Tom Savini

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Tom Savini (2012)
Tom Savini at a trade fair (2007)

Tom Savini (born November 3, 1946 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ) is an American makeup artist and special effects artist , stunt performer , actor and director .

Life

Tom Savini grew up in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania. Even in his childhood he wanted to become an actor. At the age of 12, the James Cagney film The Man with the 1000 Faces piqued his interest in makeup . He hoped that this art would also give him advantages for his entry into the film business. Since there were hardly any contact points for those interested at the time, he was forced to acquire the necessary knowledge himself. By "disfiguring" his face in front of the mirror, he practiced his skills. Dick Smith was an early idol in this field. He was also the only one willing to divulge information about makeup techniques.

In his high school years, a then-unknown George A. Romero attended Savini's school in Pittsburgh to search for actors for his film Whine of the Fawn High School . Savini was shortlisted, but the project was never implemented for financial reasons. When George Romero was preparing his first work, The Night of the Living Dead , he remembered Tom and offered him a job as a makeup artist. However, before filming began, he was drafted to Vietnam .

As a war photographer, he took the opportunity to gain first-hand anatomical knowledge. Upon his return, his experience as a photographer helped him work as a still photographer for Bob Clarke's film Deathdream . For Clarke's next film, Deranged , he was already head of the make-up department . He spent the following years as a photographer by day and an actor, makeup artist, special effects artist and stunt performer for three different theaters in North Carolina by night .

Tom Savini was studying directing and acting at Carnegie Mellon University when fate reunited him with George Romero. In Martin he took on a bigger role in addition to his usual activities. After a brief return to the regional theater, his final breakthrough came with working on the zombie classic Zombie . Engagements for films such as Friday the 13th , Maniac , Aura , Creepshow and Knightriders followed . He was now considered the greatness of his field.

In 1996 he got a role offer from Robert Rodriguez for From Dusk Till Dawn . Quentin Tarantino suggested him as a Vietnam veteran "Frost". However, Savini preferred another character, which he finally got: that of the biker "sex machine".

Director

He was behind the camera for the first time in 1984 for an episode of the horror series Tales from the Darkside . Six years later he started the remake of the horror classic Night of the Living Dead with long-time friend George Romero . Romero revised his original script from the 1960s with suggestions from Savini. Due to considerable creative limitations on the part of the studio, depicting violence and other artistic issues, Savini was not entirely happy with the end product. According to him, the end product was only 40 percent what he had imagined. He returned to the director's chair in 2004 for the short film Chill Factor: House Call . In 2012 he directed the segment "Wet Dreams" of the horror anthology The Theater Bizarre , the other segments directed Richard Stanley , Buddy Giovinazzo , Douglas Buck , Karim Hussain , David Gregory and Jeremy Kasten .

Special Make-Up Effect Program

Savini's reputation and skills caught Jeff Imbrecia's interest. The director of the Douglas Education Center in Pennsylvania approached Savini with the suggestion to open a make-up and SFX school. Since, in his opinion, there was no satisfactory facility of this type, he accepted the offer.

Tom Savini's Special Make-Up Effect Program offers students from all over the world, even those with no previous knowledge, a 15-month course in which they can learn the art of make-up effects first hand. In addition to Tom Savini, the teachers also include make-up artists like Rod Carter ( Dogma , Der Patriot ), Emmy winner Jerry Gergley ( Babylon 5 , Buffy , The Silence of the Lambs ) and Fred Vogel ( August Underground ). Savini also created the special effects and make-up for the theater production of FW Murnau 's Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror , which ran in New Jersey in April 2012.

Terror mania

In 2002 Jeff Imbrecia approached Savini again with a business idea. Together with Gary Mandarino , Savini took on the artistic design of the Terrormania , a menagerie of horror in which the paying visitor is guided through around 30 horror scenarios. In contrast to common horror attractions, the focus here was on realism, not unlike Savini's well-known " Gore effects ". The opening followed in 2003 in Monessen, Pittsburgh. Terrormania recorded 15,000 visitors in the first year, 20 of whom had to be evacuated before the end of the performance. A year later, the attraction had already registered 230,000 visitors.

Filmography (selection)

As an actor

As a director

  • 1990: The Return of the Undead (Night of the Living Dead)
  • 2004: Chill Factor: House Call (short film)
  • 2012: The Theater Bizzare (segment "Wet Dreams")

As a makeup artist

Special effects

  • 1978: zombie
  • 1981: Midnight
  • 1981: The Burning
  • 1982: Creepshow
  • 1984: Friday the 13th (Part 4)
  • 1986: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2)
  • 1991: Picking up the pieces
  • 1997: Cutting Moments
  • 2005: The Demons 5

Publications

Tom Savini is the author of two books that aim to give the reader knowledge of make-up techniques using examples from his films.

  • Grande illusions. A Learn-by-Example Guide to the Art and Technique of Special Make-Up Effects from the Films of Tom Savini. Imagine, Pennsylvania 1983, ISBN 0-911137-00-9 .
  • Grande illusions. Book II. Imagine, Pennsylvania 1994, ISBN 0-911137-07-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Catch the Final Performances of Nosferatu This Weekend in New Jersey , accessed April 21, 2012

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Savini, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American makeup & special effects artist, stunt performer, actor, and director
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania