Phil Tippett
Tippett at a screening ofJurassic Park 3D in 2013
Born	(1951-09-27)September 27, 1951 (age 74) Berkeley, California, U.S.
Occupations	Animator, visual effects supervisor and producer, and filmmaker

Phil Tippett (born September 27, 1951) is an American animator,visual effects supervisor and producer, and filmmaker.^[1][2] Over his career, he has assistedIndustrial Light & Magic andDreamWorks, and in 1984 formed his own company,Tippett Studio.

His work has appeared in movies such as the originalStar Wars trilogy,Jurassic Park, andRoboCop. In 2021, he released his long-gestating, primarily stop-motion filmMad God, which was funded throughKickstarter and distributed byShudder.

Tippett was born inBerkeley, California. When he was seven, he sawRay Harryhausen's special effects film,The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and says his life's direction was set.^[3] After completing a bachelor's degree in art at theUniversity of California, Irvine, he went to work at the Cascade Pictures animation studio in nearbyLos Angeles.

In 1975, while still working at Cascade Pictures, Tippett and Jon Berg were hired byGeorge Lucas atIndustrial Light & Magic to create astop-motion holographic chess scene for the originalStar Wars film.^[4] WhenStar Wars was being released in theatres, in 1977, Joe Dante and Jon Davison approached Tippett to create the fish for Roger Corman'sPiranha. It was released in 1978, with a credit.

In 1978, Tippett headed theILM animation department with Jon Berg forThe Empire Strikes Back, released in 1980. For this film, Tippett co-developed the animation technique calledgo motion to animate the sinisterAT-AT Imperial Walkers and the hybrid alientauntauns. In 1981, he continued using go motion forDragonslayer, and received his firstAcademy Award nomination for its dragon animation. By 1983, Tippett led the famed Lucasfilm creature shop forReturn of the Jedi, for which he won his firstOscar in 1984.

In 1984,Tippett Studio was born when Tippett left ILM and set up a studio in his garage to create a 10-minute experimental film,Prehistoric Beast. The realism of the dinosaurs it depicted and the film's reflection of contemporary scientific theory led to the 1985 CBS animated documentaryDinosaur!. The next year, in 1986,Dinosaur! earned Tippett Studio its first award, aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects.^[5]

In the 1986 movieHoward the Duck, he modeled the Dark Overlord creatures. The same year, producer Jon Davison hired Tippett to create the animated robot sequences forRoboCop. The ED-209 stop-motion model was animated by Tippett^[6] but designed byCraig Hayes^[6] (also known as Craig Davies^[7]), who also built the full size models. As one of thesetpieces of the movie, the ED-209's look and animated sequences were under the close supervision of directorPaul Verhoeven, who sometimes acted out the robot's movements himself. ED-209 was voiced by producer Jon Davison. The project became the start of a long and successful collaboration between Davies and Tippett.

Tippett also did stop motion work for the 2024 TV showStar Wars: Skeleton Crew.^[8]

In 1991, Tippett was hired to create the dinosaur effects for theSteven Spielberg blockbusterJurassic Park using hisgo motion technique made famous in the filmDragonslayer. However, animatorSteve “Spaz” Williams - part of the CGI team atIndustrial Light & Magic - created animated test footage of aT. rex that Spielberg loved.

When Tippett was told thatJurassic Park dinosaurs would be computer-generated, he was shocked, exclaiming "I've just become extinct", a line Spielberg borrows and uses in the movie.^[9] Far from being extinct, Tippett evolved asstop-motion animation gave way tocomputer-generated imagery or CGI. Because of Tippett's background and understanding of animal movement and behavior, Spielberg kept Tippett on to supervise the animation on 50 dinosaur shots forJurassic Park. Tippett supervised both the Tippett Studio and ILM animators, resulting in realistic digital dinosaurs that breathe, flex, twitch and react. His effort earned him a second Oscar.^[10]

Work done onJurassic Park resulted in the development by Tippett Studio'sCraig Hayes of the DID (Dinosaur Input Device - as described by ILM in Disney+ documentary Light & Magic, S1 episode 6) which was pivotal in the transition from stop motion to computer generated animation in bringing creatures to life. Tippett is also the subject of a humorous internet meme regarding his credit in the film ("Dinosaur Supervisor"), which is displayed with the tagline "One job, Phil! You had one job!", implying that because he didn't supervise the dinosaurs properly, he was responsible for the on-screen deaths.Mashable interviewed Tippett in April 2014 about this meme, which he called "beyond silly" and "such a waste of time".^[11]

In June 2015, after media attention due to his new credit of "Dinosaur Consultant" inJurassic World and the ensuing deaths in the film, Tippett tweeted: "to be fair, there were a lot of dinosaurs. It was a large job."^[12]

In 1995, Tippett Studio was hired to create the giant, hostile alien arachnids inPaul Verhoeven's adaptation ofRobert A. Heinlein's classic science fiction novelStarship Troopers. Tippett marshaled a team of 100 animators, model makers, computer artists and technicians and expanded his all-CGI facility. Because of the intensity of his involvement, and his ability to pre-visualize the hordes of teeming arachnids, Verhoeven has credited Tippett with co-directing the large-scale battle sequences for the film. The excellence of this work resulted in Tippett's sixth nomination in 1997 for an Academy Award.

During 1997–98, Tippett supervised animation and effects for Universal'sVirus and Disney'sMy Favorite Martian. In 1998–99 he and Craig Hayes co-supervised the visual effects onJan De Bont'sThe Haunting, for DreamWorks. Under Tippett and Hayes' lead, Tippett Studio created over 100 complex effects shots that expressed the horrific character of the house and the spirits that live there.

In 2000, Tippett joined directorIvan Reitman as the visual effects supervisor on the DreamWorks science fiction comedyEvolution. In just under a year, Tippett Studio designed, realized and animated over 17 extraterrestrial creatures in 175 shots.

Throughout 2001 and into 2002, Tippett changed direction to focus on developing and directing his own film. Tippett achieved this withStarship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, by partnering with his longtime associates, writer Ed Neumeier and producer Jon Davison, with whom he worked on the originalStarship Troopers andRobocop.

In 1990, Tippett began work on an independent animated film,Mad God; but as he became involved in establishing his own studio, he set the project aside. He returned to the project in 2010, but did not have the budget to complete it, so he started aKickstarter with a goal of $40,000. On June 16, 2012, the project was successfully funded, exceeding the goal and obtaining $124,156.^[13]

The film was first screened December 11, 2021 and continued screening through mid-2022.^[14] It took 30 years to complete. A year before it was finished, Tippett had amental breakdown, causing him to be admitted to apsychiatric ward.^[15]

Tippet said in 2021 that he was working on a project calledPequin’s Pendequin, a story about a shapeshifter which is influenced by 1940s Warner Brothers cartoons, but with a dark side to it. He has also written two sequels.^[15]

• Phil Tippett atIMDb
• Tippett Studio
• StarWars.com Phil Tippett bio

• Film producers from California
• Film directors from California
• American animated film directors
• American animated film producers
• 1951 births
• Living people
• University of California, Irvine alumni
• Special Achievement Academy Award winners
• American special effects people
• Visual effects supervisors
• Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners
• Best Visual Effects BAFTA Award winners
• American stop motion animators
• Industrial Light & Magic people
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• Kearny High School (California) alumni

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