Podcast appearances and mentions of tom woodruff jr

Today we're joined by action-horror filmmaker Steven C. Miller to discuss his latest barn-burner of a movie, Werewolves. Werewolves is an unapologetically fun and hydraulic creature feature packed with practical effects, action, and a whole lot of Frank Grillo. Steven dives into his experiences directing Werewolves, his focus on practical effects and full creature suits crafted by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., and his collaboration with star Frank Grillo.Steven also shares his compelling origin story, which included living in his car in Los Angeles before going on to direct multiple action features and collaborating with legends like Bruce Willis, Nicolas Cage, and Sylvester Stallone. This episode was a real blast and is packed with advice and insights for all you horror filmmakers out there. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Steven C. Miller, director of Werewolves.Here are some key takeaways from this conversation with Steven C. MillerGet a rallyerOne of the standout perks Steven shared about working with Frank Grillo is that Frank is a natural rallyer on set. He possesses an authoritative and trusted presence that helps elevate the cast and crew, motivating them to back Steven's decisions and rise to the challenges of production. Having someone like this on set is invaluable. On any film shoot, there will be moments when morale dips, fatigue sets in, or tensions arise. A rallyer—someone who can inspire and energize the team—can make all the difference.However, this kind of relationship hinges on trust. Frank Grillo has been on a lot of sets, worked with a lot of directors and has a pretty sharp bullshit detector. During Werewolves, Frank would ask Steven pointed questions, and because Steven always had solid answers, Frank trusted him. This mutual respect allowed Frank to step into a quarterback-like role on set, helping to unify and inspire the team. As a filmmaker, seek out cast members who possess this quality—but understand that it's your responsibility to earn their trust and respect first.Keep it movingSteven's action-oriented directorial style thrives on momentum. Anyone will tell you that filmmaking is largely waiting around, but Steven counters this with a fast-paced, dynamic approach. By minimizing downtime, he keeps actors engaged, energized, and ready to deliver their best, especially during action-heavy scenes. This efficiency comes from Steven's deep understanding of set logistics, a skill he honed through hands-on experience in his early days. His ability to streamline production and avoid stagnation creates an environment where both creativity and productivity flourish. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has expressed similar ideas, highlighting that actors appreciate the pace, and it allows productions to run more smoothly and on schedule and budget.Say yesSteven has directed an impressive number of films, and if you look at his IMDB page, he seems to constantly be working. This is a testament to his “say yes to everything” philosophy. He believes that filmmakers should view every project as a learning opportunity, regardless of whether it's a passion project. Rather than being overly selective, Steven advocates for gaining as much experience as possible by consistently working and completing projects. This mindset is especially important in an industry where opportunities are scarce. While some directors, like Quentin Tarantino, can afford to be hyper-selective about their filmography, Steven stresses that this is the exception, not the rule. For most filmmakers, success comes from viewing the craft as a career, where consistency and experience are key. By saying yes, Steven not only became a better and more reliable filmmaker but also built relationships and gained opportunities to work...

Today, we welcome Josh Forbes to the podcast, director of Destroy All Neighbors. This is a gleefully fun movie that feels as inventive as it is unhinged. It's the kind of movie that I'm feeling really good about seeing more of because it's completely original. This is Josh's second feature after his debut Contracted Phase 2 and I think he's really made a serious statement; the energy, attitude, fun and bonkers practical effects make this a very fun movie. The movie starred Jonah Ray with a very hilarious performance by Alex Winter and special effects by Bill Corso and Gabe Bartalos of Basket Case Fame. In this interview Josh gets into the making of Destroy All Neighbors from the conception of the idea, to his attachment as director, raising funds and more as well as the current state of cinema that enabled something this original to get made. Don't forget to check out Destroy all Neighbors, now streaming on Shudder, and in the meantime, please enjoy this conversation with Director, Josh Forbes. Take inventory of awesome things you have access to.This is a common one, take inventory of everything you have access to and fashion your movie out of that. Production value is so critical, and often so expensive. Maximize your movie by taking an inventory of what you have access to and writing your script around it. If you have a friend with a boat, that boat should be in your movie. A friend who owns a pig, in the case of Josh, a pig should be in the movie. This is exactly what Robert Rodriguez did with El Mariachi and Kevin Smith with Clerks.Use practical effects.Practical effects, never went away, but still somehow feel like they're having a second heyday which is awesome. The thing about practical effects is that the community is very very passionate and despite having a low budget, Josh was able to get some very heavy hitters like Bill Corso and Gabe Bartolos on board simply because the project looked fun. Similarly when he did Mortuary Collection, Ryan Spindell was able to get Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis from ADI on board despite a relatively low budget because these guys wanted to be involved for the fun of it. The level of passion present in the practical effects community is something very awesome to tap into and it adds a level of production value to your movie that goes a long way in the horror community. Always pay as much as you can though.Push for your original singular vision.Destroy all Neighbors could not have been made by anybody else because it's so specific and singular to Josh, his sensibility, and the things he likes. Directors are supposed to direct movies that only they would be able to do. As a director, you need to understand own and articulate your own sensibility - yes, be open to feedback and collaboration, but your movies should feel specifically uniquely yours. These are the types of projects that inspire others and are worth getting excited about.SHOW NOTESMovies and TV ShowsOnyx the FortuitousFried BarryIdle HandsWhat We Do in the Shadows (both movie and TV show)Sin City (referenced for character design)Buffalo 66" (referenced for trailer music)MusicKing Crimson ("In the Court of the Crimson King")Gentle Giant ("Octopus" album)Straubs (band)Yes (band)Follow Josh Forbes at:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bestjoshforbes/IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1141362/?ref_=tt_ov_drThanks as always...

Aliens panel at Days of the Dead Los Angeles with Tom Woodruff Jr, Jeanette Goldstein, Ricco Ross, Cynthia Scott, William Hope, Carrie Henn, Mark Rolston, Ian Whyte & Daniel Kash https://youtu.be/iWfhag53HEU?si=PlrRlkOp-SkKxuHJ #daysofthedead #TomWoodruffJr #JeanetteGoldstein #RiccoRoss #CynthiaScott #WilliamHope #CarrieHenn #MarkRolston #IanWhyte #DanielKash --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thedollsofhorror/support

Includes an interview with ADI co-founder Tom Woodruff Jr. about the visual effects in Prey. Presented by Corporal Hicks and RidgeTop.

Join Justin as he chats with creature actor and special effects legend Tom Woodruff Jr. about Terminator, monster movies, becoming a demon, Fred Ward, Stan Winston, and more!Be sure to visit MonstersMadnessandMagic.com to stay up to date on the show. The digital doors of the Sanctuary of the Strange are open to you!Monsters, Madness and Magic on Instagram.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Facebook.Monsters, Madness and Magic on Twitter.

Oscar-winning special effects genius Tom Woodruff, Jr joins us and takes us on a whirlwind tour of his first steps into the wonderful world of monster movies via The Thing With Two Heads (1972) – a blaxploitation sci-fi adventure starring Ray Milland as a racist mad scientist hellbent on perfecting his head transplanting technique before he succumbs to a terminal illness, and Rosey Grier as the innocent death row inmate who unwittingly volunteers for his experiments. The result? About three reels of cars chases with Grier gamefully dirt biking with Milland's head sellotaped to his shoulder. The film itself might not be a masterpiece, but it has a surprising number of connections to Tom's career... and many of them involve gorilla suits! Follow Tom on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram Support us on Patreon to nominate future films and access exclusive bonus content

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Movie Reaction, First 10+ Mins - https://bit.ly/PreyFirst10 Full Movie Reaction - https://bit.ly/Preycommentary JOIN the *free* Discord Channel - https://bit.ly/freeMADdiscord SPONSOR an episode (past, present, and future) - https://www.fiverr.com/share/05pkx2 Join the Movies Are Dope Discord - https://bit.ly/MoviesAreDopeDiscord (& assume all links from here on are affiliate links)

Born in Bangor, North Wales and raised in Brighton, Ian Whyte was 7'1" tall by the time he he was 17 years old. Ian always stood out from the crowd. Tall, slim and athletic, little did he know of his future career in the limelight however, Ian endured sometimes savage bullying throughout his school years. After discovering basketball in his teens, he quickly caught the attention of national team scouts who saw his physical attributes and determination as invaluable assets and he quickly progressed to the junior national team ranks. However, Ian lived in fear of being emotionally and creatively expressive for fear of more ridicule, so he was keen to escape school at the earliest possible opportunity. He spent a year at Henry Hudson High School in New Jersey, where he again attracted the attention of basketball scouts, earning sports scholarships to Iona College in New York and Clarion University in Pennsylvania. Ian returned to England in 1994 to play for the London Towers, a new franchise owned by the music promoter Barry Marshall. Still eager to find himself Ian only stayed a season with the Towers, transferring to their rival team across town, The London Leopards. As Europe freely opened its doors to sportsmen and women from across the continent, Ian played for teams across France, Belgium, Greece and Portugal, winning the domestic treble; League, cup and playoff championships with F.C. Porto in 1997. Ian returned to England soon after to play for the Newcastle Eagles, a place that would become his home until his retirement from the game in 2003. Throughout his career Ian tirelessly distinguished himself, representing his country 80 times. In 2003 Ian received a phone call that would change the whole course of his life. By his own admission he was keen to retire on his terms rather than through injury or old age, he responded to a casting call for the new film Alien vs Predator. His success in gaining the role is a matter of history, but personally it was a tremendous victory for him to finally find an outlet for his emotional creativity. Ian was fortunate to work alongside such luminaries as the Oscar winning special effects duo Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr as well as Oscar winning VFX supervisor John Bruno. He also met soon to be double Oscar winning makeup effects artist Mark Coulier who advised him to get in touch with Nick Dudman, the creature effects supervisor for the Harry Potter franchise. Upon completion of filming on AVP Ian travelled back to England and straight into the world of Harry Potter. Not credited as an actor this time, Ian was hired to help bring to life the character of Madame Maxime played by the sublime Francis De La Tour. Ian worked full time for an entire year on the film, faithfully doubling The character who was the full size 8'6" tall. During this time Ian found himself in great demand, but had to turn down roles on The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy and a worldwide tour with Cirque du Soleil. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/steven-cuoco/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/steven-cuoco/support

Includes an interview with ADI’s Tom Woodruff Jr. about performing inside the Alien suit. Presented by Corporal Hicks and RidgeTop.

Includes an interview with Amalgamated Dynamic Inc. founders and owners, and long time Alien and Predator creature effect extraordinaries Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. Presented by Corporal Hicks and RidgeTop.

Tom Woodruff Jr. of "Alien 3", "Pumpkinhead", "The Monster Squad", "Tremors" and more. Oscar award winning make-up FX artist on "It", "Godzilla vs Kong", "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", "Jumanji", "Death Becomes Her", "Starship Troopers" and more!   Hosted by "Nasty" Neal Jones, "Terrible" Troy Jones and "Treacherous" Trista Robinson!   Get Tom's work today on Amazon!! Pumpkinhead Monster Squad Alien 3   Harbinger Down - breaking into the movies business - Stan Winston - Lance Henriksen - Terminator - Aliens - being an Alien - Pumpkinhead - James Cameron - Harbinger Down - Universal Monsters - The Monster Squad - playing a gorilla and more! Subscribe to the Without Your Head newsletter to receive weekly updates on our schedule, guests and more!         Watch us live Thursdays on www.withoutyourhead.com/live Get your WYH gear: www.withoutyourhead.com/tees Watch us live every Thursday with an interactive chat   www.withoutyourhead.com/live Zoom in live on video with us www.withoutyourhead.com/zoom Please subscribe for more interviews! www.youtube.com/channel/UCOmwH7xVAhD-OOAqFWyTYTA?sub_confirmation=1 Join the Without Your Head community! www.FaceBook.com/Groups/WithoutYourHeadHorror --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/withoutyourhead/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/withoutyourhead/support

In this *iconic* episode of ALTER Weekly, Andrew Bowser and Sapphire Sandalo discuss the art of monster movie magic with creature performer Doug Jones (The Shape of Water, Hocus Pocus) and special effects artist and actor Tom Woodruff Jr. (Death Becomes Her, Pumpkinhead). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Scared Stupid, Kris Bell awards "The Jersey Devil" as Mythical Monster of the Month and discusses a few upcoming horror films. Kris also talks with SFX Legend, Tom Woodruff Jr., Sick-Head himself, Pancho Moler, and the DeVan Clan, Heather & Jason DeVan.

Legendary creature performer and creator, Tom Woodruff Jr., joins Natasha to talk about LEVIATHAN! Tom hilariously looks back at his time performing as the humanoid fish creature in LEVIATHAN. Tom explains why it is the worst creature suit he’s ever performed in, his lonely perspective from being held captive inside the suit in a tank in Malta, killing Ernie Hudson on-screen, his best Peter Weller impression, and much more! 

This episode dives into the history, development and modern heavy-hitters in the world of practical effects in cinema! Monster making, makeup effects, puppets, you name it. Jordan and JB interview Oscar winning effects artist and creature actor Tom Woodruff Jr. (Alien films, Pumpkinhead, Monster Squad and more) to talk what it's like not only making monsters, but playing them on screen! The boys also lay out their plans for a Monster Squad based cop drama where the monsters solve crimes.

A dupla Alec Gillis e Tom Woodruff Jr, responsável pela criação de grande parte dos monstros mais icónicos do cinema (Alien, Predador, Starship Troopers, etc) levou um pontapé nos tomates gigante enquanto trabalhava nos efeitos práticos da prequela de The Thing. Por imposição dos estúdios, todo o seu trabalho foi substituído por CGI.Como reacção, e para provar que os monstros "reais" de látex e gosma ainda funcionam, a Studio ADI decidiu lançar uma campanha entre os fãs do cinema old school e criar Harbinger Down, um filme de terror low budget totalmente artesanal mas feito com muito amor.O honroso convidado é, nem mais nem menos, Alec Gillis, que nos vai acompanhar numa conversa alucinante sobre os altos e baixos de um dos estúdios de efeitos especais mais requisitados em Hollywood.Na recta final não desliguem pois José Santiago volta com um Direto Pra Vídeo e o inesperado gato assassino do DVD de culto de Uninvited.

Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr are former apprentices of the legendary Stan Winston, and for the past 30 years, their company Amalgamated Dynamics has been at the forefront of some of the most epic and large scale  practical effects in Hollywood. From the Graboids from Tremors, to the Aliens and Predators and even the dinosaurs from Jurassic World, Tom and Alec have been behind them all, and through the process have built one of the most prolific practical effects studios in history. Despite their extensive accomplishments and indelible name in the industry, Alec and Tom still face the challenges that come with being a practical effects studio in a CGI driven Hollywood. Condensed timelines, lower budgets, unrealistic expectations, and the ever-present over-reliance on digital effects, are just a few of the challenges that come with doing what they do. But regardless, Tom and Alec continue to fight the good fight for practical effects. We dive into the challenges and splendor of practical effects and learn more about ADI's creative processes behind creating some of the most iconic creatures in cinematic history. All of this and so much more on today's episode of the Nick Taylor horror show. Overall I feel like this interview does a great job at illustrating the trails and tribulations of practical affect studios in this era of CGI. Regardless, the good fight is being fought as more and more directors like Guillermo Del Toro and JJ Abrams are outspokenly utilizing practical effects for their major blockbusters and blending it with digital. Even James Wan opted to use as many practical makeup effects as he could for his CGI extravaganza, Aquaman. The pendulum is swinging back towards practical, and I personally believe that the reason we're seeing so much rampant nostalgia for the 80's and 90's is because of practical effects - people yearn for movies that had effects and characters that they could feel, that had true tangible gravity that their minds and hearts believed. It's not just makeup effects either, explosions, car crashes, and other stunts and special effects are simply way more effective when they're done practically. Just look at Mad Max Fury Road - George Miller did the majority of those insane car sequences entirely practically. (I could go on and on) Here are some key takeaways for aspiring practical effects makeup artists from Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis. Provide options for the director. Alec speaks to the importance of presenting different design options to directors so that you can get into his or her head and instantly understand the look they are going for through trial and error. Alec recommends presenting a boring option, an option that is completely out of left field, and then something in between. Be a capitalist. Alec states that in creative endeavors, you need to understand business, probably moreso than in non-creative endeavors. Artistic professions are extraordinarily difficult to make a living at and require not only endless amounts of passion, but financial acuity as well. Alec says, that if you are an artist it is incumbent upon you to understand business, your products, your marketability, and to get out there and network and promote yourself properly. Don't forget to 'do you'. When Tom and Alec are recruiting other artists, they ask their applicants to show them not just what they worked on when they were working on big movies, but what they created on their own time. They want to see what kind of art matters most to their applicants because doing this enables them to really get a grasp on what their people are most passionate about. This is why it's critically important to constantly be improving your craft through your own personal side projects. It not only enables you to get valuable practice in, but helps you further develop and arrive at your own personal aesthetic. This is part of what shapes artists. Tom and Alec recommend building an extensive portfolio of your own personal projects because it will showcase your unique sensibility.

This week’s theme is getting your peanut butter in my chocolate. We start with The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), written by Holmes superfan Nicholas Meyer, with Dr. Sigmund Freud going toe-to-toe with Sherlock Holmes - Together, they fight crime! Next up is a gang of plucky American kids against the Universal Monsters roster in The Monster Squad (1987) from a co-script by Shane Black. Lastly we have Europe poised on the brink of war and only fictional characters can save us - assemble The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), full speed ahead and damn the anachronisms!Also: Joe eats a cookie. Art Nouveau. Best Bonds. A mental erection for Baroness Bomburst. A very particular set of skills. Albanian scapegoats from Wag the Dog (1997). Extra credit: Time After Time (1979). Tom Woodruff Jr. vs. Doug Jones. Alucard. #monsterfuckers and Mad Titan Dong. The Mummy (2017), sans dub. Anno Dracula. Fantomas vs. The Phantom. Melinda Gebbie. Penny Dreadful (2014 - 2016). We play a game of “Quis miscuit ipsos miscuites?”

Episode 21 sees Andy and Mitch joined by founder of the London Horror Society, Chris Nials. His chosen film? Pumpkinhead! Directed by special effects supremo Stan Winston, featuring the FX talent of Alien suit creators Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr and based on a short story by Ed Justin, 1988's Pumpkinhead is a superb film that, while in no way a bad film, is certainly underseen. Remedy that immediately and seek this one out.  The cast includes Lance Henriksen, Brian Bremer, Jeff East, Buck Flower and Florence Schauffler. Pumpkinhead also features the first film performance of Mayim Bialik! The synopsis is as follows:  When a group of rambunctious teenagers inadvertently kill his only son, Ed Harley seeks the magic of a backwoods witch to bring the child back. But when she tells him the child's death is irrevocable, his grief develops into an all-consuming desire... for revenge! Defying superstition, he and the witch invoke 'the pumpkinhead' a monstrously clawed and fanged demon which, once reborn, answers only to Ed's bloodlust. But as the invincible creature wreaks its slow, unspeakable tortures on the teens, Ed confronts a horrifying secret about his connection to the beast and realizes that he must find a way to stop its deadly mission before he becomes one with it forever!   Please note that this podcast contains strong language and Scottish accents.  Remember, you can keep up to date with our news by following us via the usual social media outlets:  Facebook Twitter Instagram Plus you can drop us an email to stronglanguageviolentscenes@gmail.com. Strong Language & Violent Scenes theme by Mitch Bain Edits & Artwork by Andy Stewart   Also, we love what we are doing and the response so far has been wonderful so if you enjoy what we do and want to help us continue to do it and help us to grow, then please consider sending us a few pounds via Paypal to stronglanguageviolentscenes@gmail.com! There is no lower or upper limit and every bit helps. 

As Alien fans, we’ve become used to change. Different directors; different scripts; different planets; different eras; different timelines; even different film studios. With everything so constantly in flux, it’s easy to forget that Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. have been there since nearly the very beginning. From their pioneering work on Aliens, to the foundation of the legendary Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., Gillis and Woodruff have been at the vanguard of the effects industry for more than three decades. In this exclusive, unprecedented interview, our very own JM Prater visited Gillis and Woodruff at Studio ADI in Hollywood for a sit-down conversation about their love for the Alien Saga, their relationships with the fans, and much, much more. // For more on this and our other projects, please visit www.perfectorganism.com. // If you’d like to join the conversation, find us on our closed Facebook group: Building Better Worlds // To support the show, please consider visiting www.perfectorganism.com/support. We’ve got some great perks available! // And as always, please consider rating, reviewing, and sharing this show. We can’t tell you how much your support means to us, but we can hopefully show you by continuing to provide better, more ambitious, and more dynamic content for years to come.

This week we talk as little as possible about that one scary thing that happened this week, continue what may be the best or worst themed month we've attempted yet, discussing Turkey's own Nessie, and review Bryan Bertino's mother, daughter, creature feature, 'The Monster'. Also, we were lucky enough to talk to Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr, the creators of 'The Monster's monster, as well as some of the most famous animatronic atrocities in modern history. Keep our mini-fridges full of blood...I mean...not blood...normal things that people drink...by going to http://patreon.com/frightday or http://shop.frightday.com Follow us in the shadows at the following places: http://frightday.com http://twitter.com/frightday http://facebook.com/groups/frightday http://instagram.com/frightday http://facebook.com/ffrightdayy

With Episode 200 in the books, how do we possibly follow up that huge show? With Episode 201 of Trick or Treat Radio, of course! We’re not alone though, joining us in studio is Sam Furst, the man behind Monsters Are Good. Sam hangs out with us to talk about his awesome online horror shop and helps us review the 2015 flick from Tom Woodruff Jr, Fire City: End of Days. We also run down our upcoming panel schedule at SCARE-A-CON New England, we open some gifts we recently received and we play your voicemails! So grab your Monsters Are Good tote bag, slam evil and strap on!! Stuff we talk about: Art Bradish’s, noir ne'er do wells, The Force Awakens trailer, B’Wana Beast the New 52, I Saw the Devil, Guillermo del Toro, Cabal & Nightbreed, Preacher, trailers on the news, Episode 200, Big Daddy Roth, House of Seven Gables, Captain Hydra, Marz having trouble articulating to artists, the validity of title subtitles, the convention circuit, Count Orlock, Monsters Are Good, contemporary comic writing, Fire City: End of Days, Damnation, Brimfield Flea Market, Chug Jug, Italians in track suits, relevant references, Clive Barker, boners, The Phantom, Elm Street Kids Movie Club, Bite, CDR, Jason vs Horshack, lack of monster movies, Savage Dragon and Invincible, Owl Man, the Boston Punk Rock scene, tote bag, Lords of Salem, Ryan Lee, Marz mixes, Shawn Lewis, Rotten Cotten, The Cove Music Hall, B-Movies & Burgers, The Evil Streaks live, top ten horror of the 80s lists, making art for yourself, Planet of the Apes sequels, The JLI Bwahahaha Podcast, not liking Alkaline Trio, hanging out with Ravenshadow, the cool thing Sam got, Salem in October, Phantom Figures, bat rings, The Shadow film, Evil Presly, The Heroes of Africa, Rob Liefeld, Evil Jarvis, Grayson, and breaking news.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradio)

To the Batcave as the Damn Dirty Geeks welcome Academy Award-winning creature creator, makeup artist, actor and director Tom Woodruff Jr. to our podcast to discuss his amazing career and his earliest influences that started him on his filmmaking journey. Tom has amassed a huge career in high profile films with his creative partner Alec Gillis, who together created Amalgamated Dynamics Inc./studio ADI, a leader in practical creature, makeup and special effects. A very brief list of Tom's credits include: STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, ALIEN 3, PREDATOR, JUMANJI, SPIDER-MAN (2002) and most recently BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis own Amalgamated Dynamics Inc, one of Hollywood's top creature design, makeup and special effects studios. Tom not only makes some of your favorite movie creatures, he often performs as them in the creature suits he creates, including the Lead Alien in both ALIEN 3 and ALIEN RESURRECTION, the title creature of the original PUMPKINHEAD, and Bernie the gorilla in ZOOKEEPER. We discuss the particular challenges of suit performances in such films, and how his acting experience in these suits begins in the creature design phase bringing these aliens, apes and monsters to life on the big screen. This episode starts off with some laughs about Tom's excellent replica of the original 1966 Batmobile from the classic TV series starring Adam West as Batman (see photos in the gallery below). The show had a huge influence on Tom's childhood and it was an early gateway into genre entertainment that we continue to remember fondly today in our careers. Tom also belongs to the ever-expanding group who credit KING KONG and PLANET OF THE APES as highly influential on his life and career -- it almost seems to be a theme of the DDG podcast, go figure.Atomic batteries to power... turbines to speed... prepare to listen now!

Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. co-founded Amalgamated Dynamics Inc. which rose to prominence as one of the great practical effects studios in the world. As well as being the team responsible for H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph from Alien 3 onward their filmography runs the gamut from The Santa Clause to Starship Troopers, Grown Ups 2 […] The post It Came From the Indies – Alec Gillis and Harbinger Down appeared first on Nerdy Little Secret dot com.

Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. co-founded Amalgamated Dynamics Inc. which rose to prominence as one of the great practical effects studios in the world. As well as being the team responsible for H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph from Alien 3 onward their filmography runs the gamut from The Santa Clause to … The post It Came From the Indies – Alec Gillis and Harbinger Down appeared first on Nerdy Little Secret.

Movie Meltdown - Episode 169 This week, the gloves (and the earrings) come off as we prepare to do battle with The Thing! In this, The Thing Super Special, we address things all Thing-related including our Sofa Theater feature: The Thing (2011) as well as how it relates to The Thing (1982), The Thing from Another World and the novella “Who Goes There?”. Including comments on...the clothes question, selective memory, Tom Woodruff Jr., the darkness of The Thing, Howard Hawks, “Who Can it be Now?”, blowtorches in the Antarctic, the Brad Pitt of Norway, a super-nice military, traffic in the Antarctic, fighting the cycle of remakes... and the REAL reason you can’t trust The Thing. (P.S. - Just a note... let the credits play on The 2011 Thing.) And while we cover several new and better ways to watch the Star Wars prequels, we also discuss... Inserts, a thinner Bob Hoskins, klaus kinski as a condiment, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the right time to introduce your kids to your favorite movies, Jessica Harper, Berkley needs her medication, NCIS, Malfoy in stage age make-up, a businessman is evil, The X-Files, having Topher Grace re-edit your movie, my discourse on Leadbelly and grits, the two-part breakdown of Richard Dreyfuss’s career, Tarantino, stupid things white people do, Veronica Cartwright, planet of the kittens, Aliens vs. Predator, pulling up in front of the house and honking the horn, bursting into song, Windows, a triple entendre, putting a lot of letters together that don’t go together, piercing your dogs ear, graphic, loving Showgirls, the nicest world ever depicted in film, beetle orgy, watching Batman each week on TV, we need an enemy from the outside, like Newman in Basic Instinct, killing myth, hot pie charts, the ancient conflict between graduate students and scientists, homemade pizza and The Muppets, getting bored with nudity, Thor is a closetfest, Fez as a detective, and talking smack about Firefly... just don’t do it. Spoiler Alert: Spoilers for things all Thing-related such as... The Thing (2011), The Thing (1982), The Thing from Another World and the novella “Who Goes There?”. You have been warned. “There should be more action pictures about grad students.”

Movie Meltdown - Episode 39.1 - This episode we riff on... Marvel vs. Disney, The Punisher, Kirsten Dunst and hot canines, Cowboys and Aliens, Jonah Hex, Iron Man, Lobo vs. Guy Ritchie, BFF's Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr., Paul W.S. Anderson, Elizabethtown memories, Sword of the Stranger, PG-13 vs. R, Beavis and Butthead nostalgia, Milla kicking The Three Muskateers asses, steam-punk renaissance, kryptonite hoochies, Halloween 3D?, Loomis is mostly dead, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, Rambo fights illiteracy, reuniting the Coreys, Island of Terror, Sherlock Holmes and watching quite possibly the worst movie ever. - And we feature the second half of our interview with Tom Woodruff Jr. Where we discuss how he become involved in the Alien franchise, playing PumpkinHead and about taking on the role of director in his own film projects. Doesn't EVERYBODY own a custom-made Gorilla suit?