Steven "Spaz" Williams (born 1963) is a Canadian special effects artist, animator, and film and commercials director.

Biography

Williams studied animation at

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west-Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded in ...

, graduating in 1984. During the summers he would work at the

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is Canada's only all-graduate institute of teaching, learning and research, located in Toronto, Ontario. It is located directly above the St. George subway sta ...

Computer Laboratory, learning more about

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

. After graduation, he went on to work at

Alias Research Alias may refer to: * Pseudonym * Pen name * Nickname Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film * ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006 * ''Alias the ...

(currently a part of

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered ...

) in Toronto. He acted as the company's spokesperson, leading to a job at

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...

in 1988.Craig Barr (October 15, 2012
CG Evolution/Film Revolution: A Q+A with Steve "Spaz" Williams
autodesk.com ILM had purchased

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

computers to create the computer-generated effects in ''

The Abyss ''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery team ...

'', and said workstations used Alias modeling software. Along with animators Mark A.Z. Dippé, Scott E. Anderson and Jay Riddle, Williams helped develop a photorealistic alien pseudopod made out of seawater, which later earned the film an

Academy Award for Best Visual Effects The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects. History of the award The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects ...

. Continuing at ILM, Williams worked in two more breakthrough moments of CG effects that earned the company more Oscars: the

T-1000 The T-1000 is a fictional Character (arts), character in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' franchise. A shapeshifter, shapeshifting Android (robot), android Terminator (character concept), Terminator Assassination, assassin, the T-1000 ...

from '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), a liquid metal robot that evolved from the work done in ''The Abyss''; and the dinosaurs of ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

'' (1993), one of which was the ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

'' which Williams personally built. As the chief computer graphics animator of '' The Mask'', Williams shared a nomination for Best Visual Effects (along with

Tom Bertino Tom Bertino is a professional animator, formerly Animation Director and Visual Effects Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. Life He graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1981. Tom Bertino joined Industrial Light & Magic in ...

, Jon Farhat and

Scott Squires Scott Squires (born 1956) is a visual effects supervisor and director. His first film project was ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', where he developed the Cloud Tank Effect. In 1979 Squires, Hoyt Yeatman, Rocco Gioffre, Fred Iguchi, Tom Hol ...

) at the 67th Academy Awards. Williams left ILM along with Dippé following their work in ''

Spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: ...

'' (1997), which Dippé directed with Williams being the effects supervisor and

second unit Second unit is a discrete team of filmmakers tasked with filming shots or sequences of a production, separate from the main or "first" unit. The second unit will often shoot simultaneously with the other unit or units, allowing the filming stag ...

director. Along with a job at New Line Productions, Williams opened Hoytyboy Productions in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Hoytyboy's biggest work was 2006's ''

The Wild ''The Wild'' is a 2006 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by animator Steve "Spaz" Williams and written by Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. It features the voices of Eddie Izzard, Kiefer Sutherl ...

'' for

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...

, which Williams directed. He also directed more than 200 commercials between 1997 and 2010, for clients including

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in McLean, Virginia with operations primarily in the United States. It is on the list o ...

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

. As of 2012, Williams continues directing commercials. In 2022, a feature-length documentary on the life of Williams, ''Jurassic Punk'' (also known as ''Spaz''), debuted at the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

.JURASSIC PUNK - Sitges
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Selected filmography

*''

'' (1989) *''

The Hunt for Red October ''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...

'' (1990) *'' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991) *''

'' (1993) *'' The Mask'' (1994) *''

Jumanji ''Jumanji'' is a 1995 American fantasy adventure film directed by Joe Johnston from a screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor, and Jim Strain. Loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's picture book of the same name, the film is the first i ...

'' (1995) *''

Eraser An eraser (also known as a rubber in some Commonwealth countries, including South Africa from the material first used) is an article of stationery that is used for removing marks from paper or skin (e.g. parchment or vellum). Erasers have a ...

'' (1996) *''

'' (1997) *''

'' (2006)

References

External links

*
Steve Williams
on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Steve 1963 births Living people Artists from Toronto Film directors from Toronto Special effects people Canadian animators Sheridan College alumni Canadian animated film directors Academy of Art University faculty