Podcast appearances and mentions of Richard Edlund

What would Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics look like if it crashed into John Carter, Warlord of Mars? This comic is your answer. On this episode we break down Issue 53: THE LAST GIFT FROM ALDERAAN from August 1981. This issue inserts Princess Leia into repurposed Carmine Infantino artwork from the cancelled JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS series, and boy, can you tell! Not only does it have narration in first person, it also has some scenes intended only for an over-18 audience. Make sure those little ones are nowhere near this comic!   Today in Star Wars History - April 9, 1984   Return Of The Jedi wins a ‘Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects' at the 56th Academy Awards. Cheech and Chong present awards to Richard Edlund, Phil Tippet, Ken Ralston, and Dennis Muren.      #53 “THE LAST GIFT FROM ALDERAAN"   Release Date: August 18, 1981 Writer: Chris Claremont Artwork: Walt Simonson, Walt Simonson Coloring: Glynis Wein Cover Art:  Walt Simonson   Princess Leia Organa investigates Imperial activity in the Shiva system, but her ship is damaged by a space mine. Leia escapes in a shuttle which crashes on Shiva IV and is attacked by a savage raiding party. A group of natives led by Aron Peacebringer (The Star Wars-adapted John Carter) and Kéral Longknife thwart the raiders and rescue the princess. Leia returns to the capital city with Aron, and tries to warn him of the danger of the Galactic Empire, but the warlord is not convinced that such an Empire exists. During a gala, Aron then learns the hard way about this non-existing Empire.   We take our Facebook Group Comments on the cover into account as we analyze this issue. Become a part of our Facebook Group to contribute!     Contact Us   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland   Join us every week on YouTube for a behind-the-scenes look at our show. We also bring you to Disneyland, Red Carpet Events and Theme Park Openings.   Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.

What would Classic Marvel Star Wars Comics look like if it crashed into John Carter, Warlord of Mars? This comic is your answer. On this episode we break down Issue 53: THE LAST GIFT FROM ALDERAAN from August 1981. This issue inserts Princess Leia into repurposed Carmine Infantino artwork from the cancelled JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS series, and boy, can you tell! Not only does it have narration in first person, it also has some scenes intended only for an over-18 audience. Make sure those little ones are nowhere near this comic!   Today in Star Wars History - April 9, 1984   Return Of The Jedi wins a ‘Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects' at the 56th Academy Awards. Cheech and Chong present awards to Richard Edlund, Phil Tippet, Ken Ralston, and Dennis Muren.      #53 “THE LAST GIFT FROM ALDERAAN"   Release Date: August 18, 1981 Writer: Chris Claremont Artwork: Walt Simonson, Walt Simonson Coloring: Glynis Wein Cover Art:  Walt Simonson   Princess Leia Organa investigates Imperial activity in the Shiva system, but her ship is damaged by a space mine. Leia escapes in a shuttle which crashes on Shiva IV and is attacked by a savage raiding party. A group of natives led by Aron Peacebringer (The Star Wars-adapted John Carter) and Kéral Longknife thwart the raiders and rescue the princess. Leia returns to the capital city with Aron, and tries to warn him of the danger of the Galactic Empire, but the warlord is not convinced that such an Empire exists. During a gala, Aron then learns the hard way about this non-existing Empire.   We take our Facebook Group Comments on the cover into account as we analyze this issue. Become a part of our Facebook Group to contribute!     Contact Us   Instagram: http://instagram.com/skywalkingpod   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skywalkingthroughneverland   Join us every week on YouTube for a behind-the-scenes look at our show. We also bring you to Disneyland, Red Carpet Events and Theme Park Openings.   Send emails to share@skywalkingthroughneverland.com and follow us on Facebook.

Episode 124  Like many visual effects artists of a certain vintage, Jeff Okun didn't plan on a career in VFX. In fact, by his own account, he didn't even plan to work in film at all. "I'm a completely accidental human being," he told me with a chuckle. His ambitions began on a very different stage — as a stand-up comic — until a sharply atheistic routine delivered at home earned him a lifetime ban from performing in front of his parents. Instead, Okun's creative outlet took the form of magic tricks, homemade stunts, and Super 8 visual gags. “I would blow up model ships and fake fights in rush hour traffic,” he said, “and I'd be in the bushes filming with ketchup for blood.” All of this childhood chicanery ultimately gave way to a fascination with the trickery of movies — the kind of illusions you could only pull off with careful camera work, sleight-of-hand editing, and an appetite for mischief. Learning the Craft the Hard Way Okun's first job in film was with the legendary graphic designer and filmmaker Saul Bass. The experience was, in Okun's words, “awful,” but also profoundly formative. As Bass's gopher-turned-editor, Okun was thrown into the deep end. “I hated him,” he laughed. “But he taught me everything: editing, sound, post-production supervision, how to shoot, how to frame. It was a masterclass.” Working for Bass meant operating in a visually precise, effects-heavy style — layering camera moves, creating in-camera effects, and often relying on labor-intensive optical printing processes. When optical houses turned down Bass's business — too exacting, too expensive — Okun stepped in with cost-saving workarounds and pricing schemes that actually worked. “We doubled the budget, added a contingency, and somehow still landed exactly on target.”“By the end of it, I ended up loving the man,” Okun said. “Not because he gave me a break, but because he was so specific and difficult to please that when you did please him, it meant something. He learned how to prep lineup sheets, how to composite with interpositives, and how to break down 140-layer optical shots into manageable components. “I was just the fix-it guy. I didn't know what I was doing half the time. I still don't.” VFX by Way of Accident It wasn't long before optical houses and producers began calling on Okun when their films were in trouble. One fix led to another. His reputation grew as someone who could step into a crisis and calmly solve it — usually with a combination of ingenuity, humour, and brute-force trial and error. “I think Saul trained me to see puzzles. That's what it comes down to — seeing what's broken and putting it together in a way that works. Most of the time, it wasn't about having the right answer. It was about trying 50 wrong ones.” This kind of lateral thinking came into its own on films like Stargate (1994), where Okun — working with Jeff Kleiser and Diana Walczak's fledgling CG company — had to convince director Roland Emmerich that computer graphics were even worth attempting. “Roland didn't believe in CG. So we built the shot, made the CG glider deliberately less detailed to match the miniature footage. Showed it to him. He said, ‘Exactly — that's what I'm talking about. Miniatures are the way to go.' And we said, ‘Nope. All CG.' That's when he finally came around.” (Fun fact, VFX supervisor Jeff Okun was paid homage by Brent Spiner in Independence Day in the role of Dr. Brackish Okun. There's uh, a slight resemblance.) - Credit to Nofilmschool.comPenguins, Moose, and the Invisible Effect Okun is quick to point out he wasn't a Star Wars kid. In fact, he avoided the original film for weeks on principle — he doesn't do queues. But he did get a behind-the-scenes tour of ILM's original Van Nuys facility courtesy of Bass and George Lucas. There, he saw motion control rigs, Richard Edlund on his knees filming the crawl, Phil Tippett animating the chess game, and pyro tests in the parking lot. It was, he admits, a little magical — though it didn't change the fact that his creative allegiance remained with illusion, not spectacle. “My favourite effects are the invisible ones. I started out as a magician. The goal is to make people believe there's no trick. That's where the real artistry is.” Still, that didn't stop him from sneaking penguins and moose into the background of multiple films. He once gave a horse antlers in a Cameron Crowe movie. In Blood Diamond, he added a huge penguin family to a wide evacuation shot — no one noticed. “It's like the gorilla basketball video. You just don't see what you're not looking for.” The Shark That Ate Sam Perhaps his most famous — or infamous — contribution to pop culture came on Deep Blue Sea. Samuel L. Jackson had just delivered a particularly rough eight-page monologue, and Okun, unimpressed with the script, asked Jackson what he wanted to do. “He just said, ‘Kill me.' So I said, ‘If you make it to the front of the moon pool, I'll kill you.'” The surprise shark attack that interrupts Jackson mid-speech is now legendary. It wasn't in the script. “Renny Harlin didn't know until the day,” Okun said. “Sam did take after take but always got to the kill spot early. We cut the rest. I shot the elements. It was a massacre. We even had baby sharks pull him apart for fun.” The Changing Landscape Much of our conversation revolved around the changing realities of visual effects — the rise of AI, the complications of LED walls, and the shifting expectations from directors and studios. “People think VFX is just hitting the ‘do it right' button and then the ‘do it fast' button,” he said. “There's so little appreciation for how hard this stuff is, and we've done ourselves no favours by making it all invisible.” He sees today's VFX artists as increasingly anonymous — a shift he's spent much of his career trying to reverse, both through his own visibility and via his tenure at the Visual Effects Society. “We don't sell our artistry. We sell our software. You know the names of the DPs, but no one can name last year's VFX Oscar winners. That's not sustainable.” The Invisible War Stories At the end of our chat, Okun expressed a desire to tell more of the “true” stories of VFX — the screw-ups, the late-night fixes, the shots that weren't supposed to work. He wants more people to know that the chaos behind the curtain is often where the real creative breakthroughs happen. “It's always fun. That's the only reason I still do it. And when it's collaborative, when it's people bouncing ideas off each other, it's magical. That's when everyone forgets the pain and just remembers the movie.”All the Filmumentaries Links

Estamos abriendo una puerta a la quinta dimensión para hablar de nuestra película del mes: Fright Night Este mes volvemos con vosotros para hablar de una película que redefinió el mito del vampiro en los años 80 y que, con el tiempo, se ha convertido en una de las cintas de culto más queridas del género: Fright Night, dirigida por Tom Holland en 1985. Era la década en la que el terror adolescente dominaba la gran pantalla con la fiebre de Halloween, Viernes 13 y Pesadilla en Elm Street, pero Fright Night llegó con algo diferente: una historia de vampiros que combinaba el horror clásico con el espíritu moderno de los 80. La película sigue a Charley Brewster, un joven que descubre que su nuevo vecino, Jerry Dandrige, es un vampiro. Nadie le cree, por lo que busca la ayuda del presentador de cine de terror Peter Vincent, un cazavampiros de ficción que, irónicamente, no cree en los vampiros. Para contar esta historia, Tom Holland mezcló el terror gótico con el humor y una estética vibrante propia de la época, usando efectos prácticos espectaculares diseñados por Steve Johnson y Richard Edlund. El resultado: transformaciones grotescas, colmillos afilados y una de las mejores secuencias de descomposición vampírica del cine. Pero Fright Night no fue solo una historia de monstruos. También capturó la esencia de la adolescencia, el miedo a no ser creído y el descubrimiento de un mundo oculto tras la aparente normalidad. La interpretación de Chris Sarandon como Jerry Dandrige convirtió al vampiro en un villano seductor y aterrador a la vez, y la presencia de Roddy McDowall como Peter Vincent añadió un toque nostálgico, homenajeando a los clásicos del terror. Aunque no tuvo el impacto de otras sagas slasher de la época, con los años Fright Night se ha consolidado como un referente del género, influyendo en películas, series y hasta en la manera en que concebimos a los vampiros en el cine. Hoy, casi 40 años después, sigue siendo una de las películas más queridas por los fans del terror y de los 80. También nos da para hablar de todo este cine de género Azrael [Prime Video], Canina (Nightbitch) [Disney+], El llanto [Prime Video], El tirititero [Prime Video], Elevator game [Prime Video], Night Siren [Filmin] Y Héctor por su parte El despertar de la bestia, Heretic, Exhuma, Hombre lobo, La Acompañante, La Quimera Recomendaciones El club de los vampiros, Byzamtium, Drácula: Príncipe de ls tinieblas, Kung Fu contra los 7 vampiros de oro, Drácula (Blácula), Lifeforce, Blácula, aquí llega el Condemor II

Director Roger Donaldson, make-up effects creator Steve Johnson, visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund, and producer Frank Mancuso Jr.

In this episode, cinematographer Steve Gainer, ASC, ASK talks about his work as curator of the ASC's historic camera collection, which include a wide variety of noteworthy filmmaking tools, from the very first mass-produced motion picture camera to the first digital-cinema units.

Matt Sanders and Tom Henry join the podcast this week for a fun chat to recap their “Busters Across California” autograph tour, where they worked to get over 500 signatures from 9 signers from the Ghostbusters cast and production family! They speed signed with William Atherton, hung out with Richard Edlund, had a home-cooked meal with Stuart Ziff, met up with Robin Shelby, met up at a museum with Mark Bryan Wilson, had drinks with Steve Johnson, appraised the collectibles in John Bruno's archive, recorded some podcast interviews, and more!  Plus, get caught up on news on the wrapping of filming for Ghostbusters: Firehouse, upcoming merch releases, and fan charity/outreach efforts. Special Thanks & Credits Logo / Cover Art - Brendan Pearce, Badoochi Studios, @badoochistudios Theme Song - "Ghostbusters" by MAGNAVOX  

In this special episode, we were fortunate to welcome an industry veteran and thought leader, Mr. Bryce Button. During our chat, we hear Bryce's story - from his early beginnings on set, to years working in post, and on through his position today as Director of Product Marketing at AJA Video Systems. Bryce sheds light on all the changes the industry has seen over the years — changing formats, evolving workflows, and where things might be heading. It's a fun and fascinating talk with one of our favorite industry friends. The Making Of is presented by AJA Video Systems:AJA ColorBox: Advancing color accuracy on set and in postAJA ColorBox features algorithmic and LUT processing capabilities for delivering precise color space conversions on set and in post. The powerhouse device enables HDR and SDR conversions and includes 12G-SDI in/out and HDMI 2.0 out for up to 4K/UltraHD 60p 10-bit YCbCr 4:2:2 and 30p 12-bit RGB 4:4:4 signal support. Visit aja.com/colorboxFilm Book of the Month: AC Manual - 11th Edition The revised 11th edition of this essential technical reference is now exclusively available from The ASC. Containing entirely new chapters and substantial rewrites of entries from the previous edition, this hardback book designed for on-set use is a must-have for cinematographers and other motion-imaging professionals.Edited by M. David Mullen, ASC and ASC associate member Rob Hummel, contributors to this edition include Society members Bill Bennett, Christopher Chomyn, Richard Crudo, Richard Edlund, John C. Hora, Levie Isaacks, Dennis Muren, James Neihouse, Sam Nicholson, Steven Poster, Christopher Probst, Pete Romano, Roberto Schaefer and David Stump. Browse here.Whether you are shooting a commercial where exquisite color rendition and high contrast is important, or a tense, dramatic sequence in low light situations for a feature film, ZEISS cinematography lenses offer you the performance you need to get the scene right. With a wide range of focal lengths in twelve different lens families each tailored for your needs, ZEISS cinematography lenses give you always the best quality to make your project stand out. Explore here: ZEISSFeatured Event of the Month:One World Open HouseBand Pro's Guest of Honor this year will be Emmy Award winning cinematographer Checco Varese, ASC. Checco's work includes Dopesick, It: Chapter 2, The 33, Daisy Jones & the Six, Them, The Strain, & much more. Band Pro's Open House combines the best television and cinema technology, along with fine food & drink, and attendees comprising a who's-who of the global cinematography community. Exhibitors this year include Sony, Canon, Angenieux, Fujinon, ZEISS, 16X9 Inc., Litepanels, ORCA Bags and many more.December 8, 2022 | RSVP at Open HouseWooden Camera designs and builds professional camera accessories to outfit any motion picture camera rig with gear tailored for evolving production needs. With R&D based in Los Angeles, CA and a Dallas, Texas-based headquarters, Wooden Camera produces real-world camera solutions demands of everyday production.Discover Wooden Camera products online at woodencamera.com or in-person at Creative Solutions Los Angeles (CSLA).Podcast Rewind:Sept 2022 - Episode IV…The Making Of is published by Michael Valinsky.To inquire about partnership opportunities, email mvalinsky@me.com Get full access to The Making Of at themakingof.substack.com/subscribe

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Desde el mítico podcast "Lo tengo tengo todo documentado", que ya tardas en escuchar, llega Borja Pérez para ayudarnos a desglosar la cantidad ingente de información que hay en la serie documental "Light and Magic". Durante una hora damos rienda suelta a nuestras pasiones para glosar las hazañas de ese grupo de lunáticos que dio forma a nuestras fantasías en la pantalla grande. Nuestro homenaje a John Dykstra, Ken Ralston, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Robert Blalack, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, Steve Gawley, Lorne Peterson y Paul Huston entre otros.Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de SCANNERS. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/19520

Vuonna 1975 toukokuun 26. päivä perustettiin Industrial Light&Magic elokuvatuotantoyritys Van Nuysissa Kaliforniassa. George Lucas tarvitsi ennennäkemättömiä erikoisefektejä uuteen skifielokuvaansa ja alkuperäiseen tiimi: Ken Ralston, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Robert Balalack, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, Steve Gawley, Lorne Peterson ja Paul Huston jättivät jälkensä elokuvahistoriaan, kun ILM:n työn tuloksesta koko elokuvateollisuus mullistui. PWE käy läpi tätä muutosta lyhyesti ja antaa oman arvionsa uudesta Disney+ dokumenttisarjasta. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/popcornwithesko/message

El tiempo, amigas y amigos, es relativo como dijo gente muchísimo más sabia que nosotros (y con menos morro, eso también). Y decimos esto para disculparnos por el pequeño e inapreciable (infinitesimal, de hecho) lapso entre nuestra Cara A y esta Cara B que por fin tenéis en vuestro reproductor favorito. 8 meses puede parecer mucho, sí, pero es que George tardó la friolera de 36 en estrenar el Episodio V. ¿Y eso qué? ¿Él sí y nosotros no? QUÍNTUPLE RASERO. Ya, puede que mucha gente piense que es tamaña osadía comparar esa obra magna con lo que tenéis en vuestras orejas ahora mismo, pero nosotros no, por supuesto. Sabemos que nuestro producto está a centurias de distancia en cuanto a calidad, pero de caradura andamos bien y si no os habéis despistado todavía prometemos un número final a lo Norma Duval en los noventa. ¡Ganamos mucho como coristas! En este episodio seguimos con nuestra sana intención de contar cómo se llevó a cabo La Guerra de las Galaxias: Episodio IV - Una nueva esperanza desde el punto de vista de esos ignotos elementos que en 1977 no eran más que gente que iba por la calle con un maletín de cintas con sonidos grabados o vivía en un edificio donde lo mismo se rodaban planos de efectos visuales que se aprovechaba una rampa de avión a modo de tobogán, pero que con el tiempo serían considerados como los más grandes en sus respectivas profesiones. En este caso, nos centramos en Ben Burtt, un señor que escuchaba (mirando a la pared, de verdad) las películas de pequeño y que lo mismo le metía el micro a una morsa que se pasaba las vacaciones buscando una torre de radio que al ser golpeada con algo metálico satisficiera su peculiar búsqueda de sonidos. Por el camino nos dejo casi nada: el sonido del sable láser, la respiración de Vader, el hutés, el lenguaje de R2, Chewie riéndose… Y, también, en Industrial Light & Magic, una empresa fundada por Lucas con medio millón de dólares para hacer los efectos que nadie más podía hacer y que contó con una muestra de premios Óscar por centímetro cuadrado difícilmente igualable: John Dysktra, Dennis Muren, Richard Edlund, Robert Blalack, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippet… 17 entre estos seis personajes si no nos fallan las cuentas. Y ya sabéis, este podcast trata de glosar las andanzas de estos profesionales del cine cuyas carreras y premios hablan por sí solos, pero que permanecen en el anonimato. Para ello, además seguir homenajeando a nuestro secundario del cine español favorito (y que hubiera sido un Darth Vader sensacional, siempre lo afirmaremos), contamos con homólogos de nuestro cine para explicarnos qué es un supervisor de efectos visuales y digitales y si conviene darle de comer después de las 12 de la noche . Para esta cara B tenemos el placer de conversar con David Heras, supervisor de efectos visuales y digitales en La trinchera Infinita, Open Windows, El Ministerio del tiempo, Handía (por la que ganó un Goya), Antidisturbios o Historias para no dormir. Todo ello acompañados de 40 canciones editadas en 1977 (el año de estreno de esta película); el patrocinio secreto de Bricomonía; el puto Tony Wilson y la certeza de que los cocos no emigran. Con todos ustedes, Lo Tengo Todo Documentado, el único podcast que no pronuncia bien un apellido ni por casualidad. (Nota: si escuchas esto en Spotify a través del móvil puedes ir directamente a cada sección pulsando el rango temporal entre paréntesis). 🎼 Lista de canciones: https://spoti.fi/3wucjLQ ▶️ Cara B Índice: 🗣️ Intro (01:43). ☑️ Ben Burtt o Astu pata pota ita hija. (05:02). 🎙️ ILM, un lugar donde no se afeitaban las patillas con David Heras (02:13:53). 🗣️ Despedida y hander (04:22:33).

If the pink slime beneath New York City reacts to people's emotions, then it'll be happier than Egon at a fungus exhibit because this episode is all good vibes. We talk about the troubled production of Ghostbusters II, Bill Murray's misgivings, speculate if Richard Edlund murdered Douglas Trumbull, and Preston gets into gearhead territory talking about the Ecto-1 vs the Ecto-1A. The timing of this episode is bittersweet, as it coincides with the death of Ivan Reitman at 75 - what better way to celebrate his legacy than talking about how much fun the under appreciated Ghostbusters II is!Follow us on Instagram!Interview with Dan for My Stepmother Is An Alien

Richard Edlund is a four-time Academy Award visual effects winner for Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. He is VFX Supervisor, Producer and Cinematographer. Richard was also nominated for Poltergeist, 2010, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Die Hard and Alien 3. He's won three Academy Technical Awards, the British Academy Award for Poltergeist and Return of the Jedi. He earned an Emmy for creating the visual effects for the original television miniseries Battlestar Galactica and another nomination for Mike Nichols' Angels in America. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with their John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation in recognition of his contributions to the Academy. And the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) presented him with their esteemed Presidents Award in 2008. He has also received top accolades from the Visual Effects Society, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, and numerous other organizations. In 1975, Richard was one of the first visual effects artists to join fellow VFX enthusiast, John Dykstra for a startup he called Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). This team of filmmakers began their work on a movie called Star Wars. When the new technology and Star Wars franchise clicked, Richard moved to Marin County to supervise visual effects for the next two episodes of Star Wars, as well as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Poltergeist.  In 1984, he took over the equipment amassed by Doug Trumbull's Entertainment Effects Group and retooled the 65mm visual effects company, renaming it Boss Film Studios. Boss Films became a star in the visual effects world, when company simultaneously produced the comedic visual effects for Ghostbusters, created a hybrid technology integrating NASA's digital images of Jupiter into a key sequence in 2010. Boss's pioneering VFX technology went on to create stunning imagery for over 40 features, including Die Hard, Ghost, Poltergeist 2, Alien3, Species, Multiplicity, Air Force One. Masters of the Universe, Cliffhanger, Batman Returns, The Last Action Hero, Waterworld, Heat, Starship Troopers and a slew of other high profile projects, including pioneering Bud Light Superbowl spots. The company achieved ten Academy Award nominations over a fourteen-year period. Richard is a twenty-two year Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founding member of the AMPAS visual effects branch and is chair of the Branch Executive Committee, also chairman of the Academy's Science and Technology Council. He also serves as a board member of the VES and on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Cinematographers.  Richard is a frequent lecturer at industry organizations and universities across the world including USC and Chapman film schools. His 1977 Oscar for Star Wars is currently on display at the newly opened Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. In this Episode, legendary Oscar-winning VFX Supervisor, Producer and Cinematographer Richard Edlund talks about his work on some of the most influential films and their groundbreaking VFX sequences: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ghostbusters and Die Hard. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/335/.

Richard Edlund is a four-time Academy Award visual effects winner for Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. He is VFX Supervisor, Producer and Cinematographer. Richard was also nominated for Poltergeist, 2010, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Die Hard and Alien 3. He's won three Academy Technical Awards, the British Academy Award for Poltergeist and Return of the Jedi. He earned an Emmy for creating the visual effects for the original television miniseries Battlestar Galactica and another nomination for Mike Nichols' Angels in America. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with their John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation in recognition of his contributions to the Academy. And the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) presented him with their esteemed Presidents Award in 2008. He has also received top accolades from the Visual Effects Society, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, and numerous other organizations. In 1975, Richard was one of the first visual effects artists to join fellow VFX enthusiast, John Dykstra for a startup he called Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). This team of filmmakers began their work on a movie called Star Wars. When the new technology and Star Wars franchise clicked, Richard moved to Marin County to supervise visual effects for the next two episodes of Star Wars, as well as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Poltergeist.  In 1984, he took over the equipment amassed by Doug Trumbull's Entertainment Effects Group and retooled the 65mm visual effects company, renaming it Boss Film Studios. Boss Films became a star in the visual effects world, when company simultaneously produced the comedic visual effects for Ghostbusters, created a hybrid technology integrating NASA's digital images of Jupiter into a key sequence in 2010. Boss's pioneering VFX technology went on to create stunning imagery for over 40 features, including Die Hard, Ghost, Poltergeist 2, Alien3, Species, Multiplicity, Air Force One. Masters of the Universe, Cliffhanger, Batman Returns, The Last Action Hero, Waterworld, Heat, Starship Troopers and a slew of other high profile projects, including pioneering Bud Light Superbowl spots. The company achieved ten Academy Award nominations over a fourteen-year period. Richard is a twenty-two year Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founding member of the AMPAS visual effects branch and is chair of the Branch Executive Committee, also chairman of the Academy's Science and Technology Council. He also serves as a board member of the VES and on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Cinematographers.  Richard is a frequent lecturer at industry organizations and universities across the world including USC and Chapman film schools. His 1977 Oscar for Star Wars is currently on display at the newly opened Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. In this Episode, legendary Oscar-winning VFX Supervisor, Producer and Cinematographer Richard Edlund talks about being one of the first artists to join ILM -- to work on the 1977 film Star Wars -- his work on Return of the Jedi and Ghostbusters, as well as gives some insight on being a pioneer in the visual effects industry. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/329/.

Pt. 2 Stephen David Brooks is a VFX Supervisor turned multi-award winning feature writer/director who was mentored early on by VFX legends (and Oscar winners) John Dykstra and Richard Edlund. Stephen is known for the features HEADS N TAILZ, and FLYTRAP as well as the Grammy Short Listed Music Video DEAL ME IN and the video for Little Steven's Coolest Song In The World by The Tearaways CHARLIE, KEITH AND RINGO featuring Blondie drummer Clem Burke. >> http://www.youtube.com/stephendavidbrooks Thank you for listening & supporting the podcast :) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sneakies * https://enchantedbooks.godaddysites.com/ * https://sneakies.creator-spring.com/ * https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/anonymouscontent *Royal Girl* Funds will go to sound and editing. Paypal (friends & family) petcarebuddies@gmail.com https://www.patreon.com/sneakies Instagram @marylinartist LinkedIn: Marylin Hebert Please Subscribe to our YouTube:) https://www.youtube.com/user/Fellinijr/videos Zombie Diaries: https://youtu.be/tBmgi3k6r9A Our books :) Young Adult wizard book series: "Margaret Merlin's Journal" by A. A. Banks at Amazon! :) https://www.instagram.com/margaretmerlinsjournal/ MMJ Book I The Battle of the Black Witch https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Battle-Black-ebook/dp/B01634G3CK MMJ Book II Unleashing the Dark One Science fiction action adventure https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Unleashing-Dark-ebook/dp/B01J78YH6I MMJ Book III The Mask of the Parallel World An Adventure in Italy https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Parallel-World-ebook/dp/B01KUGIZ8W/ MMJ Book IV The Quest for the Golden Key https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Quest-Golden-ebook/dp/B076FTTDQN Top kids podcast: Enchanting Book Readings https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enchanting-book-readings-reviews/id1498296670 Other awesome podcasts: Enchanting Book Readings, Girl's Guide To Investing, Thrilling Stories, Legitimately Mallie & The Haunting Dairies of Emily Jane. Thank you for stopping by! We appreciate your reviews :) :) :) :) :) *****! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/filmaddicts/support

Pt. 2 Stephen David Brooks is a VFX Supervisor turned multi-award winning feature writer/director who was mentored early on by VFX legends (and Oscar winners) John Dykstra and Richard Edlund. Stephen is known for the features HEADS N TAILZ, and FLYTRAP as well as the Grammy Short Listed Music Video DEAL ME IN and the video for Little Steven's Coolest Song In The World by The Tearaways CHARLIE, KEITH AND RINGO featuring Blondie drummer Clem Burke. >> http://www.youtube.com/stephendavidbrooks Thank you for listening & supporting the podcast :) https://www.buymeacoffee.com/sneakies * https://enchantedbooks.godaddysites.com/ * https://sneakies.creator-spring.com/ * https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/anonymouscontent *Royal Girl* Funds will go to sound and editing. Paypal (friends & family) petcarebuddies@gmail.com https://www.patreon.com/sneakies Instagram @marylinartist LinkedIn: Marylin Hebert Please Subscribe to our YouTube:) https://www.youtube.com/user/Fellinijr/videos Zombie Diaries: https://youtu.be/tBmgi3k6r9A Our books :) Young Adult wizard book series: "Margaret Merlin's Journal" by A. A. Banks at Amazon! :) https://www.instagram.com/margaretmerlinsjournal/ MMJ Book I The Battle of the Black Witch https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Battle-Black-ebook/dp/B01634G3CK MMJ Book II Unleashing the Dark One Science fiction action adventure https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Unleashing-Dark-ebook/dp/B01J78YH6I MMJ Book III The Mask of the Parallel World An Adventure in Italy https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Parallel-World-ebook/dp/B01KUGIZ8W/ MMJ Book IV The Quest for the Golden Key https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Merlins-Journal-Quest-Golden-ebook/dp/B076FTTDQN Top kids podcast: Enchanting Book Readings https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/enchanting-book-readings-reviews/id1498296670 Other awesome podcasts: Enchanting Book Readings, Girl's Guide To Investing, Thrilling Stories, Legitimately Mallie & The Haunting Dairies of Emily Jane. Thank you for stopping by! We appreciate your reviews :) :) :) :) :) *****! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/filmaddicts/support

Our guests for this episode are Claire and Anthony of Bueno Productions who, in 2007, decided to make a documentary about Ghostbusters. Little did they realise what was ahead of them, as they interviewed the likes of Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver and the late Harold Ramis. The result, over a decade later, is the best documentary you could wish to see about a film franchise loved the world over. Here's an insight into their long journey to making Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters.SYNOPSIS:CLEANIN' UP THE TOWN: Remembering Ghostbusters delivers the most complete account of how the classic film Ghostbusters was made.  UK  brother and sister team of director Anthony Bueno and producer Claire Bueno have travelled all over the United States from Lily Dale to Jacksonville cross country to San Diego, LA and San Francisco, gathering interviews with over 40 members of the cast and crew. Responsible for bringing these stories to life include actors Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver, director Ivan Reitman, producers Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross, Visual effects crew include Richard Edlund, John Bruno and editor Sheldon Kahn.AVAILABILITY (AS OF SEPT 2021)Blu-ray / DVD and VOD:UKBlu-ray release 15th June. Distributed by ScreenboundShop via Amazon UK – RRP £14.99Shop via Zavvi – RRP £14.99Available on demand from 8th November on iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft Store, Sky Store, Rakuten----------CREDITS:Presenters: Richard Williams & Juana RubioAudio Podcast Editor: Juana RubioStills and/or footage courtesy of: Bueno ProductionsFILMMAKER WEBSITE: https://buenoproductions.com/MERCHANDISE: https://buenoproductions.com/shop/ WEB: https://film-forums.comFILM INTERVIEWS: https://bit.ly/film-interviewsACTOR INTERVIEWS: http://bit.ly/actor-interviewsDIRECTOR INTERVIEWS: https://bit.ly/director-interviewsWRITER INTERVIEWS: https://bit.ly/writer-interviewsPODCAST: Spotify: bit.ly/spotify-podcast-ffApple: bit.ly/apple-podcasts-ffAmazon: bit.ly/amazon-podcast-ffGoogle: bit.ly/google-podcasts-ffSOCIAL MEDIA:Twitter: http://bit.ly/filmforums-tw​​Instagram: http://bit.ly/filmforums-insta​​Facebook: http://bit.ly/filmforums-fbLinkedIn: http://bit.ly/filmforums-linkedinTikTok: https://bit.ly/filmforums-tiktok#Ghostbusters #HaroldRamis #SigourneyWeaver #DanAykroyd #Documentary #Filmmaking #BuenoProductions

Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic? Have you or your family ever seen a spook, spectre or ghost? If the answer is "yes", then listen to this episode about the origins and development of Ghostbusters!In our first of two episodes about Ghostbusters (1984), we discuss: Dan Aykroyd's paranormal family tree! What would Ghostbusters have been like if John Carpenter directed it? What juicy gossip did Preston learn when he got hammered with visual effects legend Richard Edlund in a bar in Fargo?  email us: bestlegsinchicago@gmail.comFollow us on Instragram! If you dig the podcast, let us know - write a review and give us a rating! It really helps! 

John Carpenter described this 80's flick, which he co-wrote and directed, as an "action adventure comedy kung fu ghost story monster movie." And I can't really add much more of an intro than that. So come aboard “The Pork Chop Express” as Tim Williams and guest co-host, Gerry D discuss “Big Trouble in Little China” from 1986 on this episode of the 80's Flick Flashback Podcast! Here are some additional behind the scenes trivia we were unable to cover in this episode: For the film's many fight scenes John Carpenter worked with martial arts choreographer James Lew, who planned every scene in detail. Carpenter stated, "I used every cheap gag - trampolines, wires, reverse movements, and upside down sets. It was much like photographing a dance.” John Carpenter was not entirely satisfied with Boss Film Studios, the company in charge of the film's visual effects. According to him, they took on more projects than they could handle, and some effects for the film had to be cut down. Richard Edlund, head of Boss Film Studios, said that there were no difficulties with the company's workload, and that Big Trouble was probably its favorite film at the time, with the exception of Ghostbusters (1984). The effects budget for the film was just under two million dollars, which Edlund said was barely adequate. Sources: Wikipedia, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/82435/10-huge-facts-about-big-trouble-little-china Intro & Outro Music: "Total Eclipse" by Nathaniel Wyver Send us an email or reach out to us on social media to let us know what you liked, what you loved, what we may have missed, or what 80's movie we should watch next! Email - moviviewspodcast@gmail.com Facebook - Moviviews Presents 80's Flick Flashback Podcast (Fan Page) & Moviviews News & Reviews (Group Page) InstaGram - 80's Flick Flashback Twitter - @80s_podcast --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/moviviews80sff/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/moviviews80sff/support

Dzisiaj opowiem wam o efektach specjalnych. Pomówimy też o Disney+, Venomie 2 i nowych filmach. Witam na kanale #MarcinoweRecenzje #VFX #Live

Todd Downing is a proper renaissance writer of Gen X. He's been deeply involved in playing, running, and creating RPGs for decades. He's written for stage, screen, comics, interactive and narrative games. He even records his own novels into audiobooks! … Continue...Episode 113 – Interview with Todd Downing

Excellence To Infinity And Beyond: 'Creativity, Inc.'

This week on the show, we sit down with artist Joseph Game aka Chogrin - plus we talk Sony’s Drive-In Experience and Jason Reitman’s introduction, Richard Edlund’s engineering achievement award, and Bill Murray’s latest with Sofia Coppola. First up in the news, Jason Reitman introduced the original Ghostbusters at a special drive-in experience on the Sony Pictures lot and talked about how excited he is for Ghostbusters Afterlife to premiere on the big screen. Boss Films founder and Visual Effects legend Richard Edlund is receiving an honorary membership to the SMPTE organization that honors achievements in film technology. Oh and Bill Murray has a new movie with Sofia Coppola coming to Apple TV+ called “On the Rocks” and the boys talk about the trailer. Then in the second half of the show, the amazing artist CHOGRIN talks his first 3G show: Gremlins, Goonies and Ghostbusters, Crazy4Cult and Gallery 1988 shows, and a wild ride he spent in an Ecto with Ernie Hudson, his life and encounters with the paranormal in Ecuador, and his exclusive plans for a new show in 2021!

Analog Jones is back to discuss Terminator 2: Judgment Day (the greatest action movie ever made). We also discuss our favorite special effects master, Stan Winston! Terminator 2: Judgment Day Quick FactsDirected by James CameronProduced by James CameronWritten by James Cameron, William WisherMusic by Brad Fiedel (Returning from The Terminator)Cinematography by Adam Greenburg (Returning from The Terminator)Edited by Conrad Buff, Mark Goldblatt, and Richard A. HarrisProduction Company: Carolco Pictures, Pacific Western Productions, Lightstorm Entertainment (James Cameron and Lawrence Kasanoff’s production house), and Le Studio Canal + S.A. (This company owns the third-largest film library in the world [bought Carolco Pictures, De Laurentiis, Canon films, Hammer and Miramax-international])Distributor: TriStar PicturesReleased: July 3, 1991Budget: $94-102 millionBox Office: $520.8 millionStarring:Arnold Schwarzenegger as Model 101 aka T-800, “The Terminator”Linda Hamilton as Sarah ConnorRobert Patrick as T-1000Joe Morton as Miles DysonEarl Boen as Dr. SilbermanEdward Furlong as John ConnorJenette Goldstein as Janelle Todd Voight Notes on Stan Winston:  Born in Richmond VA, 1946, died 2008 at age 62 Attended California State University, Long Beach Moved to Hollywood in 1969 to become an actor. Struggling to find an acting job, he began a makeup apprenticeship at Walt Disney.  In 1972, at age 26, won his first Emmy Award for his effects work on the CBS TV movie, Gargoyles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiT-2zOLFRo) In 1982, at age 36, Winston received his first Oscar nomination for Heartbeeps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrGBmi3BVfo). This is one of Stephen’s favorite movies to show people, it’s a WEIRD ONE with Any Kaufman. He lost to Rick Baker with “An American Werewolf in London”.  In 1987, at age 40, Winston won his first Oscar for Best Visual Effects (along with Robert Skotak, John Richardson, and Suzanne Benson) on another James Cameron film, Aliens. Other nominees included Lyle Conway, Bran Ferren, and Martin Gutteridge with “Little Shop of Horrors”....Richard Edlund, John Bruno, Garry Waller, William Neil with Poltergeist II: The Other Side.  Directed three films 1988-Pumpkinhead 1990-A Gnome named Gnorm 1996-T2 3-D: Battle across time Won two more Oscars in 1992, at the age of 46, for Best Makeup (Jeff Dawn) and Best Visual Effects (Dennis Muren, Gene Warren Jr, and Robert Skotak) for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Other nominees were Hook, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Backdraft.  Won his last Oscar for Best Visual Effects in Jurassic Park, 1994, at the age of 48 (other nominees were Cliffhanger and The Nightmare Before Christmas). How to find Analog JonesDiscuss these movies and more on our Facebook page. You can also listen to us on iTunes, Podbean, and Youtube! Email us at analogjonestof@gmail.com with any comments or questions!  

Four-time Academy Award winner Richard Edlund is our guest on this episode! Richard was one of the first to join the groundbreaking visual effects team for Star Wars! He then moved on to supervise visual effects for the next two episodes of Star Wars, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Poltergeist. Learn more about Richard at http://www.richardedlund.com   Visit http://curiosityness.com/giveaway for your chance to win a 3D Star Wars R2-D2 Multicolor Desk Light!     Connect with Curiosityness... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curiositynesspodcast/ Website: https://www.curiosityness.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curiosityness Twitter: https://twitter.com/Curiositynesstv   Claim your FREE Curiosityness sticker at https://www.curiosityness.com/freesticker/   Find me, the host of Curiosityness on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travderose/ Or send me an email to travis@curiosityness.com

On today's very special episode, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back with the VFX supervisor of the original trilogy Richard Edlund! We discuss the overall production, what it was like constructing the Battle of Hoth, and so much more. Enjoy!Follow us on Twitter: @FOTFPodcastLike us on Facebook: Followers of the Force PodcastBecome a Patron for just $1: patreon.com/followersoftheforceGo to our store on TeePublic: teepublic.com/user/fotfpodcasfRate, review and share the show on Apple Podcasts! Music: The Awakening by Chrisitian Baczyk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiEwGpRbvQ

On today's very special episode, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back with the VFX supervisor of the original trilogy Richard Edlund! We discuss the overall production, what it was like constructing the Battle of Hoth, and so much more. Enjoy!Follow us on Twitter: @FOTFPodcastLike us on Facebook: Followers of the Force PodcastBecome a Patron for just $1: patreon.com/followersoftheforceGo to our store on TeePublic: teepublic.com/user/fotfpodcasfRate, review and share the show on Apple Podcasts! Music: The Awakening by Chrisitian Baczyk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiEwGpRbvQ

The Masters line goes from the biggest thing in the universe to getting dusty on toy store shelves. In an effort to try to save it, Mattel makes a live action movie. But once again, cutting corners leads to an underwhelming result. So they pick up the pieces and revamp the toy line as the ‘90s begin... Featuring interviews with director Gary Goddard, production designer William Stout, special effects artist Richard Edlund, makeup artist Michael Westmore, actors Lesley and Jack Wadsworth, writer Francis Moss, Erika Scheimer from Filmation, voice actor Alan Oppenheimer, & Roger Sweet, Mark DiCamillo, (Tall) Paul Cleveland, Joe Morrison, Mark Taylor, John Weems, Gene Kilroy, and Dave Wolfram from Mattel.

On today's very special episode we speak with VFX legend RIchard Edlund! Edlund has worked on films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, 2010, Ghostbusters, but the film that got him started is a little film from 1977 called Star Wars. Richard would go on to win multiple Academy Awards, start Boss Film Studios, and continue to build his credit list as a freelance supervisor. Enjoy!Follow us on Twitter: @FOTFPodcastLike us on Facebook: Followers of the Force PodcastBecome a Patron for just $1: patreon.com/followersoftheforceGo to our store on TeePublic: teepublic.com/user/fotfpodcasfRate, review and share the show on Apple Podcasts! Music: The Awakening by Chrisitian Baczyk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiEwGpRbvQ

On today's very special episode we speak with VFX legend RIchard Edlund! Edlund has worked on films such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, 2010, Ghostbusters, but the film that got him started is a little film from 1977 called Star Wars. Richard would go on to win multiple Academy Awards, start Boss Film Studios, and continue to build his credit list as a freelance supervisor. Enjoy!Follow us on Twitter: @FOTFPodcastLike us on Facebook: Followers of the Force PodcastBecome a Patron for just $1: patreon.com/followersoftheforceGo to our store on TeePublic: teepublic.com/user/fotfpodcasfRate, review and share the show on Apple Podcasts! Music: The Awakening by Chrisitian Baczyk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTiEwGpRbvQ

In Part 2 of our interview with Oscar-winner Richard Edlund, he talks about his visual effects work on the original "Battlestar Gallactica" series, "The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Poltergeist," "Ghostbusters," and "Angels in America," as well as latest project "resurrecting" JFK in a vegan restaurant.

Richard Edlund is an Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor who has worked on some of the most iconic films of the last 50 years. His groundbreaking visual effects were seen in the original "Star Wars," for which he won his first Oscar. Edlund won additional Oscars for his visual effects in "The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "Return of the Jedi." Edlund’s stunning visual effects work continued on such films as “Poltergeist,” “Ghostbusters,” “Die Hard,” “2010,” “Alien 3,” and “Ghost.” Edlund also won an Emmy award for his visual effects on the original “Battlestar Gallactica,” and was nominated for an Emmy for “Angels in America,” directed by Mike Nichols. Before working in film and television, Edlund shot iconic album covers for his friend Warren Zevon and bands like The Fifth Dimension, Three Dog Night and many others, as well as inventing the revolutionary “Pignose” guitar amplifier.

Today we continue our celebration and exploration of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies with a look at Episode VI. Return of the Jedi. In this final movie from the original three, the good guys win in the end after overcoming incredible odds. Many fans and critics panned it for including the incredibly cute and furry Ewoks on the moon named Endor as a part of the storyline. Many thought one very tall Wookie was enough cuteness for the series. Yet the Ewoks did provide the setup to one of the movies best lines. The Ewoks thought one of Luke’s robots, C-3PO, was a god. Solo asked him to demonstrate some ‘god-like’ powers to which C- 3PO replied, “It is against my programming to impersonate a deity.” This movie’s big reveal was that Luke and Princess Leia were twins and that she was now free to unabashedly pursue bad boy Han Solo. While Episode VI was the lowest grossing film of the original three, coming in at only $572MM worldwide, it was still a great ride and visually stunning. George Lucas’ in-house organ, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), certainly earned their title for their special effects in the movie. The Sarlacc battle sequence was great, the speeder bike chase on the Endor moon was way cool and the space battle between Rebel and Imperial pilots was a great ride. At the Academy Awards ceremony for movies of that year, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Phil Tippett, all from ILM, received the Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects Oscar award. I thought about this entry in the Star Wars oeuvre in the context of compliance training. One of the key changes from the Department of Justice articled in the 2017 Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs was the change in training. The DOJ wants both targeted and effective training. This means you must be able to demonstrate how your training has been received and utilized by your employee base. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we continue our celebration and exploration of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies with a look at Episode VI. Return of the Jedi. In this final movie from the original three, the good guys win in the end after overcoming incredible odds. Many fans and critics panned it for including the incredibly cute and furry Ewoks on the moon named Endor as a part of the storyline. Many thought one very tall Wookie was enough cuteness for the series. Yet the Ewoks did provide the setup to one of the movies best lines. The Ewoks thought one of Luke’s robots, C-3PO, was a god. Solo asked him to demonstrate some ‘god-like’ powers to which C- 3PO replied, “It is against my programming to impersonate a deity.” This movie’s big reveal was that Luke and Princess Leia were twins and that she was now free to unabashedly pursue bad boy Han Solo. While Episode VI was the lowest grossing film of the original three, coming in at only $572MM worldwide, it was still a great ride and visually stunning. George Lucas’ in-house organ, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), certainly earned their title for their special effects in the movie. The Sarlacc battle sequence was great, the speeder bike chase on the Endor moon was way cool and the space battle between Rebel and Imperial pilots was a great ride. At the Academy Awards ceremony for movies of that year, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, and Phil Tippett, all from ILM, received the Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects Oscar award. I thought about this entry in the Star Wars oeuvre in the context of compliance training. One of the key changes from the Department of Justice articled in the 2017 Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs was the change in training. The DOJ wants both targeted and effective training. This means you must be able to demonstrate how your training has been received and utilized by your employee base. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four-time Academy Award winner Richard Edlund is on the show today. A visual effects legend of the Original Trilogy, he was there from the early days of ILM to his groundbreaking work on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist and more, it was a huge honor to dive deep into Mr. Edlund’s incredible career. We really get into specifics about some of the most complicated shots from the original Star Wars, including the iconic opening shot of the Star Destroyer.  For more information about speaking appearances, the Enhanced Depth project and his career, go to his website: RichardEdlund.com For more behind-the-scenes stuff, as well as a link to some of our other in-depth interviews, check out: Website: www.TalkingBay94.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/TalkingBay94 Instagram: www.instagram.com/TalkingBay94

There's no better place to start than at the beginning – so, for the first episode of Die Hard With a Podcast, we're taking a look at the making of Die Hard. For a film with so many incredible stunts and huge explosions, it's hard to believe it's based on a book – or is technically a sequel to a 1960s Frank Sinatra flick. On this show, we go from acquiring the rights to the story, crewing up the film, writing the script, casting its stars, and rolling at the Fox Plaza building in Los Angeles. Learn why Die Hard was fully expected to flop, why Bruce Willis's salary was so controversial, and how exactly they pulled off Hans's fall from the 30th floor. As we kick off this limited series, let us know what you think! Drop us a line at diehardwithapodcast@gmail.com, or visit our site at www.diehardwithapodcast.com.   Source Links A/V Club, Die Hard humanized (and perfected) the action movie ABC News, 'Die Hard' turns 30: All about the film and who could have played John McClane Creative Screenwriting, “There is no such thing as an action movie.” Steven E. de Souza on Screenwriting Deep Focus Review, The Definitives: Die Hard Empire, Empire Essay: Die Hard Review Entertainment Weekly, Bruce Willis: "If I hadn't done 'Die Hard,' I'd rip it off" Eric Lichtenfeld, Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie Film School Rejects, 31 Things We Learned From the ‘Die Hard’ Commentary Track Film School Through Commentaries, John McTiernan on filmmaking philosophy I Choose to Stand, Retrospective: Die Hard (1988) IMDb, Die Hard IndieWire, Cruel Summer: Die Hard (1988) Mental Floss, 19 Things to Look for the Next Time You Watch Die Hard Mental Floss, 30 Cold, Hard Facts About Die Hard Overthinking It, The Best of All Possible Die Hards Rolling Stone, Why the OG ‘Die Hard’ Still Rules Screen Rant, 15 Crazy Things You Didn’t Know About Die Hard Shmoop, Die Hard Shortlist, Die Hard: 25 Years On The Daily Beast, ‘Die Hard’: How Bruce Willis Changed the Movies The New York Times, If Willis Gets $5 Million, How Much for Redford? The Star Democrat, Five days of ‘Die Hard’ part one: ‘Die Hard’ (1988) Thrillist, A (Mini) Oral History of the Most Memorable 'Die Hard' Moments Viddy Well, 10 Fun Facts About Die Hard Vulture, How Die Hard Changed the Action Game Wikipedia, Die Hard Zimbio, 20 Things You Never Knew About 'Die Hard'    Get In Touch Email Website Twitter Facebook Instagram Patreon   Full Episode Transcript Welcome to the podcast, pal. My name is Simone Chavoor, and thank you for joining me for Die Hard. With. A! Podcast! The show that examines the best American action movie of all time: Die Hard. This is the first episode of this new podcast! It’s been a kind of crazy labor of love, putting the show together. Over a year ago, I started a podcast called Black Mass Appeal with the help of some of my friends. That show is about, shall we say... alternative religions... and it’s been a ton of fun to put together and I’ve learned so much doing it. But now, I’m starting on a new project about something else I love. I can’t recall exactly when I became a die hard Die Hard fan. I think my story is probably pretty typical; falling in love with the movie as I watched it at home on VHS, or badly censored on TV. I do remember that when I moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to take an internship on the Fox lot, I never got over my excitement at driving past the Fox Plaza building – Nakatomi Tower – every day. I got a gray sweatshirt and a red Sharpie to make my own “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho” costume for my Christmas party. I attended the Alamo Drafthouse’s “Nakatomi ‘88”-themed screening in San Francisco. And yes, I became one of those annoying drunks who’d go on at length about why Die Hard is a Christmas movie after a couple of cocktails. After yet another friend asked me for quick notes on whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie in order to settle an office debate, I sat down with a (couple) glass(es) of whiskey, rewatched the movie, and hammered out a four-page, fully-cited essay on the matter. (Which you can read on the website.) Yes, this is how I spend my Friday nights. But the fact that I did that made something abundantly clear: I love Die Hard. I have a lot to say about it. And I want to share it. So here we are! This podcast is going to have nine episodes that each explore different aspects of the movie. We’ll look at action movies of the 80s, we’ll look at our heroes and villains, how women and minorities are portrayed, and why Die Hard is so popular again. There’ll also be a BONUS episode… You can find out more about that in just a minute. So, before we dive in, a little housekeeping. Die Hard With a Podcast will release every other Thursday, wrapping up right before Christmas. If you want to get in touch... Email Website Twitter Facebook Instagram Finally, if you like this show, kick me a buck or two on Patreon. Patreon helps to offset the cost of doing this show, so unless you have a vault with $640 million in bearer bonds you can open up for me, pledge a little bit on Patreon. Patreon There are some cool bonuses you can get, like stickers, ornaments, and the bonus episode – and you can even help decide what you want the bonus episode to be on! So check that out, and pitch in if you can. And if you can’t – the best thing you can do is just listen and tell your friends. Leave a review on iTunes – that helps put this show in front of more people, so everyone can get in on the Die Hard love. All right, on with the show. For our first episode, I thought what better place to begin than where Die Hard began? So: this is the story of how Die Hard got made. The novel Die Hard doesn’t seem like one of those movies that started out as a book – there’s a lot of explosions in the movie and all – but it did. In fact, it started out as a sequel, to both a book and another movie. In 1966, writer Roderick Thorp wrote a novel called The Detective. It was an adult take on the cop genre, with the main character, private investigator Joe Leland, taking on a gritty case of supposed suicide that leads him to uncover murder and corruption. The novel was turned into a movie of the same name in 1968 by 20th Century Fox. The film starred Frank Sinatra as Joe, and the film did decent box office while Sinatra’s performance was well reviewed. Over a decade later, in 1979, Thorp wrote a sequel to The Detective with the express intention of turning it into another movie for Sinatra. The book was called Nothing Lasts Forever (which sounds more like a James Bond movie if you ask me). In it, now-retired Joe Leland goes to visit his daughter – not his wife! – at her high-rise office in Los Angeles at Christmas. While he’s there, terrorists take over and… a lot of the rest is the same is the movie. Kinda. We’ll get into that on another episode. Anyway, it’s kind of like how author Michael Crichton wrote The Lost World expressly to be made into a sequel to the movie Jurassic Park, or Thomas Harris wrote Hannibal to be a made into a sequel for the Silence of the Lambs. (You’ll come to find out that Silence of the Lambs is another favorite movie of mine…) Buying the rights According to Thorp, future Die Hard associate producer Lloyd Levin showed the book Nothing Lasts Forever to future producer Lawrence Gordon. Gordon took one look at the cover, with a burning skyscraper and circling helicopter, and said, “I don’t need ro read it. Buy it.” So, 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to this novel, too. Now, Die Hard was actually produced by Silver Pictures, the production company founded by mega-producer Joel Silver in 1985. 20th Century Fox ended up being more of the distributor. (At some point in the early 80s, before Silver Pictures picked it up, the rights to Nothing Lasts Forever were actually owned by Clint Eastwood, who had intended on starring in the movie himself.) Joel Silver was just coming off of a hot streak of iconic 80s action movies like Commando, Lethal Weapon, Predator, and Action Jackson, and he was able to pull from the talent behind those movies to put Die Hard into production. The crew Silver offered the gig to the director of 1987’s Predator, John McTiernan. Back in 1985, McTiernan had turned down directing Commando, and he almost turned down Die Hard, too. In fact, he tried a couple of times to turn it down. McTiernan said the material was just too dark and cynical for him. (And if you’ve read Nothing Lasts Forever, you’ll totally get it. That shit is bleak.) Eventually, he came around because he came up with a plot change that would “lighten things up.” “The original screenplay was a grim terrorist movie,” he said. “On my second week working on it, I said, 'Guys, there's no part of terrorism that's fun. Robbers are fun bad guys. Let's make this a date movie.’ And they had the courage to do it.” So instead of terrorists, McTiernan’s bad guys would be pulling off a heist. “I liked the idea of imagining what would happen when one of those Baader-Meinhof types got tired of fighting his and others’ political battles and decided to show them what a criminal is,” he said. McTiernan also changed things up with inspiration from an unlikely source: Shakespeare. The original story took place over the course of three days, which was way too long. Now, borrowing from the structure of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the entirely of the plot would transpire over a single night. To hammer out the story, writers Jeb Stuart and Steven de Souza were hired. Jeb Stuart wrote the original script, and Steven de Souza was responsible for a lot of the on-the-fly revisions that would take place during shooting. Die Hard was Jeb Stuart’s first film credit if you can believe it, and after Die Hard he later went on to write Another 48 Hours, Fire Down Below, and the really really amazing The Fugitive. De Souza had previously written 48 Hours, Commando, and The Running Man, and he would go on to write Die Hard 2, Hudson Hawk, Ricochet, Beverly Hills Cop III, Street Fighter, and Judge Dredd. Basically, these are the guys to go to for action thrillers. The cast But who to go to to be the star of this action flick? Contractually, because Die Hard is technically a sequel to The Detective, the role had to be offered back to Frank Sinatra… who was 73 years old at the time. Fortunately, Sinatra decided he was “too old and too rich” to be running around making movies anymore. By not going with an older gentleman as the lead, the filmmakers were now free to explore new options for the lead role. Jeb Stuart describes how he discovered the core of the film: "I had no idea how to make this into a movie," he said. After getting into an argument with his wife, Stuart said he got into his car and took off. "It's in the days before cell phones and literally the minute I got on the highway, I knew I was wrong and knew I had to apologize," he said. He wasn't paying attention to the road and ran into a refrigerator box. "I went through it at 65 miles per hour and, fortunately, it was empty," he explained. "I pulled over to the side of the road, my heart was pounding and I thought, 'I know what this movie is about!' It's not about a 65-year-old man... It's about a 30-year-old man, who should have said he's sorry to his wife and then bad shit happens." He went home and wrote 30 pages of the script that very night. Hopefully he apologized to his wife first. When it came to casting the role of the now-renamed John McClane, the filmmakers seemed to try every male movie star in town. The part was offered to… Sly Stallone, Don Johnson, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Clint Eastwood (as already mentioned), Burt Reynolds, Robert De Niro, Charles Bronson, Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson, James Caan, Paul Newman, and Richard Dean Anderson (yes, MacGyver!). These actors ran the gamut from musclebound he-men to more sophisticated sorts. “When I first started working on it, they were talking about Richard Gere,” said John McTiernan. “The part was very buttoned down. He’s wearing a sport jacket, and he’s very suave and sophisticated and all that stuff. It was a sort of Ian Fleming hero, the gentleman man of action.” But what all those actors had in common was they all turned the role down. Going to Bruce Willis was seen as a desperate move in the film industry. After all, he was a *sniff* television actor, not a movie star. Willis was currently on the show Moonlighting, which was a comedy-drama about two private detectives. He had been in two movies by then as well, Blind Date and Sunset, but neither had been hits. Still, Willis was a charismatic, charming actor. Demographic data from CinemaScore, an entertainment polling and research company, said that Willis was popular with audiences. And once again, producer Lawrence Gordon stepped in to take decisive action. Bruce Willis tells it himself: “I know that Larry Gordon was instrumental in me getting the job. What’s that expression? Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan? Well, a lot of people take credit for my appearance in the first Die Hard, but Larry Gordon was really the guy. He lobbied for me. And then got them to give me an outrageous sum of money for acting in the film.” It really was an outrageous sum of money. Willis was paid $5 million – more than almost any other leading man at the time. (Dustin Hoffman got $5.5 million for Tootsie, and Stallone got $12 million for Rambo III.) But multi-million dollar paychecks were usually reserved for only the biggest names in the business. Even then, the figures were only in the $2 or $3 million range. A TV actor getting this kind of payday sparked a legit panic among studios. In a New York Times article titled, “If Willis Gets $5 Million, How Much for Redford?,” writer Aljean Harmetz calls it “equivalent to an earthquake. The map of movie-star salaries must now be redrawn.” In response, Leonard Goldberg, president and chief operating officer of 20th Century Fox got a little testy. He told the New York Times for that article, ''Die Hard hinges on the lead. We had a very exciting script and a team of producers who delivered Predator and Commando. We reached out for Bruce Willis because we thought we had the potential of a major film which is a star vehicle.'' But even after all of that, the reason Willis could even take the role came down to his Moonlighting co-star, Cybill Shepherd. Shepherd announced that she was pregnant – and because the pregnancy couldn’t be written into the show, Moonlighting producer Glenn Caron put the show on hiatus and gave everyone 11 weeks off. At last, Die Hard had its star. Casting the villain to McClane’s hero was less fraught, but still a bit of a gamble. The role was originally offered to Sam Neill, but he turned it down. Then, in the spring of 1987, casting director Jackie Burch saw Alan Rickman playing the dastardly Valmont in the Broadway production of Dangerous Liaisons – a role which earned him a Tony Award nomination. Rickman was known for theater, but, at the age of 41, had never done a movie. When he was offered the role of Hans Gruber, his instinct was to turn it down. He didn’t want to be a terrorist in an action movie. Rickman said (no, I’m not even going to attempt doing Rickman’s voice here): "I didn’t know anything about L.A. I didn’t know anything about the film business… I’d never made a film before, but I was extremely cheap. I read [the script], and I said, 'What the hell is this? I’m not doing an action movie.' Agents and people said: ‘Alan, you don’t understand, this doesn’t happen. You’ve only been in L.A. two days, and you’ve been asked to do this film.'" Of course, in the end, Rickman accepted the role. Rounding out the cast were Bonnie Bedelia as John’s wife Holly, Reginald VelJohnson as Sergeant Al Powell, Paul Gleason as Deputy Police Chief Dwayne Robinson, William Atherton as reporter Richard Thornberg, James Shigeta as Joseph Takagi, De’voreaux White as limo driver Argyle, and a whole mess of big tall dudes as Hans’s gang of robbers. While Hans is supposed to be German, Alan Rickman is British, and his right hand man Karl, played by Alexander Gudunov, is Russian. The rest of the crew was portrayed as more… vaguely international. That’s because there were chosen more for their intimidating look and height – 9 of the 12 were over 6 feet tall. And they certainly didn’t speak German – most of what they said in “German” was pretty much gibberish. As a final bit of casting trivia, there are three Playboy Playmates in Die Hard. Kym Malin (May 1982) is the woman discovered having sex in the office when the terrorists arrive. Terri Lynn Doss (July 1988) is the woman who hugs someone at the airport. And Pamela Stein's November 1987 actual centerfold is the one on the wall of the under-construction building hallway. The set Speaking of the under-construction building hallway – we have to talk about the set. Now, back in 1975, Roderick Thorp saw the movie The Towering Inferno, and dreamed about a man running through a skyscraper chased by men with guns. It’s what led to the high-rise setting of Nothing Lasts Forever, and eventually Die Hard. If you’ll remember, the cover of the book, with the building on fire, was what convinced Lawrence Gordon to buy the rights, after all. Call it coincidence or good luck or a sign of things to come. But 20th Century Fox was just wrapping up construction on their new office building, a brown steel-and-glass building at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, which would be named Fox Plaza. Or, as we know it better: Nakatomi Tower. It was production designer Jackson De Govia’s idea to use the building as Die Hard’s location. Getting to use the building required extensive negotiations with Fox. They had to agree to no daytime filming, and no explosions (whoops). According to McTiernan, "We had to periodically run downstairs and apologize to the lawyer beneath us, saying 'we're about to fire machine guns; will you excuse us?'" The scene where the SWAT team’s armored vehicle knocks over a stair railing in the front of the building caused months of negotiations alone. But in the end, Die Hard got its location, and Fox not only got to showcase its shiny new headquarters – in fact, a lot of early promotional material featured only the building, and not Bruce Willis – but they charged themselves rent for the building’s use. That’s actually pretty common in the film industry. The bookkeeping in the movie business is… interesting. The interior of the building was still incomplete, so any shots you see of under-construction offices were actually shot in the unfinished parts of the building. Other sets were constructed at Stage 15 in the regular studio lot. Using the half-finished areas allowed McTiernan and cinematographer Jan De Bont to place fluorescent lights in the ground and have half-finished structures in the foreground. The maze-like feeling of the offices and hallways was deliberate. Jackson De Govia said, “When I first read the script, I saw a jungle maze. It reminded me of the book High Rise by J.G. Ballard, in which a modern building becomes a tribal battleground. I wanted to make a building where that kind of action could take place. When the building is a jungle, people revert to utter realism, which is savagery… There are entire sequences where McClane moves through the building not touching the floor, like a predator in a jungle.” Although you might think so with a quote like that, De Govia didn’t work on Predator with McTiernan. De Govia had previously worked on a variety of movies, including Red Dawn, so he did have some experience with everyday folks fighting terrorists… De Govia did carry a visual element from McTiernan’s Predator to Die Hard, though: both Schwarzenegger and Willis crawl through waterfalls during the action. You see, the lobby of the Nakatomi Corporation’s office is a dead-on copy of the famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house Fallingwater, complete with stone walls and, uh, falling water. De Govia was inspired by Japanese corporations buying up American institutions – something that was freaking out Americans in the late 80s. He created a backstory where Nakatomi bought the actual house and had it reassembled in their lobby on the 30th floor of the building, waterfall and all. Directing style Now, putting McClane under waterfalls, into ventilation ducts and elevator shafts, under tables, and swinging him from firehoses certainly play to that guerilla-jungle spirit of Die Hard’s set. But the problem with a maze-like set is making sure the audience knows where everyone is, and where the action is taking place relative to the other players. Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, analyzed Die Hard for Rolling Stone magazine. He said, “John McTiernan’s direction is an amazing piece of intricate craftsmanship. What a lot of filmmakers have trouble communicating is a sense of geography. For instance, one floor of a building under construction looks a lot like any other floor. But McTiernan put in little things, like a Playboy centerfold hung up by a construction worker. At first it seems like a visual joke, but it’s really there to identify that floor, so when Willis encounters it again, the audience knows exactly where he is. Many directors also shoot action very sloppily – they shoot up close and cut around a lot and put in all these big noises to distract you. But in Die Hard, you know where every character is every second of the movie. Things are going by at a fast clip, but you’re never lost.” This kind of dynamic but geographically-clear directing was McTiernan’s signature style, already on display in his previous film, Predator, as Arnold and his crew battle a literally invisible alien in the South American jungle. McTiernan is known for helping the audience understand the relative locations of people and things within a space by using as few cuts as possible; instead, he keeps rolling as he pans the camera from something on one side of the room to the other side of the room. For example, in Die Hard, when the building’s alarm goes off and the henchman in the lobby acknowledges it, the camera moves from the alarm on the right to the henchman on the left, without cutting – just like you’re there yourself, turning your head to see. You can tell he’s sitting just to the side of the blinking alarm. Similarly, McTiernan will rack focus from something in the foreground to something in the background, or vice versa. Again, this creates a feeling of depth within a single shot and allows the viewer to follow where things are with their own eyes. It avoids confusion, and is in a way more efficient as you allow the audience to track things themselves instead of having to explain things every time. Connecting these shots with a moving camera also keeps things, well, moving. The camera roams around, taking in the shot in a natural way, the way your own eye would. The objects and people within the frame are arranged to guide your eye (and therefore the camera, as it mimics the movement of your eye) from one thing to the next, leading you to discover important clues to the story. McTiernan says, “The camera isn't just moving for the sake of keeping it moving. The camera is an active narrator in a thriller. The camera has to tell you how to evaluate every piece information you get and put it into context.” McTiernan was able to achieve this kind of visual storytelling with the work of his supremely talented cinematographer, Jan De Bont. De Bont was born in the Netherlands and had quite a body of work already; McTiernan was already fascinated by what was considered “European-style” camera movement, and had particularly admired De Bont’s work with director Paul Verhoeven in The Fourth Man. McTiernan was trained in this so-called “European style” of filmmaking, and it fits right in with what we’ve already discussed about his style. You see, not only do McTiernan (with De Bont) move the camera to naturally create a sense of geography, they also enhance emotion and tension with “unmotivated moves.” By moving the camera (tilting, panning) and zooming in on someone’s face, they heighten their expression. It’s just like when you’re in an uncomfortable or tense situation, and the first thing you do is look at everyone’s faces to understand how they’re reacting, so you can know how to react, too. Production Die Hard’s principal photography began on November 2, 1987. The film had a surprisingly low budget of $28 million – it’d more than double that for the sequel. Once everything was in place, things had to move fast – 20th Century Fox wanted to release the film the very next year. That lead to a lot of making shit up as they went. A lot. The script wasn’t even entirely done when they began shooting. The heart of John McClane was still a bit of a mystery. Sure, they knew Bruce Willis was not going to be playing McClane like he would have the hardened cop Joe Leland from Nothing Lasts Forever, but there was still something missing. It wasn’t until halfway through shooting that Willis and McTiernan realized that John McClane simply doesn’t like himself all that much. You know that moment where John argues with Holly in her office at the beginning of the movie, and he bangs his head on the doorframe after she walks out? That was a reshoot done way later, once they’d clued in to what makes McClane tick. McClane’s sarcastic humor was also the result of on-the-fly rewrites. Bruce Willis said about shooting, “I remember that the script was in flux. It would change and they would rewrite scenes and we would come in and there'd be new scenes. I'll give you an example. The second biggest line in Die Hard was 'Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs…' That line was written while I was in this mock-up of a ventilator shaft, trapped in there, I couldn't come out. In those days, a cell phone looked like a shoe box, they were enormous. And someone had to hand me a phone with Steven de Souza, the writer for the rewrites on Die Hard, and he'd tell me a line, they'd turn the camera on, we'd shoot it.” There’s some debate about whether or not the biggest line in the movie was the result of improv or not. In a 2013 interview with Ryan Seacrest, Willis said that “Yippee-kay-yay, motherfucker” was “just a throwaway. I was just trying to crack up the crew and I never thought it was going to be allowed to stay in the film.” Then again, writer Steven De Souza recalled the creation of that line a little differently. “Bruce and I grew up watching the same TV shows,” he said. “Roy Rogers used to say ‘Yippee ki yay, kids.’ So it had to become ‘Yippee ki yay, motherfucker’ in the movie. That line was from me. Whenever you think you’re writing a line that’s going to catch on, it never does. A lot of people, cough, Sylvester Stallone, cough, think they can invent them. The line you think is going to catch on never catches on and the audience decides what is the takeaway line.” Damn. De Souza shading both Willis and Stallone at the same time… Aspects of Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber were yet to crystalize, too. The filmmakers wanted John and Hans to have a “mano a mano” meeting somehow, before the final showdown. When De Souza learned that Rickman could do a “good” American accent (which… No disrespect, but I think good is up for debate…), he put it together with the fact that up until this face to face meeting, John had only heard Hans, and speaking with a German accent, over the radio. So, Hans, searching for his detonators, runs into John… and pretends to be a hostage named Bill Clay who has slipped away. To stay on this scene for just a minute longer: there’s a bit of a “controversy” where it’s not explicitly explained how John figures out that Hans is only pretending to be a hostage. How would John know not to give Hans a loaded gun? Well, in an earlier scene that was cut from the final film, everyone in Hans’s gang synchronizes their watches – and they’re all wearing the same watch – something McClane, as a cop, would have noticed as he searched the bodies of the bad guys he’d already snuffed. Steven De Souza says, “When Bruce offers the cigarette to Alan Rickman, Bruce sees the watch. You see his eyes look at the watch. That's how he knows that he is one of the terrorists.” So supposedly this is some big plot hole caused by the cut scene. But if I can interject for just a second – and I can, it’s my podcast – I think that’s bullshit. It’s not a plot hole. We don’t need it spelled out for us how John figures out that Hans is one of the terrorists. John’s a cop, and clearly a good one – I mean, he’d survived that far into the movie, he’s gotta be pretty skilled. The audience can fill in that he caught something we didn’t. He can be smart; he can know things the audience doesn't know. He can notice the watches, or he can have a gut feeling, or he can just have the common sense to not hand a loaded gun to a perfect stranger in a really dangerous situation. Anyway. When it comes to plot holes, there is one in Die Hard that is easy to miss, but is, in fact, logically inconsistent. Up until two weeks before the end of shooting, filmmakers still didn’t know how the gang was going to try to escape. They decided that the gang’s plan would be to drive away through the chaos of the inevitable disaster scene in an ambulance that was hidden in the back of the box truck they used to drive into the building. Not a bad plan… Except for the part where they don’t bring the ambulance with them at the start of the movie. If you look at Hans and company arriving at Nakatomi Tower in their truck, you can see the truck is way too small to contain another vehicle… and besides, it’s not there behind the men as they wait to unload. Whoops. The stunts But then, we’re not coming to Die Hard to pick apart its continuity. We’re here for some action! Die Hard employed 37 stuntmen, under stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni. Stunt doubles were used for many of the action scenes – this is Die Hard, not Mission: Impossible, after all. Things always have the potential to go disastrously wrong, and there were a few on-set accidents, but fortunately none were too grave. When McClane goes down the ventilation shaft, you can see him fall – and that wasn’t on purpose. The stunt man was supposed to grab the very first ledge within the shaft, but he missed – and editor Frank Urioste kept his fall in the final film, cutting back to McClane catching himself on a ledge way below the one he was supposed to grab. One of Die Hard’s stunt performers is actually a Technical Academy Award-winner for his Decelerator System, which is a cable system that allows stunt performers to “fall” more safely from a higher height, and to be shot from any angle. Ken Bates explains his invention: “When we did Die Hard, I started using a device called a Descender, to do controlled falls. In other words, we do a controlled fall from anywhere up to 105 stories. The fall is controlled because you’re descending on a small cable. If the film is undercranked, it looks like you’re falling.” Bates clearly knew what he was doing with his Decelerator System, since he was the one who acted as Rickman’s stunt double during his fall from Nakatomi Tower. (He also doubled Bruce Willis when he leapt off the top of the building with a firehose.) Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman did perform a couple of stunts of their own. John McTiernan recalled, “The first time we got to the point in a scene where you would insert a stuntman, I told Bruce he would only have to take it up to here, and he then could go sit down. He said, ‘No, I want to do it.’ And all of a sudden, you saw that New Jersey street kid in him come out. It’s not that he did anything dangerous, but it was a side that he had not shown us before.” Bruce Willis explained why he was so game. “I think doing my own stunts whenever possible adds a lot to the production value of the film… John can get the camera close, because he doesn’t need to disguise the stuntman. But on a personal level, it satisfies the little boy who still lives in me who gets to shoot guns, kill the bad guys and be a hero while doing jumps and falls and swinging from ropes.” McClane famously ran around Nakatomi Tower without shoes on, but Bruce Willis got a little more protection. He was given a pair of rubber feet to wear – they make him look a little hobbit-like, since they had to slip on over his own feet. You can see them in the scene when McClane jumps off the edge of the roof as the FBI shoots at him from the helicopter. McTiernan and weapons specialist Michael Papac also dialed up the intensity of the stunt weapons for added realism. As in most movies, the firearms in Die Hard are real weapons that have been modified to shoot blanks. But these blanks were specially handcrafted by Pacpac. McTiernan wanted the muzzle flash to be exaggerated and the sound to be extra-loud. He got what he wanted, but not without a price. When McClane shoots a terrorist from underneath a conference table, the gun was in such close proximity to his unprotected ears that the bangs gave Willis permanent hearing loss. Willis said, “Due to an accident on the first Die Hard, I suffer two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear and have a tendency to say, ‘Whaaa?’” The deafening blanks got to Rickman, too. Every time he fired his gun, Rickman would flinch. McTiernan was forced to cut away from Rickman’s reactions so his expression wouldn’t be caught on film, but you can see one of them right after Hans shoots Takagi at the beginning of the movie. The most famous stunt in the movie is Hans Gruber’s fall from the window of Nakatomi Tower. We’ve already discussed how stuntman Ken Bates was able to pull off the actual fall, but it’s the beginning of the fall, where we see Hans’s shocked face in slow motion, that makes it so heart-stopping. That, of course, is actually Alan Rickman falling, although from not quite as high a height. "John McTiernan had to talk Alan into doing that shot because even stuntmen will generally not fall backwards – they like to see where they're going," said visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund. For Hans’s fatal fall, Alan Rickman was to be dropped from 25 feet in the air, with a blue air bag below him and a camera above him to capture his expression. The camera was shooting at 270 frames per second to capture Hans’s plummeting face at a rate ten times slower than normal. Rickman was understandably apprehensive about the stunt. It didn’t help that, legendarily, the crew told him they’d give him a countdown of three, two, one, go – and drop him on “Go” – and instead… they dropped him on one. Rickman wasn’t exactly happy with the crew for that surprise bit of acting motivation, but miraculously, they convinced him to do a second take. Ultimately, the crew’s prank (?) worked – the first take is the one you see in the film. Release and reception Die Hard wrapped in March 1988, just four months before the film was set to be released. As the filmmakers got to work on post-production, the studio did not exactly demonstrate a lot of faith in the film. As mentioned earlier, the early publicity didn’t even have Bruce Willis on it; the poster featured the Fox Plaza building as the star of the show. The advertising campaign for the film was short, too – especially by today’s standards. In contrast, I think I saw the trailer for Mission Impossible: Fallout in front of every movie I saw for at least two years before it was released! Everyone seemed worried. Test audiences rated the movie poorly, and “had no interest in seeing [Bruce Willis] dart around a skyscraper shooting terrorists.” The New York Times summer movie preview doubted Willis was “enough of a movie star to carry the film,” and Newsweek’s David Ansen was even more harsh, saying Willis was “the most unpopular actor ever to get $5 million for making a movie.” Film critic Roger Ebert gave it a mere two stars, and criticized the stupidity of the deputy police chief character, claiming that "all by himself he successfully undermines the last half of the movie." 20th Century Fox was convinced it had a flop on its hands. The movie was released on July 15th, 1988, in only 21 theaters in 20 cities, where it earned only $600,000 its first weekend. But then… audiences liked it. They loved it. They kept coming back. In the second week, the movie expanded to 1,200 theaters across the country. After Die Hard opened wide, it started out in third place at the box office, taking in $7 million. From there, strong word of mouth took it to the top, where it lived in the top five for ten weeks. It only dropped into sixth place in October. Die Hard finished its theatrical run with $83 million domestic and another $57 million worldwide – completely making up for that $5 million paycheck Bruce Willis got. It was the seventh-highest grossing movie of 1988. It also enjoyed a long, successful run on home video – something we’ll talk about later in this series. Not only was Die Hard a financial triumph, it received Oscar nominations for editing, visual effects, sound and sound editing. And it turned Bruce Willis into a star. The kind of star who’d later join Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone – the very action stars he essentially replaced – in opening up a chain restaurant themed on Hollywood celebrity. And so, that’s the story of how Die Hard got made. There are certainly parts I’ve missed, or pieces of the story that have changed over time. Filmmaking stories sometimes take on the quality of oral histories, especially when the resulting film becomes a legend. Throughout the rest of this podcast series, we’ll explore why Die Hard has become so celebrated among action movies, 80s movies, movies in general. I’m excited to invite you to the party with me. Come out to the show, we’ll get together have a few laughs… Anyway, thank you for joining me. Happy trails, and yippee-kai-yay, motherfuckers.

The 35th Anniversary has officially begun (sorta) thanks to the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. This week on the show, we'll explore the information coming out of the show including new licensors, returning favorites, and some hints of what may be coming for Ghostbusters Day NEXT year already. Also this week, the Ghostbusters website is about to get a makeover for the anniversary to be revealed on Ghostbusters Day. What could it mean? Chris unearthed a laserdisc player and was able to dig into a Japanese visual effects disc featuring Richard Edlund and the Boss Films crew, and a fundraising outdoor screening of the original Ghostbusters film is coming to New Jersey. All that and more on this week's show!

This week on the show, talking about a new clip of Ghostbusters World gameplay, Richard Edlund's state of the VFX industry, Ray Parker Jr. documentaries and more! Troy is flying solo this week as Chris is out on vacation, but don't worry - still here to talk about all the news that's fit to print. First up, Eric at Ghost Corps showed us a little bit of Ghostbusters World gameplay. But were there a few hints toward what's to come visible on the screen? And what's with the dimensional portals? Diamond Select Series 7 is out on shelves now, and for the first time you can own Janosz Poha! SyFy has a great article with Richard Edlund looking back on his career and discussing the state of the effects industry, where of course Ghostbusters comes up. And finally, there's a Ray Parker Jr. documentary in the works, find out how you can help them fund the production!

Tom Spina, makeup and FX extraordinaire joins us again. First, he talks about the new Star Wars offerings from Regal Robot, the officially licensed Star Wars decor retailer. Then, we spoke to him about creatures and restoration and collecting of original movie props from Star Wars. After that, we're joined by Richard Edlund, one of the FX masterminds behind the original trilogy, who spoke to us from his new post at Chapman College teaching special FX. If you haven't already, join our new Facebook group and join in the discussions with us and other listeners at – http://facebook.com/groups/FullofSith If you like the show, please leave us iTunes/Stitcher reviews and share us with your friends and family! We'd greatly appreciate it.

Movie Watchdogs Classics #02 - Er gibt ihnen ihre Pest mit Timo Josefowicz, Tim Krauss und Christian Heinke In Ausgabe #2 von Movie Watchdogs Classic sprechen die drei mittelalten Nerds Timo, Tim und Christian, in epischer Länge und mit zahlreichen Interviewschnipseln der Macher, über die originäre Star Wars Trilogie. 0:00:00 Rezeptionserfahrungen 0:12:24 Vorspann 0:16:47 Star Wars - Episode IV #ANewHope 0:47:38 YouTube: Kevin Rubio's Troops 0:52:59 YouTube: Robot Chicken - Ponda Baba's Bad Day 1:16:20 YouTube: Robot Chicken - The Emperor's Phone Call 1:23:26 Tumblr: Star Wars Holiday Special 1:23:48 Getränk der Folge: Star Wars Space Punch 1:27:10 Star Wars - Episode V #EmpireStrikesBack 1:42:51 YouTube: Robot Chicken - Space Slug Chinese Delivery 2:00:53 Star Wars - Episode VI #ReturnOfTheJedi 2:04:26 YouTube: Clerks - Death Star Politics 2:06:32 Showtitel! 2:29:02 Abspann Mit Interviewschnipseln von Richard Edlund, Steve Hawley, John Dykstra, Anthony Daniels, Ben Burtt, John Williams, Paul Hirsch, Peter Diamond, Gary Kurtz, Irving Kirshner, Dennis Muren, Frank Oz, Stuart Freiborn und Ralph McQuarrie. aus den Dokumentationen »Empire Of Dreams« und »Making Of Star Wars« Teil 1 und Teil 2.

We investigate the spector of young girl at the Brooklyn Public library, talk to an expert in the field of ghost hunting, Dr. Karen Stollznow, the author of Haunting America; and we speak with the Visual Effects Supervisor of Ghostbusters, Richard Edlund.

Will Ritchie returns to the show as Sofa Dogs continues its month-long tribute to Horror films of the past. This week, we take a look at Tom Holland's 1985, vampire classic, Fright Night. Charlie Brewster is a typical American teenager. He loves his Mom, he studies hard in school, he gets in arguments with his girlfriend about sex and oh yeah, it seems a vampire is living next door to him! As young girls continue to go missing, only to turn up dead later, Charlie enlists the help of his favorite Horror icon, Peter Vincent. Together, they must stop the vampire and rescue Charlie's friends from eternal damnation. Please join Will and I as we discuss Roddy McDowall, the vampire genre and mythology, the effects of Richard Edlund and the upcoming remake of Fright Night. Remember to listen for the preemptive countdown before starting the movie on your DVD.

Cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti, ASC and visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund, ASC discuss some of the classic techniques on display in this 1982 horror classic directed by Tobe Hooper.