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John Dykstra | |
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| Born | John Charles Dykstra (1947-06-03)June 3, 1947 (age 77) Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | California State University, Long Beach |
| Occupation | Special effects artist |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Chloe Dykstra |
John Charles Dykstra,A.S.C. (/ˈdaɪkstrə/; born June 3, 1947) is an Americanspecial effects artist, pioneer in the development of the use ofcomputers in filmmaking and recipient of threeAcademy Awards, among many other awards and prizes. He was one of the original employees ofIndustrial Light & Magic, thespecial effects andcomputer graphics division ofLucasfilm. He is well known as the special effects lead on the originalStar Wars, helping bring the original visuals forlightsabers, space battles betweenX-wings andTIE fighters, andForce powers to the screen. He also led special effects on many other movies, includingBatman Forever,Batman & Robin,Stuart Little,X-Men: First Class,Spider-Man andSpider-Man 2.
Dykstra was born inLong Beach, California. After studyingindustrial design atCalifornia State University, Long Beach (where he was a member ofPhi Kappa Tau fraternity), in 1971 he landed a job working withDouglas Trumbull onSilent Running filming model effects, when Trumbull hired recent college graduates due to the film's low budget.
In 1975, whenGeorge Lucas was recruiting people for the special effects work onStar Wars, he approached Douglas Trumbull, but he was unavailable as he was about to start working onSteven Spielberg'sClose Encounters of the Third Kind. Trumbull pointed Lucas towards Dykstra. Lucas formed his own special effects company,Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), based in warehouse premises inVan Nuys, and appointed Dykstra to supervise the new team. This led to the development of theDykstraflex motion-controlled camera, which enabled many of the film's groundbreaking effects to be produced. The system was made possible by the availability of off-the-shelfintegrated-circuitRAM at relatively low cost and secondhandVistaVision cameras.
However, tensions arose between Dykstra and Lucas, the latter complaining that too much time and money was spent on developing the digital camera systems and that the effects team did not deliver all the shots that he had wanted causing the production to run behind schedule. These tensions would reportedly culminate with Dykstra's dismissal from ILM following Lucas' return from principal photography inLondon.[citation needed] Regardless, following the release ofStar Wars, Dykstra and his team wonAcademy Awards for best special effects and special technical achievement.
AfterStar Wars, Dykstra began working onBattlestar Galactica forUniversal Studios. Supervising the special effects for the three-hour pilot episode (which was also released theatrically), Dykstra formed his own effects company called Apogee, Inc. which included several ILM employees who had worked onStar Wars. Dykstra was also given a Producer credit for the pilot of the television series. As Universal then opted to makeGalactica into a weekly series, many of Dykstra's effects shots were recycled and used repeatedly throughout the show's single season run.
AfterGalactica aired, Lucas and 20th Century Fox began legal proceedings against Universal claiming that they had plagiarizedStar Wars, a matter not helped by the similar effects and design styles (artistRalph McQuarrie had also contributed toGalactica). Lucas was also reportedly unhappy about Dykstra using the equipment (that had been developed and paid for from theStar Wars budget) on a production that was essentially a competitor. When Lucas relocated ILM toSan Francisco fromVan Nuys to commence work onThe Empire Strikes Back, several members of the Apogee team (includingRichard Edlund andDennis Muren) would return to ILM but Dykstra did not join them. He continued to work under his Apogee brand name and subsequently went to work on the effects forAvalanche Express andStar Trek: The Motion Picture (on which he was reunited with Douglas Trumbull).
Dykstra's next major achievement was the effects work onFirefox in1982. Here, he took on the same challenge that Lucas had set withThe Empire Strikes Back of combining miniature effects with actual backgrounds and matte work on white backgrounds usingreverse bluescreen. The film secured further awards but was only a modestbox office hit.
In 1985, Dykstra produced the special effects for the sci-fi horror filmLifeforce which was made inEngland. He followed with work on the 1986 remake ofInvaders from Mars andMy Stepmother Is an Alien (1988). Apogee Inc also did the effects for the spoof comedySpaceballs (1987).
In the late 1980s Dykstra was asked byNissan Motor Company of Japan to work on special effects for a commercial for the introduction of theNissan R32 Skyline. He stated in an interview that ran before the commercial that he got out his "Special Effects Atlas" to provide a world that "not only looked different" but also had some "very unusual inhabitants": the "Space Fish". The Space Fish can be seen following and then examining the new Skyline during the ad.[1]
In the mid-1990s, Dykstra was supervisor for the special effects ofBatman Forever andBatman & Robin. He was also Senior Visual Effects Supervisor forStuart Little. Dykstra was the visual effects designer on the first twoSpider-Man films, and received anOscar forBest Visual Effects for his work onSpider-Man 2. He acted as the visual effects designer onX-Men: First Class, ensuring the six effects companies involved delivered all the shots required despite the tight schedule.
In 1987, Dykstra directed the full-motion video gameSewer Shark, originally intended forHasbro's VHS-basedNEMO console. When Hasbro abandoned the project, the system's creator Tom Zito acquired the rights to the game. In 1992,Sewer Shark was converted to theSega CD by Zito'sDigital Pictures, and released as a launch title for the system.
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