JOHN WILLIAMS (Composer), a five-time Academy Award winner, has earned an extraordinary 37 Oscar nominations in all, the most recent coming this year for his score for Steven Spielberg's World War II drama Saving Private Ryan. Williams first collaborated with George Lucas on the original Star Wars, for which the composer received an Academy Award. He rejoined the Star Wars universe for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
He has worked with Spielberg on almost all of the director's films, receiving three Oscars for his work on Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler's List. His other Academy Awards came for the scoring of the screen version of Fiddler On the Roof. Williams has proven himself a master of every genre, creating many of the most familiar themes in movie history. He composed the scores for such diverse films as Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park; Amistad, Seven Years in Tibet, Sabrina, JFK, Home Alone, Born on the Fourth of July, The Accidental Tourist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Empire of the Sun, Superman and all three of the
In addition to his film work, Williams was Music Director of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 13 highly successful seasons and is currently Laureate Conductor of that famed ensemble. As a guest conductor, he appears regularly with many of the world's most renowned orchestras. His composition work reaches beyond the screen, as he has also written many concert pieces, including two symphonies and concertos for flute, tuba, violin, clarinet, bassoon, cello and trumpet.
ROBIN GURLAND (Casting) began her film career as a casting director working in the Bay Area doing casting searches for over 17 films, such as Life With Mikey, Forrest Gump, Little Panda and When a Man Loves a Woman. Her credits as a local casting director include The Joy Luck Club, Dangerous Minds, The Quick and the Dead, Redwood Curtain and Golden Gate. As a casting director, she cast James and the Giant Peach and worked as a consultant on The Education of Little Tree.
NICK DUDMAN (Creatures Effects) is a veteran of several Lucasfilm productions including Return of the Jedi, Willow and
After apprenticing with Freeborn for four years on films such as Superman II and Top Secret!, Dudman was asked to head up the English make-up laboratory for Ridley Scott's Legend. Since then, he has worked on Mona Lisa, High Spirits, Interview With the Vampire, Batman and Judge Dredd. In 1995, he was asked to oversee the 55-man creature department for the Luc Besson film The Fifth Element.
The ever innovative Dudman has marketed a new prosthetic material called Dermplast that is used to create remarkable aging effects in make-up. The substance is for sale exclusively through Dudman's own company, the whimsically named "Pigs Might Fly."
DENNIS MUREN (Visual Effects Supervisor) is the Senior Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. Recipient of eight Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Muren is actively involved in the evolution of the company, as well as the design and development of new techniques and equipment. Among his many credits as a visual effects supervisor are The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Casper, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Abyss, Innerspace, Young Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Return of the Jedi and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
As a pioneer in the use of computer and digital technology for film, SCOTT SQUIRES (Visual Effects Supervisor) combines technical expertise with a highly creative touch. Squires has developed a number of breakthrough techniques including the "Cloud Tank Effect" used in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
In 1979, Squires co-founded Dream Quest Images and was a visual effects supervisor, as well as the company's president, for six years. His Dream Quest projects included Blue Thunder, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension, Deal of the Century, One From the Heart and Blade Runner. Squires joined Industrial Light & Magic in 1985.
In 1994, Squires received a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his pioneering work in the area of film input scanning. He received an Oscar nomination for best achievement in visual effects for The Mask and received his second nomination for Dragonheart.
JOHN KNOLL (Visual Effects Supervisor) brings a special expertise and innovativeness in computer graphics to the creation ofvisual effects. Knoll and his brother are the authors of Photoshop, a high-end image processing program for Macintosh computers. Similar to a Quantel Paintbox, Photoshop allows users extensive creative control over the enhancement and editing of images. Knoll was also the Computer Graphics Project Designer on The Abyss, for which ILM was honored with its 10th Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
His additional credits as a visual effects supervisor include Star Trek: First Contact, Star Wars Special Edition, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek Generations.
ROB COLEMAN (Animation Supervisor) joined ILM's team of animators in 1993 to work on The Mask. Coleman's other motion picture credits include Men in Black, Dragonheart, The Indian in the Cupboard, In the Mouth of Madness and Star Trek Generations.
Prior to joining ILM, he began his career working on Captain Power, the first television series to combine computer animated characters to live action. The project won a Gemini Award (the Canadian equivalent of an Emmy) for best technical achievement. Coleman has since produced computer animation and graphics for broadcast and commercials, worked on a special cel-animated film for the World Health Organization, formed his own small studio for commercial and television projects, and produced a series of special on-air graphics, openings and station identifications.
