Mad Dreams and Monsters

Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet, the documentarians behind Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan, present Mad Dreams and Monsters, a spectacular and comprehensive authorized retrospective of Oscar-winning visual effects master Phil Tippett, founder and namesake of iconic Tippett Studio. Foreword by director Paul Verhoeven and Oscar-winning visual effects artist Dennis Muren Preface by Phil Tippett From Star Wars to Jurassic Park and RoboCop to Starship Troopers, special effects master Phil Tippett has brought his magic to some of the most iconic films of all time. His unparalleled career in visual effects spans more than 40 years, with two Academy Awards, one BAFTA, and two Emmys. This stunning book, published in a beautiful slipcase, celebrates Tippett’s career, from early Super 8 explorations through his groundbreaking work with Industrial Light & Magic, DreamWorks, and beyond. While Tippett’s first love remains the stop-motion animation that made him a Hollywood legend, he was present at the birth of big-screen digital effects, and his genius has evolved with the times. In 1984, he founded Tippett Studio, which has come to specialize in digital effects. Packed with over a thousand behind-the-scenes photographs and housed in a beautifully designed slipcase, Mad Dreams and Monsters includes never-before-published stories from the master himself and a veritable who’s who of visual effects luminaries—a must-have for movie fans, film students, and anyone who’s ever been captivated by movie magic.

Gilles Penso has worked on more than a dozen film and television projects in English as well as his native French, including Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan (2011); Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex (2015); and Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters (2019), created with coauthor Alexandre Poncet. Alexandre Poncet is a composer, producer, and director based in France. He has created the music for six films and worked with Penso on the special-effects documentaries Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan; Creature Designers: The Frankenstein Complex; and Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters. Paul Verhoeven is a noted director of films such as RoboCop, Starship Troopers, Basic Instinct, and Total Recall, among others, and credits Tippett with an invaluable on-the-fly education in practical effects on the set of RoboCop. Dennis Muren is a nine-time Academy Award–winning visual effects artist. He has worked on blockbusters such as the Star Wars saga, E.T., Indiana Jones, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.