Garry Goldman

Garry, partnered with Don Bluth, has produced, directed and written some of the most-beloved Animated films ever made. His movies include: Titan A.E., Bartok the Magnificent, Anastasia, The Pebble and the Penguin, Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, Rock-A-Doodle, All Dogs Go to Heaven, The Land Before Time, An American Tail, and The Secret of NIMH. So while we were sorry that Martin Smith and David Dozoretz weren't able to come, having Garry and the film's Production Designer, Phil Cruden as backups was not chopped liver!

Michael's last visit to Starfest was on behalf of Independence Day. He didn't have to speak to the audience, however, since he brought Dean Devlin, Jeff Goldblum and Brent Spiner with him. This time he wasn't so lucky. Michael introduced both the Titan A.E. and X-Men presentations. While visibly nervous, Micheal warmed up to his job and did a good job prompting Garry and Phil during their presentation.

Phil's job is creating the look of the movies he works on. From the footage we saw on Titan A.E., it looks like he's been hard at it. One of the interesting stories he told during his presentation was about the genesis of the Hydrogen Trees in the movie. While being pursued by the bad guys in the movie, our hero must escape by weaving in and out of these huge trees that grow hydrogen. Phil told how the root structure and relative size of the trees evolved during the planning of the movie to accommodate the action. All I could think about during his discussion was how I'd love to have some of the preliminary drawings that he said he kept having to throw away!