Joseph Viskocil (December 21, 1952 – August 11, 2014) was an American special effects artist who had over 80 film credits from 1974 to 2014. He created special effects for some of the most famous movie franchises and was awarded an Academy Award for his work on '' Independence Day'' (1996).

Career

In 1977, Viskocil assisted

John Dykstra John Charles Dykstra, A.S.C. (; born June 3, 1947) is an American special effects artist, pioneer in the development of the use of computers in filmmaking and recipient of three Academy Awards, among many other awards and prizes. He was one o ...

and George Lucas in creating the pyrotechnics for '' Star Wars'', including the explosion of the

Death Star The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon featured in the '' Star Wars'' space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire, the Death Star is capable of annihilating entire planets into rubble, and serves t ...

at the film's climax. In 1980, he returned to create pyrotechnics for ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based on a stor ...

''. For the next three decades, he worked on films from the most famous franchises, including ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

'', '' Batman'' and '' Star Trek''. After serving as pyrotechnics supervisor for the 1996 film '' Independence Day'', Viskocil was awarded the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects alongside

Volker Engel Volker Engel (born 17 February 1965) is a German special effects artist who is best known as one of the people who won at the 69th Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects on the film ''Independence Day''. He won with Douglas Smith, Clay Pinney ...

, Douglas Smith and Clay Pinney at the

69th Academy Awards The 69th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 24, 1997, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the cerem ...

. Viskocil and miniature supervisor Mike Joyce were responsible for the creation of a 15-feet wide and 5-feet high miniature of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, built for destruction during the film.

Style

In the 1990s, Viskocil opposed using computer-generated imagery in the creation of some special effects: Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, Viskocil expressed guilt over making the explosions in ''Independence Day'' appear lifelike, saying "I started thinking maybe I did my job too well, and it might have been the nucleus of an idea for someone to say: ‘Hey, let’s crash a plane into the White House.’"

Personal life

Viskocil died on August 11, 2014, in Los Angeles from complications of liver and heart failure.

Filmography

Awards

References

External links

* 1952 births 2014 deaths Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Special effects people Academy Award for Technical Achievement winners {{US-film-bio-stub