CT Phil Tippett - ROTJ Animator - Interview

If you ever wondered what it takes to bring fictional creatures as bizarre as the Tauntaun to life, the answer is a boat load of acid.
During a fascinating insight into his work on Return of the Jedi,Star Wars animator Phil Tippett shared this wonderful anecdote:
“I took LSD when I was working on Return of the Jedi. I could communicate with my cat Brian, and Brian took me on a journey.
“I crawled into this cupboard with Brian the cat and we went to the centre of the Earth for like three billion years and I was just in this world of molecules. It was fine, it was very calming.
“I decided to go back to work and I was at ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) and I walked into the blue screen stage and it’s huge - everything’s just super illuminated bright blue - and it was just like ‘Aaaah, I took like way too much.’’

Phil, glue gun in hand, working on some trippy creations (Picture: Vice)
Tippett went on to win an Oscar for his work on the movie in 1984, and also did VFX for Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones,RoboCop, Willow and more.
He is far from the first creative to have had very positive experiences with LSD, Steve Jobs having frequently said his hallucinogenic trips were among the most important experiences of his life, and Francis Crick having discovered DNA while taking psychedelic drugs.
Tippett most recently worked on Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, animating the holochess game.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...en-and-it-was-like-aaagh-i-took-a6916576.html

 

Huh.... I personally can't say I approve of such a method, but his work is nonetheless iconic and HUGE to the cinematic history of special effects - effects which, despite many would so, hold up to this day, I believe. I was stunned when I found out that the majority of the shots of AT-ATs were stop-motion. The tauntaun certainly does stick out a bit, but the AT-AT stop-mo is near perfect

 

On February 25th, Criterion will release a set of films by Czech filmmaker Karel Zemen. Among the extras will be a program that features Phil Tippett discussing Zemen's complex visual trickery.
https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/2880-three-fantastic-journeys-by-karel-zeman

 

Don't do drugs, kids.

 

I doubt Ray Harryhausen could've done the Tauntaun better.

 

Huh?

 

Don't do drugs, or you'll end up like IATI.

 

Either that, or you'll end up winning an Oscar for work which delighted and inspired millions.