Steve Johnson | |
---|---|
Born | Steven Marcus Jacobs February 7, 1960 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
Nationality | American |
Years active | 1980–present |
Known for | Special effects |
Spouses | |
Website | www |
Steve Johnson (born Steven Marcus Jacobs; February 7, 1960) [1] is an American special effects artist whose career has spanned more than thirty years. His work has appeared in over 200 films, countless television shows, theme parks, commercials, and music videos. Some of his best-known creations include Slimer for Ghostbusters (1984), the alien seductress Sil for Species (1995), Robin Williams's robotics for Bicentennial Man (1999), and Doctor Octopus's arms for Spider-Man 2 (2004). [2]
Johnson was born in Houston, Texas. As a child, Johnson watched Universal monster films and the Hammer films. These productions inspired him to become a special effects artist. [3] Johnson's biggest influences are Jack Pierce, Dick Smith and Rick Baker. While he was still attending high school, Johnson met one of his idols, Rick Baker, and showed him his portfolio. Baker acknowledged Johnson's problem-solving talent and later helped him get a job working with effects creator Rob Bottin. [4]
Johnson's first job was with four-time Oscar-winner Greg Cannom on The Galactic Connection, though the film was not released. He then worked on The Howling (1981) and two other films with Rob Bottin, [4] after which Rick Baker hired Johnson as a member of the special makeup effects crew for the John Landis blockbuster, An American Werewolf in London (1981). [5] In 1982, Johnson worked on Ivan Reitman's new project, Ghostbusters , where he created "Slimer", which he based on John Belushi and the "librarian ghost". [6] In 1982, he and visual effects artist Randall William Cook were brought in by Richard Edlund to create and run the special makeup effects studio at Boss Films, where they created characters for films like Poltergeist II (1986), Fright Night (1985), and Big Trouble in Little China (1986). [7]
Johnson started his own effects company in 1986 called "Steve Johnson's XFX." [6] It was later renamed Edge FX. In 1989 Johnson worked on The Abyss , [8] directed by James Cameron, which became one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. He created the "alien" creatures for the film's climax.
For the 1995 film Species, the filmmakers wished to create a half-human, half-alien character named Sil that was unlike any that had been seen on screen before. They brought in artist H.R. Giger to create the creature on paper, Richard Edlund for motion-capture visual effects (an art form that was still in early stages), and Johnson to design and create animatronics for the scenes that required Sil to be physical rather than digital. Sil's alien form had to have both a full-body animatronic version with replaceable arms, heads and torsos, as well as a rubber body suit that could be worn by actress Natasha Henstridge. [9]
During the XFX and Edge FX years, Johnson also worked on two Stephen King mini-series: The Stand (1994) [8] and The Shining (1997), for which he won Emmy Awards. In addition, his company did four seasons of the TV show Outer Limits , three seasons of Stargate SG-1 , and ultimately opened a studio in Vancouver called Pacific Effects Group. He also created earth-shattering illusions for several seasons of magician Criss Angel’s A&E television show, Mindfreak . In 2003, Johnson wrote, produced, and directed a short called Everloving, which played as part of the Brooklyn Film Festival. [10]
In 2017 Johnson published the first volume in his five volume series "Rubberhead," which chronicles his career in special effects. Volume 1 was critically acclaimed and features hundreds of photographs from Johnson's thirty plus year career. Volume 1 also features a foreword by acclaimed filmmaker John Landis. [11]
For the film Innocent Blood (1992), Johnson innovated contact lenses that could glow and change color on command without digital after-effects. They were scleral lenses coated with silicone glass and Scotchlite, [12] so that when lights, such as those from a color wheel were projected on them, the colors would bounce back toward the camera. [13]
For Lord of Illusions (1995), horror master Clive Barker required Johnson to create an organic-looking creature with skin that could pulse, move, and morph without the use of stop motion photography or other techniques such as mold-casting that were industry standards at the time. Thus Johnson innovated a monster-making technique with Bill Bryan that employed plastic bags, old yogurt containers, colored methyl cellulose "slime", and used gravity and liquid as a propellant. This technique is one that he modified time and again, such as for making slimy tentacles out of plastic and goop for the embryonic pods in Species (1995). [2] [14]
Johnson was married to actress Linnea Quigley from 1990 to 1992, and to Constance Zimmer from 1999 to 2001. During Johnson's eight-year hiatus from the film industry, he spent a year living in the remote jungles of Costa Rica, [3] as well as living in Austin, Louisiana, and the Smoky Mountains. During this time he wrote three books, and his effects were profiled in several other publications. Johnson's career in effects has been featured in books written by Anthony Timpone, [15] Thomas Morawetz, [16] and Rama Venkatasawmy. [17] Johnson is also an instructor at the Stan Winston School of Character Arts. [18] On May 1, 2015, the documentary, The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? directed by Jon Schnepp, about Tim Burton's canceled film Superman Lives was released. Johnson was featured in the documentary, as he was a principal special effects artist on the film working primarily on Superman's "light up" regeneration suit. [19] In 2016, promoted a special effects book and biography called Rubberhead: Sex, Drugs and Special FX on Kickstarter.com. The first of a planned 5 volumes. [20]
Johnson has worked on the following films: [2] [7] [26] [27]
Prosthetic makeup, which may also be referred to as special make-up effects or FX prosthesis, is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding, and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects. Prosthetic makeup draws a straight lineage from the Stagecraft of theater and can be observed at the birth of science fiction cinema with Le Voyage dans La Lune, a 1902 French adventure short film directed by pioneer of special effects Georges Méliès.
Species is a 1995 American science fiction horror film directed by Roger Donaldson and written by Dennis Feldman. It stars Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger, and Natasha Henstridge in her film debut role. The film's plot concerns a motley crew of scientists and government agents who try to track down Sil (Henstridge), a seductive extraterrestrial-human hybrid, before she successfully mates with a human male.
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.
Mark Shostrom is a Hong Kong-born American special makeup effects artist for the film industry.
Robin R. Bottin is an American special make-up effects creator. Known for his collaborations with directors John Carpenter, Paul Verhoeven and David Fincher, Bottin worked with Carpenter on both The Fog and The Thing, with Verhoeven on RoboCop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct, and with Fincher on Se7en and Fight Club. His many other film credits include The Howling, Legend, Innerspace and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Patrick Tatopoulos is a Greek-French production designer and director who lives and works in the United States. His designs have appeared in numerous motion pictures, including Pitch Black, Underworld, I, Robot, The Chronicles of Riddick, Independence Day, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Stargate, Spawn, Godzilla, Stuart Little, 300, I Am Legend, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, 10,000 BC and Live Free or Die Hard.
Richard Alan Baker, known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker has won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times from a record eleven nominations, beginning when he won the inaugural award for the 1981 horror comedy film An American Werewolf in London.
Robert Kurtzman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and special effects makeup artist.
Gregory Nicotero is an American special make-up effects creator, television producer, and director. His first major job in special effects makeup was on the George A. Romero film Day of the Dead (1985), under the tutelage of Romero and make-up effects veteran Tom Savini.
Greg Cannom is an American special make-up effects artist. He is the recipient of several accolades, including five Academy Awards and two Saturn Awards, and has been nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and four BAFTA Awards.
Bodily mutilation in film refers to practical effects implemented on a film set during production, in contrast to special effects, which are applied in post-production. The primary objective is to visually depict physical trauma endured by a character, aiming to elicit emotional responses from the audience and foster empathy towards the character. Bodily mutilation is most usually portrayed in the context of horror, but is also used in other genres, such as medical dramas or war films. It is used primarily either to shock or fascinate the audience of a film, or to add a sense of realism. Improved special effects in recent decades have seen an increase in the prevalence of bodily mutilation in film.
Glenn Hetrick is a special make-up effects artist/designer, actor and producer. Hetrick is CEO of Alchemy FX Studios, a special effects studio which has worked on over 100 film and TV credits, such as Star Trek: Discovery, Hunger Games, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Mad Men. His work in film and television is shown by his nominations for nine awards.
Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (ADI) is an American special 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 Oscar, 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.
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.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is an American television film based on the novel of the same name by Ernest J. Gaines starring Cicely Tyson as the titular heroine. The film was broadcast on CBS on Thursday, January 31, 1974.
Richard Alonzo is a make-up artist. Known for his work on critically acclaimed films, The Sixth Sense (1999), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Iron Man (2008), Avatar (2009) and Star Trek Beyond (2016) for which he received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at 89th Academy Awards with Joel Harlow.
Tom Woodruff Jr. is an American actor, director, producer and special effects supervisor. He won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects for his work on the 1992 dark fantasy film Death Becomes Her; that same year he was also nominated for the same award for Alien 3.
William Forsche is an American special effects artist whose career has spanned more than thirty years. His work has appeared in many films, most of which are horror and science fiction projects, though he has occasionally created effects for other films, such as Beetlejuice (1988) and The Nutty Professor (1996).
An air bladder effect, or simply a bladder effect, is a special effect created for motion pictures. The effect employs plastic or latex balloons—known as "bladders"—which are concealed beneath the surface of foam latex or similar prosthetics. Attached to the bladders is a system of tubing that allows them to be inflated. When the bladders are inflated underneath the prosthetics, it results in the prosthetics appearing to shift, bubble, swell, or pulsate.
Justin Raleigh is an American make-up artist. He is best known for his work on The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Aquaman, Army of the Dead, Impeachment: American Crime Story, American Horror Story: Freak Show and Westworld.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)WARNING, December 2017: Apparently there are no works by this Steve Johnson in the Library of Congress (LC) catalog (that is, for LCCN below), where "Johnson, Steve, 1960–" and "Johnson, Steve, 1960 June 14–" are two others born 1960. This effects artist is "Johnson, Steve, 1961–" at WorldCat (below), but that is yet another person in LC catalog.