Sandy Collora
New Member
Well,
A major figure in my life has passed on. I really feel saddened by this and have been just feeling down all week because of it.
Stan was such a great influence not only in my career, but my life as well. I was fortunate enough to spend a great deal of
time with him personally in the late 80's and early 90's when I was working at his studio.
I got to work on some very "top secret" projects that he himself was developing, that sadly will never see the light of day,
at least with him at the helm anyway. I remember being so overwhelmed and always under constant pressure when I was
working for him, but also very fortunate and very excited all at the same time. Stan had a very "tough love" approach to
training some of the young artists that came through his studio, and from what I've seen and heard from some of the other
very talented people he's mentored, he was unusually hard on me. For some reason, he pushed me a little harder, and treated
me different than the other younger guys, but maybe I needed it, or maybe he just felt that's how he needed to handle me.
Whatever the case (I never got the chance to ask him), it worked. Stan Winston helped me become a better artist and pushed
me to push my own envelope regarding creature design, sculpture, painting, and working on set.
Personally, though very brief, I feel very special to have worked for a short time on "Predator 2", and also, years later, to bring
the designs I did, to fruition in "Batman: Dead End". Of course, in typical Stan Winston style, when he saw the film, his first
comment to me was "Where'd you steal those creature suits??? They didn't come from here, did they??? Who gave you my molds???"
We laughed, and after he joked around with me some more, he told me it was excellent and that it was cool seeing "Big Red"
come to life on the screen, as he'd always loved that design, and the idea of incorporating the samurai motif into the Predator
culture... He also told me that he knew I'd become successful at whatever was I wanted to do. I kinda scratched my head and
thought "Jeez, you wouldn't have thought it back then..." But that's just the point.
It took many years for me to realize this, but simply the fact that I was there, albeit for a short time, I was designing creatures
for STAN WINSTON!!!!! He very rarely complimented my work, but I guess that was Stan, or at least his way of dealing with a very
young, somewhat confused, artist, trying to navigate his way not only through the internal politics of his studio, but the
film industry as a whole.
When I got in a really bad car accident, while working on "Leviathan", he came to see me in the hospital. He let me drive his Porsche
to go get Peter Weller some tacos. He was very kind to my parents when they came to visit the shop. He told me not to worry when I
exploded an entire can of rigid foam in the mold shop that got all over EVERYTHING, even though he made me stay there until late, to
scrape little bits of cured polyfoam off the Terminator endoskeleton, and the Supreme Intelligence from "Invaders from Mars"...
He was very funny and very bright. His sense of humor was my favorite part about him, and I think I'll miss that the most...
I've had my issues with some of the powers that be there, and though for reasons I felt were very unfair and petty, I was never
to work at Stan's again, Stan himself respected me as an artist and as a person, and he and I were always cool. The astounding
amount of talented people that worked there, taught me so much and with Stan, helped shape the creative person I am today.
And for that I will always be eternally grateful. I will always have the utmost respect for Stan, Alec, Tom, John, Shane, Richard,
Shannon, and the rest of the extraordinary creative people that had the pleasure and privilege of working for one the true giants
in the field of special FX, the great and unfortunately late... Stan Winston.
Thank you, Stan. For everything...
You will be missed.
SC
A major figure in my life has passed on. I really feel saddened by this and have been just feeling down all week because of it.
Stan was such a great influence not only in my career, but my life as well. I was fortunate enough to spend a great deal of
time with him personally in the late 80's and early 90's when I was working at his studio.
I got to work on some very "top secret" projects that he himself was developing, that sadly will never see the light of day,
at least with him at the helm anyway. I remember being so overwhelmed and always under constant pressure when I was
working for him, but also very fortunate and very excited all at the same time. Stan had a very "tough love" approach to
training some of the young artists that came through his studio, and from what I've seen and heard from some of the other
very talented people he's mentored, he was unusually hard on me. For some reason, he pushed me a little harder, and treated
me different than the other younger guys, but maybe I needed it, or maybe he just felt that's how he needed to handle me.
Whatever the case (I never got the chance to ask him), it worked. Stan Winston helped me become a better artist and pushed
me to push my own envelope regarding creature design, sculpture, painting, and working on set.
Personally, though very brief, I feel very special to have worked for a short time on "Predator 2", and also, years later, to bring
the designs I did, to fruition in "Batman: Dead End". Of course, in typical Stan Winston style, when he saw the film, his first
comment to me was "Where'd you steal those creature suits??? They didn't come from here, did they??? Who gave you my molds???"
We laughed, and after he joked around with me some more, he told me it was excellent and that it was cool seeing "Big Red"
come to life on the screen, as he'd always loved that design, and the idea of incorporating the samurai motif into the Predator
culture... He also told me that he knew I'd become successful at whatever was I wanted to do. I kinda scratched my head and
thought "Jeez, you wouldn't have thought it back then..." But that's just the point.
It took many years for me to realize this, but simply the fact that I was there, albeit for a short time, I was designing creatures
for STAN WINSTON!!!!! He very rarely complimented my work, but I guess that was Stan, or at least his way of dealing with a very
young, somewhat confused, artist, trying to navigate his way not only through the internal politics of his studio, but the
film industry as a whole.
When I got in a really bad car accident, while working on "Leviathan", he came to see me in the hospital. He let me drive his Porsche
to go get Peter Weller some tacos. He was very kind to my parents when they came to visit the shop. He told me not to worry when I
exploded an entire can of rigid foam in the mold shop that got all over EVERYTHING, even though he made me stay there until late, to
scrape little bits of cured polyfoam off the Terminator endoskeleton, and the Supreme Intelligence from "Invaders from Mars"...
He was very funny and very bright. His sense of humor was my favorite part about him, and I think I'll miss that the most...
I've had my issues with some of the powers that be there, and though for reasons I felt were very unfair and petty, I was never
to work at Stan's again, Stan himself respected me as an artist and as a person, and he and I were always cool. The astounding
amount of talented people that worked there, taught me so much and with Stan, helped shape the creative person I am today.
And for that I will always be eternally grateful. I will always have the utmost respect for Stan, Alec, Tom, John, Shane, Richard,
Shannon, and the rest of the extraordinary creative people that had the pleasure and privilege of working for one the true giants
in the field of special FX, the great and unfortunately late... Stan Winston.
Thank you, Stan. For everything...
You will be missed.
SC
