". The Hollywood Reporter. 2 April 2015.
  4. ↑ "BAFTA Awards (1987)". IMDb.
  5. ↑ "40th British Academy Film Awards". 29 April 2019 – via Wikipedia.
  6. ↑ "Academy Awards Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". awardsdatabase.oscars.org.
  7. ↑ |64th Academy Awards (1991): Nominees and Winners
  8. ↑ "Saturn Award for Best Make-up". 29 October 2019 – via Wikipedia.
  9. ↑ "Netribution > Features > Interview > John Stephenson". www.netribution.co.uk.
  10. ↑ "John Stephenson". Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "NEW YEAR HONOURS" . The Independent. 31 December 1999. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022.
  12. ↑ Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award – 2000 Awards, IMDb
  13. ↑ Oulu International Children's Film Festival 2000 Awards – Starboy Award, IMDb
  14. ↑ "Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)". 15 June 2019.
  15. ↑ "2017 GOLDEN ANGEL AWARD".
  16. ↑ Powlson, Nigel (9 January 2018). "Brian Ashby – Derbyshire entrepreneur on writing the Interlude in Prague". Derbyshire Life and Countryside.
  17. ↑ Interview with John Stephenson on YouTube
  18. ↑ Hybrid – Hold Your Breath on YouTube
  19. ↑ https://www.hybridband.com/holdyourbreath |Hybrid Official site – Hold Your Breath
  20. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (29 June 2020). "Enlightened Kingdom Sets 'Lady Of Heaven'; Feature About Lady Fatima, Daughter Of Muhammad". Deadline. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  21. ↑ "Flymo : Rake". YouTube . Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  22. ↑ "Legoland : Fire". 29 October 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  23. ↑ "Lemsip : Day & Night". basproduction.com. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  24. ↑ "Coral : Hot Air". 19 May 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  25. ↑ "McDonalds : Monopoly". 29 October 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  26. ↑ "Comfort : A Day In The Life". 10 December 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.