Thomas Vincent Savini (born November 3, 1946) is an American actor, stunt man, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist.[1] He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. Though officially retired from special effects, he has continued to direct, produce and star in several movies. Savini has been known to refer movie make-up effects projects to graduates of his school. He is frequently cast in B-movies, appearing in films such as From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse.
Biography
Early life
Savini was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated Central Catholic High School, attended Carnegie-Mellon University and was raised in the Catholic religion.[2] Savini served in Vietnam as a combat photographer. A popular misconception holds that Savini's wartime experiences spurred his move into makeup effects, but this is untrue; he was actually inspired during his childhood by the James Cagney film Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), the cinematic biography of Lon Chaney, Sr.. Savini continued to practice makeup in Vietnam, often frightening indigenous peasants by appearing to suddenly transform into a "monster".[3]
In 1970 while Savini was on guard duty, a flare was triggered in the jungle area he was watching. Against military protocol, Savini fired into the bush without informing his superiors. Other soldiers likewise started firing until a duck wandered from the bush completely unharmed. Due to his failure to follow orders, Savini was taken off guard duty from his bunker the following evening. The bunker was attacked that very night and several soldiers were killed. Savini earned the nickname "Duck Slayer" and to this day will not eat duck.[4] Savini said his wartime experiences informed his eventual style of gory effects; "I hated that when I watched a war movie and someone dies," explaining "Some people die with one eye open and one eye half-closed, sometimes people die with smiles on their faces because the jaw is always slack. I incorporated the feeling of the stuff I saw in Vietnam into my work."[5]
Career
Savini is primarily known for his groundbreaking work in the field of special makeup effects. He got his breakthrough working with Pittsburgh filmmaker George A. Romero, providing a convincing wrist slashing effect in the opening scenes of Martin (1977). The following year, working with an expanded budget on Dawn of the Dead, Savini created his signature palate of severed limbs and bite-marks. Some say the gore effects in Dawn have been widely imitated but never bettered for sheer visceral impact, the only exception being Savini's own work in the subsequent Day of the Dead (1985).
Savini has also worked on films by Dario Argento (Trauma, Two Evil Eyes) and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2). His signature realism livens otherwise plodding genre films such as Maniac (1980), which incidentally contains the infamous "shotgun" scene. Perhaps Savini's most noteworthy special effects occurred in the zombie epic Day of the Dead.
Savini has noted that most of the characters he has played are bikers. He played a relatively straight, innocuous character in Martin (1977), but played a menacing biker called 'Blades' in Dawn of the Dead (1978), a role he reprised with a brief cameo appearance in the 2005 continuation of the series, Land of the Dead. He also had a cameo as a sheriff in the 2004 remake of Dawn.
Savini did have a much more prominent role as biker/Renaissance fair participant Morgan in George Romero's Knightriders (1981), and had a small role as a biker in The Boy Who Loved Trolls in (1984). In 1985, he had a small part in Twisted Sister's video for their song Be Chrool to Your Scuel. He also played the whip-wielding, vampire-fighting biker 'Sex Machine' in the 1996 Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez film From Dusk Till Dawn. (This character was a riff on the "Blades" character Savini created for Dawn of the Dead replete with the same costume.)
As a director, Savini helmed episodes of the syndicated television series Tales from the Darkside, the aforementioned 1990 color remake of Night of the Living Dead and, House Call, the pilot of the proposed series The Chill Factor, which starred Pittsburgh actor Bingo O'Malley.
In 2006, Savini essayed the role of Prester John, the mythical villain in the dreamlike Sea of Dust. 2006 also saw the release of Johannes Roberts' Demonic (a.k.a. Forest of the Damned), in which Savini played a mad hermit surrounded by angels cast from heaven. In 2007, Savini took on a role in Planet Terror, one of two stories in the film Grindhouse. "Planet Terror" was directed by Robert Rodriguez; the other story, Death Proof was directed by Quentin Tarantino. He plays Deputy Tolo, who tries to save his town from an infestation of zombies. In 2008 Savini played another vampire in the movie Lost Boys: The Tribe and he has completed the film The Dead Matter, also featuring Andrew Divoff and Jim O'Rear.
He also voiced himself on the "Worst Episode Ever" episode of The Simpsons. He was making an appearance at Android's Dungeon where he performed his "Gutbuster" gag in which he covered the crowd in "blood and guts" and humiliated the Comic Book Guy. He also made a brief appearance in Zack & Miri Make a Porno as a thieving slumlord.
On 18 September 2009, Savini announced his plan to direct a new film entitled Death Island, with special make-up effects by his former protege Greg Nicotero[6].
Next spring Tom will be starring in the eagerly anticipated Nazi Zombie film "The 4th Reich" directed by Shaun Robert Smith. Tom will play the character Standartenfuhrer, an SS Nazi Officer.
FX education
Savini runs the Special Effects Make-Up and Digital Film Programs[7] at the Douglas Education Center in Monessen, Pennsylvania and is the author of several books on special effects including Grande Illusions I and II (1983, 1994) and Bizarro! (1984), detailing the production and mechanical workings of many of his famous film effects. He is also associated with other books in the horror genre including Book of the Dead and Horror 101 for which he wrote the foreword. Savini is an associate of Dick Smith, who incorporates an advanced professional make-up seminar into the last semester of the program. Among other projects, Smith is known for his groundbreaking work in The Exorcist.
Filmography
As Actor
As Director
Bibliography
- Grande Illusions: A Learn-By-Example Guide to the Art and Technique of Special Make-Up Effects from the Films of Tom Savini ISBN 0911137009
- Grande Illusions II ISBN 0911137076
- Bizarro! (A reissue of Grande Illusions, arbitrarily re-titled by its publisher) ISBN 0517553198
References
External links
