Adam Savage Quotes

For four years, I worked as one of the general shop crew on movies like 'Naked Lunch' and 'Arachnophobia.' I made lots of bugs.

'Dark Knight' shot in London and Chicago, and we were on that for so long.

When I finally got up to Industrial Light And Magic to work on the 'Star Wars' movies as a model-maker, it felt like dying and going to heaven.

Both Adam and I come from a practical effects background.

Digital effects have progressed ten thousand years' worth since we shot 'ED 2,' but practicals are still just the same: Blood pumps, rubber latex, glue, the works.

By 1949 I knew all the studio tricks.

I'd love to make a horror movie, that's definitely where I want to be one day.

Every 'Star Wars' film was about pushing what was possible in terms of effects, puppets, matte paintings, stop motion and, now, digitally.

When you go to the movies, you expect the movie to create a world that you can immerse yourself in, that you can step into. Sci-fi is a beautiful way of doing that.

The daily work on special effects is fairly mundane.

Arachnophobia' was one of the first films I did major effects for.

What we don't realise when we watch a normal film is how many times someone has run in just before a shot quickly to wipe away that sweaty moustache. You never see a normal spot, a bag under the eye or an unplucked eyebrow, because that's not how Hollywood works.

I would love to have more original material developed. 'Pacific Rim' has made that slightly more possible.

Making 'Pacific Rim' was a lot like what you imagined making movies would be like when you were 12.

Working on movies and TV is a blast, and ILM has the most talented people in the world. But on 'Mythbusters' I've been able to go places I would never have access to otherwise.

Before I became an actor, I was a producer and a visual effects supervisor. Our industry wasn't making the kind of films I was interested in.

I started doing commercials in 2008 right after we released 'Death Race,' and the reason was that I spent two years prepping Death Race and building all these custom rigs to shoot cars in the most dynamic and exciting way.

There was a 3-foot-long model that was built for 'New Hope,' and then there was an 8-foot model that was built for 'Empire Strikes Back.' The 8-foot model and the 3-foot model are kind of different. A lot of the details are different between the two of them.

The only one who didn't know was George Lucas. We kept it from him, because we wanted to see what his face looked like when it changed expression--and he fooled us even then. He got Industrial Light and Magic to change his facial expressions for him and THX sound to make the noise of a face-changing expression.

You hear people say that there's too much CG in movies today, but CG is what allows me to take a green-painted wall in a studio and make it disappear, and then put 100 miles of landscape in. CG, in the right hands, can be a marvelous tool.

There are shots that I had to walk away from because we had to get the movie in the theaters. There are some in "Independence Day" and "Godzilla," but lately I got smart. I would plan it so I had enough time [to get it right]. That just comes with experience.

There are so many films now where you know the story is a supporting role to the visual effects.

I've done a few special effects movies in my life, so I've gotten that out of my system.

To be fair, it's not even the first time I've seen a dead version of myself. There was one on Harry Potter, on the last movie, that they actually used to bring to set in a body bag.

Many people are under the delusion that I'm just a special-effects man, but I've worn many different hats in my day. On every film I've been involved in, I worked with the writer and producer. We really formulated those scripts. We tried to make films that were logical but still had the fantasy feel of it. I enjoy Aardman Animation's films with Wallace and Gromit, but they're obvious puppet films, whereas we tried to disguise it and make our effects characters in the films rather than obvious puppets.