Phil Tippett

The legendary imagination 

The word Master makes sense when talking about the two-time Oscar-winning special effects wizard Phil Tippett (California, United States, 1951).

Phil Tippett is the talent behind the animation and design of some of the greatest fantasy creatures in movie history. Rancor, AT-AT Walkers or Tauntaun in Star Wars, Behemoth, Abe Sapien in Hellboy (2019), Robocop (1987) himself and the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993) have all been touched by Tippett’s hand, guided by directors such as Guillermo del Toro and Steven Spielberg, among many others.

At the age of five, the young Phil saw King Kong (1933) and was amazed. He could not have imagined that he would follow in the footsteps of great American special effects animators like the pioneer Willis O’Brien (1886-1962), animator of that giant gorilla in the lead, to continue with Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013), an animator of unforgettable prehistoric animals, and then Tippett himself, before 3D banished the beautiful imperfection of stop motion from the film industry. Of the three, it is Tippett who has experienced the transition from manual stop motion animation to sophisticated digital effects.

His career took off when George Lucas signed him up to Industrial Light & Magic to create the scene where some characters played holographic chess in A New Hope (1977), from the Star Wars saga.

He won an Oscar in 1984 for Return of the Jedi (1983), and another for Jurassic Park in 1994. In addition, he has received six nominations, a Bafta award, two Emmys and the Georges Méliès Award from the Visual Effects Society of the United States.

He now has his own studio in Berkeley, Tippett Studio, where he has produced the movie of his life: Mad God (2021). Thirty years of conception, design, creation and animation of a dystopian and brutal world of unlimited imagination.