While most guests during the original run of Hollywood’s Master Storytellers were writers, directors, producers, or actors, visual effects wizard Stan Winston was one of the most interesting. Movies Stan worked on include the first three “Jurassic Park” movies, “Aliens,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.”
He began his career developing special character makeup where his work can be seen in movies like “The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman,” starring the late Cicely Tyson, “The Wiz,” and “Batman Returns.” As CGI became more and more prevalent in the filmmaking process, he put together a team that would enable him to seamlessly meld physical and digital effects as demonstrated in the very first “Jurassic Park” movie where dinosaurs were a combination of hydraulically controlled king-sized puppets and CG monsters.
Stan earned a total of ten Oscar nominations. Four were for Best Makeup and five were for Best Visual Effects. He took home Visual Effects Oscars for “Aliens,” “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.” and “Jurassic Park” and a Best Makeup Oscar for “Terminator 2: Judgement Day.” To this day, the work done by the Stan Winston Studio serves as both a benchmark and inspiration for VFX and makeup artists worldwide.
Generally speaking, we took our guests to dinner while the movie was playing. With rare exception, our guests felt they had seen the movie we were showcasing enough already. But for both of Stan’s appearances, he insisted in watching the movie with our studio audience so he could refresh his memory as well as enjoy the reaction of a live audience to his work.
