The USC School of Cinematic Arts and 20th Century Fox
invite you and a guest to attend a special retrospective screening of
 

Alien: Resurrection (1997)

About Alien: Resurrection (1997)

About the Guests

JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET (Director)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born on 3 September 1953 in Roanne, France (near Lyon). Long time an only child, he quickly developed his own universe, and finally a Super 8 camera given to him one day by a friend of his parents illuminated a path that he could make his own.

A true self taught man, he began by making animated films such as "The Escape" and "The Merry-go-Round", with characters created by Marc Caro, and then "No Rest for Billy Brakko" based on a comic strip by Caro. With these short films Jeunet began to be noticed and was honored with numerous awards in France and abroad. Still together, they made "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots" a short science fiction film that became a cult film, and for six years was shown in a Paris cinema at the beginning of David Lynch’s Eraserhead.

In 1989, he produced "Things I Love, Things I hate" on his own, already employing his favorite actor Dominique Pinon. It went on to earn fifty awards, including the César Award for Best Short Film. The duo’s first feature film, "Delicatessen" (1991), a scathing, hilarious comedy, was a breath of fresh air for French cinema. The commercial success and numerous awards from "Delicatessen" allowed Jeunet & Caro to start work on an ambitious project, "The City of Lost Children," a dark fable, so technically advanced that it required the creation of new software and long preparation. The film is beautiful, infinitely poetic. It was presented at the Opening of the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

It is this film that drew the attention of Fox Studios, who in turn entrusted Jeunet to make the fourth installment of the "Alien Resurrection" franchise.

After his stay in Hollywood, Jeunet was nostalgic for the cobblestones of Montmartre, and after the "big machine" of "Alien", he longed to make a "small personal film with buddies." For years, he had been collecting pieces of amazing ideas, and fragments of stories that spoke to him. Everything fell into place when he created the common denominator in these stories: a young woman, shy but imaginative, and determined to brighten the lives of others. Thus Amelie was born, the heroine of a film that makes you happy and makes you want to love. With this film Jeunet succeeded in what could be considered one of the more risky challenges of cinema: to depict happiness. " Amelie " became the most successful French-language film in the world.

Originally, "Amelie" was written for an actress who left the project shortly before the pre-filming preparation. But Jeunet had noticed a young actress just starting out. Audrey Tautou. He asked her to make a few screen tests and within seconds he knew that she was ‘the one’. The film’s success, and his close relationship with Audrey Tautou, allowed him to embark on a project that had been dear to his heart for 10 years, "A Very Long Engagement," an adaptation of the novel by Sebastien Japrisot. With Audrey Tautou, Jeunet knew that he had his "Mathilde", a stubborn young woman in search of her fiancé in the midst of the Great War. Success was in the cards, both on a critical as well as commercial level.

On October 28, 2009 "Micmacs" was released. A humanist fable where Dany Boon plays a David fighting against Goliath, in this case, two arms dealers.

In 2013 "The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet" with Kyle Catlett and Helena Bonham Carter was an adaptation of this ‘book as art object’ by Reif Larsen. The adaptation was written in collaboration with Guillaume Laurant, and the film was shot in Canada, in 3D, and in English. The release in France on October 16, 2014 was followed by a European, and then American release. Thomas Hardmeier was awarded the Cesar for Best Cinematography in 2015, and the film has won all of the prestigious 3D Society Awards.

In 2015 Jeunet made a pilot for an Amazon series entitled "Casanova" with Diego Luna, Bojana Novakovic, Miranda Richardson and Ben Daniels. The film was broadcast on their site in summer 2015, and the cinematographer, Pierre Gill, was awarded the US ASC prize for cinematography.

Currently, Jeunet and Romain Segaud are making a short animated film, featuring the ‘critters’ Jeunet has created by tinkering with natural debris, set to a text by Jacques Prévert.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's is a most lauded of French filmmakers. His talent lies in the ability to be a true artist, while still managing to reach a wide audience.

JOHN FRIZZELL (Composer, USC Alumnus)

In 2018 John Frizzell continued to score music for a wide variety of projects. In addition to the horror film, The Possession of Hannah Grace and the CBS All Access series Tell Me A Story, he collaborated with funk legend George Clinton for the second season of the HBO produced animated documentary series Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus.

In 2019 Frizzell is preparing to produce “Call Me Mr. Bluegrass” a documentary about the life of the creator of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. The team on the project includes producers Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, Glen Zipper (producer of the Academy Award winning documentary Undefeated), Mike Judge and Emmy nominated director Mark Monroe (no relation).

Over the course of his career Frizzell has created a huge variety of scores from the dark and violent Alien: Resurrection, to the cult classics Office Space, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, and episodes of King of the Hill. Other scores include Gods and Generals featuring soloists Mark O’Conner and Paddy Maloney, the dark and disturbing score for FOX’s series The Following, the gentle melodies of the intimate period drama The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, and the plaintive jazz score behind James Franco's Golden Globe winning performance in James Dean.

Born in New York City, Frizzell began his music career early, singing in the chorus of the Paris Opera Company and the Metropolitan Opera Company. As a teenager he played guitar in rock bands, and later became focused on jazz, a passion that led him to pursue a formal musical education at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music as well as the Manhattan School of Music. It was during his college years that Frizzell met his mentor, guitar legend Joe Pass. It was through Pass that Frizzell discovered his calling as a composer.

After college Frizzell worked for acclaimed producer/vibraphonist Michael Mainieri, who owned a Synclavier, the first digital music workstation, and Frizzell became a master synthesist. This skill led him to work with Academy Award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, for whom Frizzell provided orchestrations to Oliver Stone's landmark miniseries Wild Palms. Re-locating to Los Angeles, Frizzell was introduced to James Newton Howard, who mentored him and composed the themes for Frizzell's first two feature films, The Rich Man's Wife and Dante's Peak.

Known to experiment with evolving music technology in his film scores, Frizzell has utilized experimental devices and software to build a fluid, collaborative and creative process, while still incorporating more traditional orchestral writing. Whether he is recording dry ice being rubbed on the inside of a piano or capturing the nuances of a great violinist like Mark O’Conner or Sara Watkins, Frizzell strives to create a score intimately tied to picture and enhance the story.

An advocate for film music and film music issues, Frizzell has served on the Executive Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, lectures to graduate students at USC Thornton School of Music and the Sundance Film Music Lab. He has also served as the Honorary President of the International Film Music Conference in the Ubeda, Spain.

RAYMOND CRUZ (Actor - "Distephano")

Raymond Cruz is perhaps best known for his indelible portrayal of the unpredictably lethal gangster Tuco Salamanca in AMC's hit series “Breaking Bad.” He later reprised the character in the three episodes of the prequel series “Better Call Saul.”

Cruz more recently starred for six seasons on TNT’s “Major Crimes,” playing LAPD Detective Julio Sanchez. He had originated the role on the series “The Closer,” which ran for seven seasons on TNT.  For his work on the latter, Cruz won two Imagen Foundation Awards, for Best Supporting Actor, and shared in four Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

His other television credits include the telefilm “Cleveland Abduction,” a regular role on the series “Los Americans,” and guest roles on such series as “CSI: Miami,” “Lauren” and “White Collar.”

In addition, Cruz has been seen in a number of feature films, including “Collateral Damage,” “Training Day,” “Alien: Resurrection,” “Clear and Present Danger” and “Under Siege.”

ALEC GILLIS (Creature Effects Supervisor, Co-Founder of Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. )

Alec Gillis grew up watching genre movies. Watching is a bit of an understatement. He devoured them. Early memories of movies such as Zulu! and Planet Of The Apes inspired Alec to make his own backyard epics. A childhood spent creating monsters in his mother’s garage led him to a job with Roger Corman at age 19. There he met film newcomer James Cameron, with whom he worked on several low budget sci?fi films under the Corman shingle.

In 1985, after taking time off to go to UCLA film school, Alec was brought on to Aliens by Cameron. On that film he became a Creature Effects Supervisor for Stan Winston. After racking up credits on top ‘80’s creature films like Predator, Alec left Stan Winston’s and co?founded Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. with another Winston alum, Tom Woodruff, jr.

After A.D.I.’s first feature Tremors, business boomed and the duo won accolades for their work, including Academy Award nominations for Alien 3 and Starship Troopers. Death Becomes Her that earned them an Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and they have gone on to contribute to many of the most recognized genre films of the last 3 decades. The pair’s work has garnered multiple other awards such as the British Academy Award, multiple Saturn awards, and even a Golden Doozie Award.A.D.I. is nearing its 30th anniversary and still going strong. Gillis and Woodruff’s recent work can be seen in the upcoming Bright, Shane Black’s The Predator and IT.

In addition to being at the top of the craft of Special Makeup and Animatronic Character Effects, Alec directed Harbinger Down in 2015. The film was boasted all Practical Creature FX and was an homage to the films of the ‘80’s that Alec worked on in his early career. Alec is also a 3 times published author.

Alec’s unique creative and professional approach has been employed by filmmakers like James Cameron, David Fincher, Robert Zemeckis, Paul Verhoeven, Mike Nichols, Nora Ephron, Matthew Vaughn, Ivan Reitman, Nick Cassavetes, Sam Raimi, David Zucker, Curtis Hanson, Paul Anderson, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. His work with these filmmakers has informed and shaped Alec’s filmic sensibilities and point of view.

IAN HUNTER (Miniatures Supervisor, Co-Founder of New Deal Studios)

Ian Hunter is the creative director, Award-winning visual effects supervisor and co-founder of New Deal Studios (NDS). A renaissance man with multiple talents in many disciplines, Hunter has overseen production of many complex sequences of some of the biggest blockbusters of our time. From pre-visualization to miniature build, practical effects photography, and all the way through digital effects including matte painting, 3D digital animation and compositing, Hunter has the rare gift of having a hand-on approach to directing and creating effects while keeping a solid business sense. A visionary in the field of motion picture visual effects, Hunter has worked on many feature films and commercial projects over a 25 plus year career that has garnered him recognition in the entertainment industry.

Hunter has won 3 Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards for sequences in Inception, The Dark Knight, and New Balance Love/Hate Anthem. He then entered into an immerging entertainment media form by writing and directing the cinematic Virtual Relity film Kaiju Fury, which went on to being featured in the Sundance Festival’s New Frontiers Program.

Hunter supervised New Deal Studios contribution to Christopher Nolan’s science fiction film Interstellar. This work garnered Hunter nominations from the BAFTAS and Academy Awards for Outstanding Visual Effects. He would later go on to receive both awards. Recently Hunter worked on director Damien Chazelle’s science fact film First Man which chronicles the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong in his quest to go to the Moon. Again Hunter’s work received recognition from the VFX and film community with First Man earning Hunter a VES Award for Supporting Visual Effects, and his second Academy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects.

Looking toward the future, Hunter plans to parlay his experience in visual effects and film design into other areas of film making, including writing and directing. Hunter is a member of the Visual Effects Society and the Visual Effects Branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

MATTHEW GRATZNER (Miniatures Fabricator and Supervisor, Co-Founder of New Deal Studios)

Matthew Gratzner is a triple threat talent who balances directing, design and technology fluidly when creating content. Matthew has a pioneering spirit and is always willing to create with new tools while remaining grounded in story and character.

Best known for his visual effects work on the biggest feature films over the last two decades as Visual Effects Supervisor and co-founder of the Academy Award winning, New Deal Studios, Matthew is also an accomplished director. He has two feature films in post, has directed several commercials, as well as huge visual effects sequences, digital shorts and is a pioneer in cinematic virtual reality content.

He has a long-running relationship with the Martin Scorsese production team and has been integral to creating scenes such as the horrific plane crash in The Aviator, many subtle and "invisible" effects shots in The Departed, realizing the eerie environments for the psychological thriller Shutter Island, and creating the epic train crash in Hugo.

Matthew has received a Clio and a Cannes Golden Lion as well as multiple VES Awards. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on the Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. His work supervising effects for The Aviator earned him a BAFTA nomination for best visual effects. Matthew is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In 2018 Matthew partnered with writer Joseph Kanarek to form Proof of Concept Entertainment— a development company creating content that ranges from feature films to mobile episodic.

Currently Matthew is collaborating with ROKFLiX 3D directing and producing on the 3D mobile streaming episodic, The War of Elias as Proof of Concept’s first project to go into production.

About the Moderator

ALESSANDRO AGO

Alessandro Ago is the Director of Programming and Special Projects at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he programs film screenings, festivals, guest speakers and special events. Ago curates Outside the Box [Office], a prolific, diverse screening series dedicated to showcasing new international, documentary and independent cinema at USC, often followed by conversations with the filmmakers. He also runs the SCA Movies We Love program, in addition to several annual Visions & Voices festivals, including a major retrospective of the seminal ABC television series Twin Peaks in 2013, featuring panel discussions with 50 members of the cast and crew.

Ago has produced tributes celebrating the work of Dino De Laurentiis, Ray Stark, John Wayne, Roger Corman, Costa Gavras, Maurice Jarre, Albert Broccoli and the James Bond franchise, as well as world cinema showcases focusing on Japan, Italy, Bollywood, South America and the Middle East. Ago has taught undergraduate film courses at USC, including Transnational Nightmares and Filmmaking, Italian Style and, more recently, Italian Genre Cinema and Society. He is also one of the curators of the American Film Showcase, an international documentary film diplomacy program funded by the U.S. Department of State.

Both an Italian and American citizen, he grew up in Washington, D.C. and Rome, Italy. He holds a bachelor's and master's degree from the Division of Cinema and Media Studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Check-In & Reservations

This screening is free of charge and open to the public. Please bring a valid USC ID or print out of your reservation confirmation, which will automatically be sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website. Doors will open at 6:30 P.M.

All SCA screenings are OVERBOOKED to ensure seating capacity in the theater, therefore seating is not guaranteed based on RSVPs. The RSVP list will be checked in on a first-come, first-served basis until the theater is full. Once the theater has reached capacity, we will no longer be able to admit guests, regardless of RSVP status.

Parking

The USC School of Cinematic Arts is located at 900 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Parking passes may be purchased for $12.00 at the USC Royal Street Entrance, located at the intersection of W. Jefferson Blvd. & Royal Street. We recommend the USC Royal Street Structure, at the far end of 34th Street. Limited street parking is also available along Jefferson Blvd.

Contact Information

Name: Alessandro Ago
Email: aago@cinema.usc.edu