It’s always surprising where we can find Disney connections. It’s a little surprising to discover Dennis Dugan on the list of directors with whom he worked more than once; it is considerably more surprising to discover that he started his career in makeup as an apprentice at the Walt Disney Studios. He doesn’t seem to have actually done any credited work for them, though some of his work was later acquired by Disney, and the theme park that relies most heavily on his work is Universal Studios. Still, Disney connections do seem to be ubiquitous in the industry.
Winston was, in fact, one of many people whose time in LA included a stretch of failed acting. He also tried a career in stand-up before starting his Disney apprenticeship. That was not the greatest or most complex era in Disney’s history, and frankly it wouldn’t be surprising if Winston became bored with his work there. In 1972, a mere three years after graduating from Cal State Long Beach, Winston started up his own special effects studio; the next year, he won an Emmy. The year after that, a second. He won four Oscars over the years as well.
Winston was firm on the idea that he did not create special effects, he created characters. Really, he created both, but it’s true that he will always be remembered for specific characters. He worked on the Terminator series. He created Edward’s scissor hands and Spielberg’s animatronic dinosaurs. He turned Danny DeVito into the Penguin and let Robin Sachs as Sarris have facial expressions in that heavy costume. He developed robots for AI and gorillas for Congo. A Stan Winston design had personality.
He was working to the end, though one of his final projects was put on hold and would not be released for some years after. Jurassic Park IV because Jurassic World. He was also working on the fourth Terminator movie, which would become Terminator: Salvation. No doubt there will be some remnant of his work in the new Avatar movie, given his long-time association with James Cameron and his work on the first film. Winston was working with new technology; he started on makeup and moved on to prosthetics, then animatronics and was working on developing CGI techniques at the time of his death.
He also dabbled in other aspects of filmmaking. He both directed and produced, in time; he’s listed as having directed the Guns ‘n’ Roses “You Could Be Mine” video for Terminator 2. Well, why not, after all? He worked on the movie in his usual capacity as well, and isn’t Axl Rose a kind of special effect? Certainly he’s a character. Winston also appeared in the made-for-TV “A Pocket For Corduroy” as Officer Nick, presumably helping Corduroy to find his way home to his owner. Which is really a lot more adorable than working on Pearl Harbor.
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