Phil Tippett, a Hollywood effects wizard with a specialty in stop motion animation, has rendered aliens, machines and monsters across Star Wars, RoboCop and Jurassic Park. In 1984, Tippett and his wife Jules Roman founded Tippett Studio, a visual effects shop that contributed to dozens of blockbusters. After years of money trouble and a wild swan song of a passion project, Tippett has been forced to shutter the company, selling off 40 years of movie magic to recuperate costs.
“I will die with my sword in my hand,” Tippett tells CBS News. “We had almost a 40-year run. It was a good run.”
Heavily inspired by the work of Ray Harryhausen, Tippett was hired by Industrial Light & Magic to create the holographic chess sequence in the first Star Wars. By the time Empire began production, Tippett was head of ILM’s animation department. When I spoke with Tippett some years ago, he described making aliens for George Lucas like an auditioning process, the director looking over tables of creatures and assigning them parts. After winning his first Oscar on Return of the Jedi, the effects artist started his own shop, where they’d bring ferocious things to life in RoboCop, Willow and Starship Troopers.
Tippett won his second Oscar for his work on Jurassic Park, which was originally going to feature stop-motion dinosaurs until computer animation and animatronics caught up. After changing directions, Tippett was given the title “dinosaur supervisor,” a credit that would become a meme decades later. While puppetry is what Tippett is best known for, his team was proficient with digital rigging, working through the decades on hits like Dragonheart and Twilight.
In 2021, Tippett released Mad God, a meticulous animated feature that he had been laboring over since 1990. While the bleak and surreal film was critically acclaimed, the production clearly stretched Tippett thin, requiring rounds of crowdfunding and a stay at a psychiatric ward. In 2024, Tippett Studio filed for bankruptcy.
As part of the liquidation, the trove of props, concept work, creatures and memorabilia is being sold off. Over the weekend, the Berkley effects shop had lines down the street as Tippett had a fire sale on his legacy. According to CBS, even some former employees came out to pluck up props they had worked on for Jurassic Park. While a significant setback, and the industry continuing to move away from classic effects shops, the 74 year old Tippett says he’s down, not out, and not ready to retire.