John DykstraBirth Place: Long Beach, California, USA Date of Birth: June 3, 1947 Heritage: American Contact John Dykstra |
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Spider-Man 2 Background: “There are three ways to do any shot. There's fast, there's good and there's cheap. But you can only work in combinations of two. You can have it cheap and you can have it fast, but can't have it good; you can have it fast and you can have it good, but you can't have it cheap; you can have it good and you can have it cheap, but you can't have it fast. True words.” John Dykstra Two-time Academy Award winning American special effects supervisor and innovator John Dykstra first gained notice for his work on such 1970s sci-fi landmarks as “Silent Running” (1971) and “Star Wars” (1977). Learning much of his craft through his partnership with legendary Douglas Trumbull at Trumbull Film Effects, John was handed his first Oscar for his visual effects work on the latter film. He also won a Saturn Award. Dykstra picked up his next Oscar for his efforts on the critical and commercial hit “Spider-Man 2” (2004). Other credits include “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979), “Firefox” (1982), “Lifeforce” (1985), “Batman Forever” (1995), “Batman and Robin” (1997), “Stuart Little” (1999) and “Spider-Man” (2002). Dykstra has also provided his talents for television projects, most notably the sci-fi series “Battlestar Galactica” (1978), from which he jointly took home an Emmy Award.
Childhood and Family: John Charles Dykstra was born on June 3, 1947, in Long Beach, California. He studied Industrial Design at Long Beach State and is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).
Career: After learning industrial design, John Dykstra began his career by working with Douglas Trumbull. Dykstra was a special effects cameraman and industrial designer on Trumbull's film “Silent Running” (1972). In 1973, he worked for Berkeley's Institute of Urban Development on a project before eventually reuniting with Trumbull at Trunball’s Future General Company to work on commercials, theme park attractions and experiments in three-dimensional filmmaking effects. It was Trumbull who introduced Dykstra to George Lucas. He subsequently served as the first head of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), Lucas' FX company responsible for supervising visual effect photography for “Star Wars.” Lucas later accused Dykstra of spending much of the special effects budget on developing the camera systems and that the effects team did not give him all the shots that he had wanted. Despite the complaint, after the release of “Star Wars” in 1977, Dykstra cemented his status in the business by jointly picking up an Academy Award for Best Effects, Visual Effects and a Saturn for Best Special Effects. He also received another souvenir from the Academy that same year, a Class II Academy Technical Award for the innovation and development of the Dystraflex Camera (Dykstra). Dykstra reunited with Trumbull for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979), directed by Robert Wise. For their efforts, the two shared a Saturn for Best Special Effects and an Oscar nomination for Best Effects, Visual Effects. Around 1979, Dykstra left ILM to start his own special effects company, Apogee, Inc, through which he worked on a wide variety of projects. Apogee's first major project, “Battlestar Galactica,” a lavish sci-fi TV series shown on ABC from 1978 to 1979, was moderately successful. Serving as both producer, along with Donald P Bellisario, Paul Playdon and David J O'Connell, and special effects coordinator, Dykstar jointly nabbed an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Creative Technical Crafts in 1979. “Battlestar Galactica” spawned a feature of the same name in 1978, which was a re-edited theatrical version of the three-hour TV series pilot, and a modestly produced sequel called “Galactica 1980” (1980). Subsequent TV projects include “Alice in Wonderland” (1985, special visual effects), “Out on a Limb” (1987, special effects supervisor) and “Amerika” (1987). Dykstra enjoyed his next major motion picture triumph with Clint Eastwood's “Firefox” (1982), where he was credited as special visual effects producer. Although the movie secured further honors, it was a modest hit with audiences. Three years later, he provided special visual effects for horror-fantasy director Tobe Hooper's “Lifeforce,” from which Dykstra won a Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival for Best Special Effects. He also lent his talents to various films such as the remake of “Invaders From Mars” (1986), also helmed by Hooper, and the comedy “My Stepmother Is an Alien” (1988), starring Dan Aykroyd. He was credited as special creative consultant on Hooper's “Spontaneous Combustion” (1990). Following several years’ hiatus from filmmaking, the noted special effects supervisor was put back in the limelight with his contribution on the film “Batman Forever” (1995), his biggest blockbuster hit since “Star Wars.” He also worked on the sequel “Batman and Robin” (1997). Both films were directed by Joel Schumacher. For his work on “Stuart Little” (1999), serving as senior visual effects supervisor, Dykstra won a Golden Satellite for Best Visual Effects. He also received Oscar and Saturn nominations. Recently, Dykstra is best known as the visual effects supervisor of the popular “Spider-Man” (2002) and the even bigger triumphant sequel “Spider-Man 2” (2004). His effort in the latter brought a Best Achievement in Visual Effects Oscar and a Saturn for Best Special Effects. As for his upcoming projects, Dykstra serves as visual effects consultant for “The Dreamless” (2007), an adventure/fantasy directed and written by Brian Metcalf, and visual effects supervisor for “Hancock” (2008), helmed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron.
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