![]() ![]() ![]() Still, Brennan observes “(Knoll) has this brain of a rocket scientist and yet he has zero ego. You have to do what the story demands, but inside of those constraints I try to inject as much realistic physics as I’m allowed to.” ![]() I think that audiences can see it too, even if they can’t necessarily point to the thing that’s wrong, something just looks wrong about that. “Also, after growing up in a scientific household, I care about getting the physics right. “Having been a cameraman, I think about ‘Well, if this was real, how would this be shot?’ I try to inject as much realism as much as possible. Knoll, though, says there are a couple of areas where sharp-eyed auds may spot his creative stamp. In between the “Star Wars” movies there were the “Pirates pics” and an Academy Award. ![]() “But boy, I thought that ‘if I survive ‘Episode I,’ if I can get through this and bring this to a successful conclusion, nothing is ever going to faze me again.’ ” To this day, in fact, Knoll is famous for his calm demeanor. “We got thrown all of these unsolved problems that had never really been dealt with in the industry and it was a little terrifying,” he recounts. Then followed the “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” - a sink-or-swim experience. He was supervisor on the first “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek: First Contact”. His friend, helmer Patrick Read Johnson, rescued him from career purgatory and put him on “Baby’s Day Out.” Next he was offered “Star Trek: Generations.” “I said ‘Oh yeah! “Star Trek”! Sign me up!,” says Knoll.įrom there his star rose fast. “It’s harder to get your second picture than it is to get your first one,” he muses. He has an almost kid-like enthusiasm for what they bring to him.”īut his first big studio assignment as vfx supervisor, “Hudson Hawk”, proved a dud, and that set him back. She calls him “an incredible collaborator with directors. Lynwen Brennan, who runs ILM alongside Knoll, has heard such praise before. But (Knoll had) this calm and methodical approach, and of course I relate to that well.” Many years later, he reunited with Knoll when ILM helped finish “Avatar.” “I felt we were going to be in good hands, and that proved to be the case.” James Cameron recalls working side-by-side on set with Knoll to create the pseudopod for “The Abyss.” “It was the first time a soft-surfaced CG character was ever used in a motion picture,” says Cameron, “so it was very groundbreaking work. At that point, his unusual combination of skills positioned him perfectly for the CG revolution in f/x. That in turn led to the creation of Photoshop. In the months that followed, while working nights as a motion control camera tech at ILM, he took up coding software. Motion control was cutting-edge tech in those days, and that landed him a job at ILM. While still a student there, he became fascinated with motion control camera rigs and built one from scratch. Special f/x then became his focus at USC Film School. He got hooked on special effects through the films of Ray Harryhausen as a boy and had taken up filmmaking with models and miniatures before “Star Wars” kicked off the era of f/x blockbusters. Indeed, Knoll has had a knack for arriving early at the next big thing. “Almost everything I’ve been paid to do was something that was largely self-taught.” “I’ve gone through a whole series of careers where something started as a hobby of some kind,” Knoll muses. Yet none of it might have happened if not for his penchant for hobbies. Beyond that, he has recently ascended to chief creative officer of Industrial Light & Magic - certifying that even among ILM’s stellar roster of vfx supes, Knoll holds the title of smartest guy in the room. ![]()
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