Episode 30 - Phil Tippett
Two-time Academy Award® winning filmmaker Phil Tippett has led an incredibly creative, not to mention successful, career spanning the likes of directing, producing, and visual effects supervising. His legendary stop-motion, computerized character animations, and creature designs can be traced from the original Star Wars, Jurassic Park, RoboCop, and Starship Troopers to his own recent, acclaimed film Mad God. Joining host Chloe Aftel, Tippett dives into all of the above and more, revealing anecdotes behind specific work as well as inner philosophical processes behind such a storied journey.
Highlights:
Aftel and Tippett discuss four different creations throughout the filmmaker's career, prompting a myriad of stories along the way
Tippett's transition into computer-generated effects, and how his background in the 'real' aided new digital technologies
Speaking about his 2021 film Mad God and what comes now, where Tippett reveals a new project ranging from stop-motion techniques to AI
Biographies:
Phil Tippett is an American filmmaker who has been working in creative roles and contributing to iconic visuals for over five decades, from creatures like 'Rancor' in 1983's Return of the Jedi to a stop-motion rat in 2024's Alien: Romulus and credits such as 'Dinosaur Supervisor' in Jurassic Park. Additional credits include everything from The Empire Strikes Back and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to The Twilight Saga plus Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Forming Tippett Studio, his own company in 1984, Phil Tippett continues today as an expert and unique mind bringing ideas to life in Hollywood and beyond. His 2021 film Mad God, funded by Kickstarter and taking thirty years to complete has been highly praised and sets the stage for more inimitable works to come.
Chloe Aftel has spent her career working in commercial photography, photojournalism, and film. She’s an established name in modern photography with work featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Playboy, Dazed & Confused, Vogue Germany, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue Italia, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, and more. Aftel has photographed victims of sexual violence, reported on COVID 19's impact on the trans community, and gained access as the first reporter in COVID wards of the West Coast’s hardest-hit hospitals. She has covered underground abortion providers, the impact of gender pronouns on daily life, and clergy abuse. Aftel's first book, Outside & In Between, is an award-winning anthology covering gender non-conforming people across the United States.
