Official Trailer for ‘Jurassic Punk’ Doc About CGI Artist Steve Williams
by Alex Billington
November 23, 2022
Source: YouTube
“If you want to stay in the industry, you gotta play the game.” Gravitas Ventures has released an official trailer for a documentary titled Jurassic Punk, made by filmmaker Scott Leberecht. This first premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, and also stopped by the Sitges Film Festival in Spain. “You can’t revolutionize the History of Cinema without being an anarchist.” Steve “Spaz” Williams is a pioneer in computer animation. His digital dinosaurs of Jurassic Park transformed Hollywood forever, but his own appetite for anarchy and disregard for authority may have cost him the recognition he deserved. This is the true story of the man who helped revolutionize the VFX industry, convincing Steven Spielberg to switch to using CGI dinosaurs for Jurassic Park in 1993 (and also T2 and The Abyss). He was a big part of ILM, but there’s more to his story. This should be playing as a double feature with Disney’s excellent Light & Magic doc series about ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) on Disney+ right now (Spaz is in it plenty), but it’s an indie film barely getting a release this year. I’ll definitely be watching! I want to learn all about him. Check it out.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Scott Leberecht’s doc Jurassic Punk, direct from YouTube:
Steve Williams is considered a pioneer in computer animation. This intimate film examines his life story and events surrounding the historical moment when digital dinosaurs walked onto the silver screen in Jurassic Park. Steve and a chorus of expert witnesses recount a dramatic tale of rebellion and revolution at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic in the early 1990s– a time when creating realistic creatures with a computer was considered impossible. Decades later, Steve struggles to reckon with his chaotic past. Jurassic Punk is directed by VFX artist / filmmaker Scott Leberecht, director of the film Midnight Son previously, plus a few other short films; he also works as a visual effects art director (including for ILM). It’s also produced by Scott Leberecht, with Gloria Coronado-Myatt and Ayanna Hart as the executive producers. This initially premiered at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year. Gravitas Ventures debuts Jurassic Punk in select US theaters + on VOD starting December 16th, 2022. For more info, visit the official site.
