WIZARDS OF HOLLYWOOD: KEN RALSTON

This is the fifth installment in our series "Wizards of Hollywood," where we shine a spotlight on the masters of movie magic, the effects specialists who can dazzle us with screen images of liquid robots, giants and goblins, ferocious dinosaurs or just a special human soul who ages in reverse. Today, guest contributor Liesl Bradner interviews Ken Ralston.

Ken Ralston, the senior visual effects supervisor at Sony Imageworks, is currently the senior visual effects supervisor on Tim Burton’s "Alice in Wonderland," and he has extensive Starfleet experience (he worked on "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" and "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"). He has also won four Oscars (for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "Death Becomes Her," "Cocoon" and "Forrest Gump") and took home a special achievement Oscar for "Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi."  Surprisingly, he says his favorite screen accomplishment involved neither spaceships nor the supernatural.

My most memorable moment on film is in "Forrest Gump," the Washington, D.C., crowd scene at the National Mall and Lincoln Memorial by the reflecting pool, when Forrest gives his speech and finds Jenny in the crowd.

We only had two days for this scene. There was lots to do with not a lot of time. We had four or five camera systems shooting at different angles. We used live action motion control that can be repeated over and over locked in to one central computer.

It was 1993, before the technology existed to duplicate crowds. Without a lot of extras to work with, we put as many as we could in period costume.

We shot Tom’s element first, the scene where he's giving his speech. We put the extras in foreground and close to camera as possible. We'd get a take we like then we'd back the camera up. When Tom’s part is done he goes into his trailer and we keep repeating the exact same movement over and over while physically moving the crowd back further and further. There were various shots within that scene, so each time we'd shoot separate elements of crowd.

The visual effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held its annual "Bakeoffs" Thursday evening to choose the films that will be nominated for an Oscar at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

A total of 281 films were eligible and narrowed down to a list of seven elite contenders that were the subject of presentations and a vote at the Thursday night ceremony. Three will move on after votes are tallied.

"Hellboy II," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man," and "Australia" were the lucky films that stand a chance at receiving the golden statue on Feb. 22.

In some highly unscientific polling of the room, "Benjamin Button" was the front runner with cutting-edge technology that allowed the realistic reverse-aging process of Brad Pitt’s character. His head was entirely CGI for the first half of the film which hasn’t been executed with such awe-inspiring deftness since Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" films.

The evening was kicked off with a reception at Kate Mantilini's in Beverly Hills, an event in its eight year that is the effects-community equivalent of the Vanity Fair Oscars after-party.

Visual effects wizards from all over the world mingled with industry cohorts in a crowd that included Dennis Muren ("Terminator 2," "Jurassic Park"), Kevin Mack ("What Dreams May Come," "The Fifth Element"), Ken Ralston ("Forrest Gump," "The Polar Express"), Jeffrey Kleiser ("Tron," "X-Men"), Richard Edlund ("Star Wars," "Alien 3"), Scott Stokdyk ("Spider-Man," "Spider-Man 2") and D.J. Des Jardin ("The Matrix Revolutions," "Fantastic Four"). "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau made an appearance in support of John Nelson and crew who were up for consideration.  The results of last nights voting will be revealed along with the entire list of Oscar nominations on Jan. 22.

— Liesl Bradner

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CREDITS: "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" courtesy of Universal; "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

After 38 years, a "lost" Hollywood artifact with a truly cosmic history has resurfaced and, no surprise, it's headed straight for the auction block.

This Thursday, Dec. 11, the iconic flying saucer from the 1956 MGM classic "Forbidden Planet" will be auctioned off in Calabasas Hills and is expected to fetch anywhere between $80,000 and $120,000, which would be a nice, tidy payday for its owner, a North Carolina man who had the prop stored in his garage and didn't realize its market value.

The silver saucer is 82 inches in diameter and constructed of wood, steel and fiberglass and, according to the Profiles in History auction house, it is "a marvel of 1950s engineering." That's because "the central landing base extends from the bottom of the craft by internal movement mechanisms with electric motor drive, as does the ladder and two conveyor-loading ramps."

The miniature was the chief prop used to create the memorable screen images of United Planets Cruiser C-57D in the landmark sci-fi film that loosely reworked Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and starred Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen and Jack Kelly. The film made a major sci-fi imprint on mid-century pop culture and was a major inspiration for "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, and was paid homage by filmmaker George Lucas, who borrowed a line of its dialogue for "Star Wars" 

The saucer ended up in the busy MGM prop department and was used for a half a dozen episodes of "The Twilight Zone," including the memorable "To Serve Man" episode. Then, around 1970, it was sold off at a studio auction, but there was no record of who bought it.

"It just disappeared, essentially," said Joseph Maddalena, owner of Profiles in History. "This is a major piece of film history, an item that collectors all over the world would instantly want to possess, and it was gone."

The saucer ended up hanging in the garage of a North Carolina man who decided recently to find out what the old model might be worth. Even after hearing the that it might fetch six figures on the open market, he had no plans to sell it -- but that changed when he mentioned the dollar amount to his wife. "He called back a few days later," Maddalena said, "and explained that his wife was making him sell it."

There are plenty of other items going on sale at the Thursday auction, which is open to bids online and via phone as well as in person. Get the details here or call (310) 859-3842. The saucer is also up on eBay right now with multiple images, if you want to check them out.

Some of the items that I wouldn't mind as a Christmas gift are the bull whip from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (expected to go for up to $60,000); the 9-foot-tall animatronic gorilla from the 1998 Disney version of "Mighty Joe Young" (predicted to peak at $120,000); one of Robin the Boy Wonder's Batarangs from the old "Batman" television series (a mere $3,000); and one of the playing cards brandished by the late Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (predicted to reach $500, which sounds low to me). Maybe you can get your Christmas shopping done in Calabasas Hills this year...

-- Geoff Boucher

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UPDATE: An early version of this post had the wrong day of the week cited for the auction. Robby the Robot would be sorely disappointed.

Hero Complex brought you an exclusive, in-depth piece yesterday on the future of Stan Winston Effects, the storied special-effects house founded by the late, great wizard of Hollywood. Now Gina McIntyre, who writes about horror for the H.C., brings us a chat with Greg Nicotero, another master of movie mayhem and the executive producer of a new documentary about the artistry of horror that airs tonight on Starz.

If your DVD library contains multiple copies of the "Evil Dead" films, this one's for you. The documentary “Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh” features interviews with the makeup artists responsible for creating some of the most gruesome moments in horror cinema: Dick Smith, Tom Savini, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin and Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX, the Van Nuys-based shop that, during its 20 years in business, has amassed a lengthy list of credits that includes “Army of Darkness,” “Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2,” "Sin City," “Grindhouse” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” films, among others.

According to Nicotero, the idea was to showcase the history of great effects work, dating to the pioneering work of Jack Pierce in the 1930s -– he was the man who transformed Boris Karloff into Frankenstein’s monster. The hour-long documentary includes on-camera appearances not only from the effects mavens themselves, but also the writers, directors and actors responsible for landmark genre films. Nicotero describes the roster as a “who’s who of genre filmmaking” -- George Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Joe Dante, Simon Pegg and Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.