Jordu Schell | |
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Born | June 5, 1967 |
Nationality | American |
Occupations |
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Jordu Schell (born June 5, 1967) is an American sculptor and concept artist who has been working in the film and television industries for over twenty years. [1]
Jordu Schell began his career as a sculptor and Halloween mask maker. He primarily sculpts in clay and other physical materials, rather than in CGI or in 2-D drawings, although he works in those forms as well. [2]
Schell first started designing FX for Hollywood on Bride of Re-Animator , and went on from there to work with Stan Winston on such movies as Predator 2 , Edward Scissorhands , and Batman Returns . In television, he designed aliens for the opening season of Babylon 5 . [3]
From 2005 to 2007, Schell was instrumental in the design of the Na'vi and other creatures in James Cameron's movie Avatar , shaping the designs of the characters with physical sculptures when Cameron felt that the CGI designs were not capturing his vision. [4] Schell sculpted numerous maquettes to help solidify the look of the Na'vi race, often working in the kitchen of Cameron's Malibu home. [5]
Films for which Schell has designed creatures and characters subsequent to his work on Avatar include The Mist , AVPR , Prince Caspian , Spike , Creature of Darkness , and Dragonball Evolution , as well as working in various FX capacities on several others. [6]
Schell also teaches classes in sculpting and design at his studio [7] and, in addition, sometimes works in the video game industry. [8]
Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver is an American actress. Prolific in film since the late 1970s, she is known for her pioneering portrayals of action heroines in science fiction and horror films. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award.
Alien vs. Predator is a science fiction action-horror media franchise created by comic book writers Randy Stradley and Chris Warner. The series is a crossover between, and part of, the larger Alien and Predator franchises, depicting the two species — Xenomorph (Alien) and Yautja (Predator) — as being in conflict with one another.
The xenomorph is a fictional endoparasitoid extraterrestrial species that serves as the titular main antagonist of the Alien and Alien vs. Predator franchises.
Alien vs. Predator is a 2004 science fiction action horror film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and starring Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner, Colin Salmon, and Tommy Flanagan. It is the first film installment of the Alien vs. Predator franchise, the fifth film in the Alien franchise and third film of the Predator franchise, adapting a crossover bringing together the eponymous creatures of the Alien and Predator series, a concept which originated in a 1989 comic book written by Randy Stradley and Chris Warner. Anderson wrote the story, with the creators of the Alien franchise, Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett receiving additional story credit due to the incorporation of elements from the Alien series, and Anderson and Shane Salerno adapted the story into a screenplay. Their writing was influenced by Aztec mythology, the comic book series, and the writings of Erich von Däniken. In the film, scientists are caught in the crossfire of an ancient battle between Aliens and Predators as they attempt to escape a bygone pyramid.
Stanley Winston was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the Terminator series, the first three Jurassic Park films, Aliens, The Thing, the first two Predator films, Inspector Gadget, Iron Man, and Edward Scissorhands. He won four Academy Awards for his work.
Avatar is a 2009 epic science fiction film co-produced, co-edited, written, and directed by James Cameron. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. It is the first installment in the Avatar film series. It is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the valuable unobtanium, a room-temperature superconductor mineral. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi, a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The title of the film refers to a genetically engineered Na'vi body operated from the brain of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.
Alien is a science fiction horror and action media franchise centered on the original film series which depicts warrant officer Ellen Ripley and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as the Alien ("Xenomorph"), and the prequel series following the exploits of the David 8 android and the aliens referred to as the "Engineers".
The Mist is a 2007 American science fiction horror film directed, written, and co-produced by Frank Darabont. Based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Stephen King, the film stars an ensemble cast of Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher and Toby Jones.
Predator is an American science fiction action horror anthology media franchise centered on a film series depicting humankind's encounters with an intelligent race of extraterrestrial trophy-seeking hunters known as the Yautja. Produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios, the series began with Predator (1987), directed by John McTiernan, and was followed by three sequels, Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), The Predator (2018), and one prequel, Prey (2022). The series has led to numerous novels, comics, and video game spin-offs such as Predator: Concrete Jungle (2005) and Predator: Hunting Grounds (2020). The Alien vs. Predator franchise combines the continuities and universe of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise and consists of two films as well as varying series of comics, books, and video games. Unlike the Alien franchise, which features a continuous story arc, the Predator films are more non-linear, instead focusing on individual encounters with the Predators spread across multiple timeframes.
"Dances with Smurfs" is the thirteenth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 194th overall episode of the series, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 11, 2009. In the episode, Eric Cartman becomes the reader of the elementary school announcements, and starts making politically charged accusations against student body president Wendy Testaburger. The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States.
The Naʼvi language is a fictional constructed language originally made for the 2009 film Avatar. In the film franchise, the language is spoken by the Naʼvi, a race of sapient humanoids indigenous to the extraterrestrial moon Pandora. The language was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at the USC Marshall School of Business with a doctorate in linguistics. Naʼvi was designed to fit moviemaker James Cameron's conception of what the language should sound like in the film. It had to be realistically learnable by the fictional human characters of the film and pronounceable by the actors, but also not closely resemble any single human language.
In the 2009 science-fiction film Avatar, director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtanium on the fictional habitable moon Pandora. The Earth-like moon is inhabited by a sapient indigenous humanoid species called the Na'vi, as well as varied fauna and flora. Resources Development Administration scientists, administrators, recruits, support, and security personnel travel to Pandora in the 22nd century to discover this beautiful, lush world, which is inhabited by many lifeforms including the human-like Na'vi. The clan with which the humans have contact in the film lives "in a giant tree that sits on a vast store of a mineral called unobtainium, which humans want as an energy supply." Cameron has described Avatar as more "science fantasy" than true science fiction and has said that he would explain in the novel for the film why in the fictional universe the Na'vi look like humans.
Colonel Miles Quaritch is a fictional character in the American science fiction franchise Avatar created by Canadian filmmaker James Cameron. He serves as the main antagonist of the 2009 film Avatar and its 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way of Water, and will appear in its upcoming sequels, including the third and currently untitled fourth films. In all his appearances, including in the 2009 film's tie-in video game Avatar: The Game, the character is portrayed by American actor Stephen Lang, who won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Quaritch in the first film at the 36th Saturn Awards.
Jake Sully, or Tsyeyk te Suli in the Naʼvi language, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American epic science fiction film franchise Avatar, created by James Cameron. Portrayed by Sam Worthington in Avatar (2009) and its sequels, including Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, and the currently untitled Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.
Avatar: The Way of Water is a 2022 epic science fiction film co-produced, co-edited, and directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver from a story the trio wrote with Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, it is the sequel to Avatar (2009) and the second installment in the Avatar film series. It features Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao and Matt Gerald reprising their roles from the first film, with Sigourney Weaver returning in an additional role and Kate Winslet joining the cast. It follows a blue-skinned humanoid Na'vi named Jake Sully (Worthington) as he and his family, under renewed human threat, seek refuge with the aquatic Metkayina clan of Pandora, a habitable exomoon on which they live.
The Art of Avatar is a film production art book released on November 30, 2009, by Abrams Books.
The 2009 American science fiction film Avatar has provoked vigorous discussion of a wide variety of cultural, social, political, and religious themes identified by critics and commentators, and the film's writer and director James Cameron has responded that he hoped to create an emotional reaction and to provoke public conversation about these topics. The broad range of Avatar's intentional or perceived themes has prompted some reviewers to call it "an all-purpose allegory" and "the season's ideological Rorschach blot". One reporter even suggested that the politically charged punditry has been "misplaced": reviewers should have seized on the opportunity to take "a break from their usual fodder of public policy and foreign relations" rather than making an ideological battlefield of this "popcorn epic".
Spike is a 2008 horror-romance film directed by Robert Beaucage, produced by String And A Can Productions, and starring Edward Gusts, Sarah Livingston Evans, Anna-Marie Wayne, Nancy P. Corbo, and Jared Edwards. The film has been described by Robert Hope as "Angela Carter rewriting La Belle et la Bête as an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Avatar: Fire and Ash is an upcoming American epic science fiction film co-produced, co-edited, co-written, and directed by James Cameron. Distributed by 20th Century Studios, it is the sequel to Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and the third installment in the Avatar film series.
Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (ADI) is an American visual effects company specializing in animatronics and prosthetic make-up, headquartered in Chatsworth, California. It was founded in 1988 by Stan Winston alumni Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis, who hails from Phoenix, Arizona. Notable work includes Death Becomes Her, for which they won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, Starship Troopers, which was also nominated for an Academy Award, and the practical creature effects seen in the Alien franchise from Alien 3 onward. Woodruff also portrays creatures in the films ADI works on, such as the Alien.