VFX icon and “Mad God” director Phil Tippett is working on a new stop-motion feature titled “Sentinel,” which will be pitched for the first time at this year’s Frontières section of Cannes’ Marché du Film.
Variety has been given exclusive access to the first plot details and set images from “Sentinel,” which shares a visual fidelity with “Mad God.” However, in terms of production, things will be very different this time around.
“Mad God” was a project that Tippett worked on off and on for thirty years. A similar timetable isn’t realistic for “Sentinel,” as the director would be over 100 at the film’s premiere. So, Tippett and producer Colin Geddes (Ultra 8 Pictures) say they’re pursuing a more conventional development and production plan with their new project, including a clearer narrative focus. Tippett has already begun filming bits of the film, and his team will be sharing a concept video with potential partners in Cannes.
Where “Mad God” started as a way for Tippett to ruminate on dreams and the roots of storytelling, “Sentinel” is being developed to “make something that has the whole history of VFX in it, from stop-motion to digital and now AI,” Tippett explained. “There is some AI stuff we’ve done in a little piece during development, which is great because that’s just a bigger palette for me. I can mix and match all these techniques.”
Popular on Variety
When he started “Mad God,” Tippett thought he maybe had enough material for a solid short film, but things snowballed, and the result was a lengthy production that ended with an 83-minute feature. To prevent a similar situation this time, Tippett is working from a more conventional screenplay with “Sentinel.”
“It’s going to start off a lot more traditionally,” he said. “It’s much more like a traditional war film at the beginning, and the audience will immediately recognize, “Oh, it’s like a World War One film.'”
Fans of Tippett’s more experimental work need not fear that the director is becoming a conformist, however, as “Sentinel” will quickly veer away from any easily recognizable plot path. He says the film’s main narrative expands wildly in the moments before a soldier’s death.
The idea was inspired by two pieces of media that Tippett recalled seeing for the first time during his school years: William Golding’s novel “Pincher Martin” and the “Twilight Zone” episode “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” based on a short story of the same name by Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce.
“In both stories, you realize that the characters have already died, but in the millisecond just before they close consciousness, an alternate universe of hope explodes from the innate human need to survive. Those are the ideas I’m orbiting,” said the director.
As for the current state of development of “Sentinel,” Tippett says he’s “working on the script every single day. It will never be completely done. I’ll still be writing while I’m making the thing, but it’s in a very good place right now. Like a lot of artists, I don’t want to show it off because I don’t think it’s finished, but there comes a time when you need to have it taken out of your hands in order to move ahead.”
Aesthetically, “Sentinel” will share the dark and otherworldly look of “Mad God,” as the films have similar visual influences. Tippett’s father was an artist, and when he saw that his son was interested in monsters, he introduced the boy to the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and the films of Karel Zeman. According to Tippett, works by those artists still inspire his filmmaking today. Anyone who has seen “Mad God” likely recognized a kinship to “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” “Journey to the Beginning of Time” or “The Fabulous Baron Munchausen.”
Now, Tippett is the one influencing generations of artists. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to think of more than a small handful of people who have had a more profound impact on the look of modern VFX-heavy blockbusters than Tippett. He is responsible for creating some of the most iconic sequences of modern cinema.
In 1984, Tippett and his wife Jules Roman founded Tippett Studio, which has done vfx work for franchises such as “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “RobocCop,” as well as stand-alone films like “Willow” and “Starship Troopers.” It boasts one of the most impressive trophy rooms of any indie VFX outfit in the world, including two Academy Awards from 11 nominations, two Emmies, four Saturn Awards, four Clio Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Satellite Award, and the George Melies Award for pioneering in the realm of visual effects from the Visual Effects Society.
Tippett may cast a long shadow over the VFX industry, but he says the work of new artists constantly inspires him, too. When asked, “What does the VFX artist that has influenced everyone else for the last forty years look to for inspiration?” he replied, “Well, everyone else.”
Tippett was 70 when his first feature, “Mad God,” debuted, meaning he had plenty of influences to draw from. “It took a lifetime to get into a position where I understood cinema enough to be able to break it,” he explained.
The mostly stop-motion science fiction/fantasy film eschewed dialogue in favor of visual storytelling and incorporated puppetry and live-action performances. It was nominated for two Annie Awards, two VES Society Awards, and won best visual effects at Sitges, most groundbreaking film at Fantasia, and best animated feature at the Ray Harryhausen Awards. The film had a limited theatrical run in North America and was picked up by horror stream Shudder, where it is currently available to stream.
If attendees of this year’s Frontières sidebar are convinced that “Sentinel” can have a similar impact, Tippett will surely have potential partners lining up to board the project.