Stan Winston sadly passed away on 15 June, after a seven-year battle with multiple myeloma. He was 62. Winston was a pioneering special FX and make-up maestro who created many icons of cinema, such as: the Terminator endoskeleton, the Predator, the Alien Queen, Edward Scissorhands, the animatronic dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park films, the robots in AI: Artificial Intelligence, and most recently the Iron Man suit.I've always been in awe of people like Winston, who create the illusion of reality in a physical way for cinemagoers to gasp at. Sure, the CGI dinosaurs were better than the animatronic ones in JP, but were they as impressive? And the real Terminator endoskeletons in T2 somehow surpass the CGI ones in T3. Iron Man amazed people because the practical suits created by Winston blended so well with their CGI doubles. Audiences are always more impressed by something real and tangible, that isn't just a collection of computer pixels. Who wants a CGI Predator? Nobody. Winston created real things; monsters and robots you can touch... that exist.
During his career, Winston won 4 Oscars (Best Visual FX for Aliens, Best Visual FX & Make-up for Terminator 2 and Best Visual FX for Jurassic Park). He was nominated for 6 more, and became only the second special FX artist to get a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
Winston had recently been working on James Cameron's Avatar and had agreed to work on Terminator 4. There was also rumours he'd be returning to Jurassic Park for its fourth instalment. I'm not sure how much work he'd done for the new Terminator, but Jurassic Park 4 will miss his input. Of course, Winston inspired and mentored a whole new generation of artists who will continue his impressive work, and deliver thrills for audiences around the world.
Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren.
