Having loved everything from Tauntauns to the ED-209, I’ve long known Phil Tippett’s name, but until seeing this frank documentary, I knew little about the man himself. It’s an enlightening tour through both film history (from the cantina scene in Star Wars to the CGI revolution & beyond) and the story of a passionate, often suffering artist. Enjoy.

Bonus: Adam Savage visited with Phil about using photogrammetry & 3D printing in order to recreate the Millennium Falcon’s holochess board:

And—what the heck, it’s Christmas!—here’s Dennis Muren talking about how they created the Rancor monster. I remember Stu Maschwitz telling me about how the scene didn’t really work until the animators added a big chunk of spittle to the creature’s mouth. Its swinging really sold the animal’s scale.

[YouTube]