John Stephenson (director)

John Stephenson, OBE (born 28 May 1952) is a British director and a former vice-president and creative supervisor for Jim Henson's Creature Shop.[1] He was nominated for a BAFTA film award in 1985 for Dreamchild and in 1991, he won an Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

John Stephenson
Born (1952-05-28) 28 May 1952
London, England, UK
NationalityBritish
OccupationFilmmaker, director, special effects
Years active1980–present
Children3

Early life

Stephenson was born in London, England. Educated at the Kingston School of Art and then the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1979. He moved to the USA and had a brief spell working as a designer of prestigious-fashion West End Interiors in Los Angeles.

Career

Joining the Jim Henson's Creature Shop in the early 80s, Stephenson became a member of the unique group of artists designers and crafts people working on the ground-breaking film The Dark Crystal. in addition to working as a mechanical designer, he also served as an assistant cable control puppeteer on Dreamchild. Subsequently, in 1985, he became Creative Supervisor and later served as Executive Vice President and CEO of the Creature Shop.[2]

His work for Henson productions included The Storyteller (TV series), Labyrinth (1986 film), The Witches (1990 film), and Dinosaurs (TV Series). Stephenson art directed Jacque Annaud's The Bear (1988 film) and contributed to the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film) for which Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided ninja turtle suit puppets.[3]

In 1987, along with two other colleagues, Stephenson was nominated for a BAFTA film award for best special visual effects in the 1985 British drama film Dreamchild.[4][5]

In the 1991 64th Academy Awards, John, along with four other colleagues, received a Scientific and Engineering Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of the Henson Performance Control System.[6][7] In the same year, he was also nominated in the Saturn Award for Best Make-up at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for his work in The Witches (1990 film).[8]

John Stephenson gained vast experience with supervising puppetry, CG animation, creature-effects, animatronics and visual effects which span a wide range of stories and styles that include Return to Oz, The Flintstones (film), The Neverending Story III, Babe (film), Loch Ness (film), The English Patient (film) and Lost in Space (film).

With this broad experience, he drew on to launch his directing career, applying his hand to both commercials and feature films involving creature-effects, helming the Hallmark/Creature Shop co-production of Animal Farm (1999 film)[9] and it’s this background that has shaped his directing style into what it is today.[10]

In 2000, John was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Millennium 2000 New Year Honours list for services to computer animation industry as a designer for the Millennium Project.[11] His film Animal Farm (1999 film) was also nominated for best film in the 2000s Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award[12] and nominated for the Starboy Award in the 2000s Oulu International Children's and Youth Film Festival.[13]

In 2001, John worked as Animation Director for the French historical action horror film Brotherhood of the Wolf which involved creating special effects for the creature are a combination of computer generated imagery, as well as puppetry and animatronics.[14]

Stephenson directed the film adaptation of the novel Five Children and It in 2004, which features live action and computer animation. Additionally, in 2013 Stephenson directed the film adaptation of Max Lucado's novel The Christmas Candle (novel) which was distributed by EchoLight Studios in the US and by Pinewood Pictures in the UK.

In 2014, John Stephenson developed, co-wrote and directed Interlude in Prague which was shot entirely on location in the Czech Republic. In November 2017, the film won a Golden Angel Award for the Best International Co-Production Film at the Chinese American Film Festival.[15][16][17]

In February 2019, John directed a short film for the British electronic music group Hybrid starring James Purefoy who he worked with on his film Interlude in Prague the year before.[18][19]

In June 2020, Deadline Hollywood reported that Stephenson was directing the epic historical drama feature film The Lady of Heaven with Enlightened Kingdom production company.[20]

Filmography
Year Title Notes
1996 The Adventures of Pinocchio Second Unit Director
1998 Lost in Space Second Unit Director
1999 Animal Farm Director
2001 Brotherhood of the Wolf Animation Director
2004 Five Children and It Director
2010 The Nutcracker in 3D Second Unit Director
2013 The Christmas Candle Director
2017 Interlude in Prague Director
2020 The Lady of Heaven Creative Consultant

Commercials

Additional credits
Year Title Role
1982 The Dark Crystal Special mechanical designer
1985 Return to Oz Mechanical characters mechanical designer
1986 Max mon amour Makeup special effects collaborator
1987 The Storyteller (TV series) Special effects creative supervisor
1990 The Witches Animatronic designer
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Special effects creative supervisor
1991 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II Special effects creative supervisor
The Storyteller: Greek Myths (TV Mini-Series) Special effects creative supervisor
1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol Special effects creative supervisor
1994 The Flintstones Special effects supervisor
The NeverEnding Story III Special effects creative supervisor
1995 Babe Special effects creature shop supervisor
1996 Loch Ness Special effects creative supervisor
James and the Giant Peach Animatronic puppeteer
The English Patient Special effects visual supervisor
101 Dalmatians Special effects creature shop supervisor
1997 The Odyssey Special effects creative supervisor
Buddy Special effects supervisor
1998 Lost in Space Special effects creature shop supervisor
2019 Hold Your Breath (video short) Director

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Film Result
1987British Academy of Film and Television ArtsBest Special Visual EffectsDreamchildNominated
1991Academy of Motion Picture Arts and SciencesScientific and Engineering AwardN/AWon
1991Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsSaturn Award for Best Make-upThe Witches (1990 film)Nominated
2000Queen's Millennium 2000 New Year HonoursOBEN/AWon
2000Fantasporto International Fantasy Film AwardBest FilmAnimal Farm (1999 film)Nominated
2000Oulu International Children's and Youth Film FestivalStarboy AwardAnimal Farm (1999 film)Nominated
2017Chinese American Film FestivalGolden Angel Award for the Best International Co-Production FilmInterlude in PragueWon

References
  1. "How One Man Became the Farmer in the Dell". Los Angeles Times. October 1, 1999.
  2. "The Dark Crystal - Encyclopedia - John Stephenson". www.darkcrystal.com.
  3. "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles': Untold Story of the Movie "Every Studio in Hollywood" Rejected". The Hollywood Reporter.
  4. "BAFTA Awards (1987)". IMDb.
  5. "40th British Academy Film Awards". April 29, 2019 – via Wikipedia.
  6. "Academy Awards Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". awardsdatabase.oscars.org.
  7. |64th Academy Awards (1991): Nominees and Winners
  8. "Saturn Award for Best Make-up". October 29, 2019 – via Wikipedia.
  9. "Netribution > Features > Interview > John Stephenson". www.netribution.co.uk.
  10. https://feelfilms.co.uk/portfolio/john-stephenson
  11. "NEW YEAR HONOURS". The Independent. December 31, 1999.
  12. Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award – 2000 Awards, IMDb
  13. Oulu International Children's Film Festival 2000 Awards – Starboy Award, IMDb
  14. [https://shotonwhat.com/brotherhood-of-the-wolf-2001
  15. "2017 GOLDEN ANGEL AWARD".
  16. Powlson, Nigel. "Brian Ashby - Derbyshire entrepreneur on writing the Interlude in Prague". Derbyshire Life and Countryside.
  17. Interview with John Stephenson on YouTube
  18. Hybrid - Hold Your Breath on YouTube
  19. https://www.hybridband.com/holdyourbreath |Hybrid Official site - Hold Your Breath
  20. D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-06-29). "Enlightened Kingdom Sets 'Lady Of Heaven'; Feature About Lady Fatima, Daughter Of Muhammad". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  21. "Flymo : Rake". Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  22. "Legoland : Fire". Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  23. "Lemsip : Day & Night". basproduction.com. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  24. "Coral : Hot Air". Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  25. "McDonalds : Monopoly". Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  26. "Comfort : A Day In The Life". Retrieved August 11, 2019.
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