November 1st Birthday

Dennis Muren

Born November 1st, 1946. He is a multi Oscar winning American film special effects artist well known for his collaborations with directors such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas.

Having developed an interest in film and special effects from an early age, Dennis made his first film, “Equinox” (1970), while studying business at the Pasadena City College. He managed to recoup his original investment of $US 6,500 after the film was tailored for commercial release by the “Tonylyn Productions” film company.

In 1976, Dennis was hired at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), then an upstart visual effects studio founded by little-known director George Lucas. Lucas and ILM's first film, “Star Wars” (1977), was released in 1977 to wide critical and public acclaim and was the highest grossing film of all time up until that point. He then followed that up with some deft photographic work (an understatement – wolverine59) in a little known Spielberg flick called “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977).


Pre-Muren Mothership


Post-Muren Mothership

While at ILM, Dennis spearheaded their move into computer generated imagery (CGI) using the James Cameron film, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) as a jumping off point. In a 2000 interview, Dennis stated that it was the film he was most proud of.

Perhaps more notably though, Dennis, along with associates Steve Williams and Mark Dippe, helped to usher in a new age of CGI with the CG dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg had intended to use go-motion for the dinosaurs, using the work of the late, great, Stan Winston, but quickly changed his mind when shown a test of a CG T-Rex (with Marin County, California as the backdrop). Jurassic Park was the breakthrough which convinced George Lucas that technology had advanced enough to make the Star Wars prequels.

Dennis continues to work for ILM to this day; where his title is Senior Visual Effects Supervisor although currently he is taking time off to author a book on visual effects. He also consults for Pixar and his most recent project was “War of the Worlds” (2005), in which he lead a team to create complex effects in a span of only three months.

His picture can also be seen on a dartboard in the late Stan Winston’s basement…..just kidding.