John Bruce Dods is a filmmaker

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, make-up artist and specialist in prosthetic make-up

Prosthetic makeup

Prosthetic makeup is the process of using prosthetic sculpting, molding and casting techniques to create advanced cosmetic effects...

 effects for movies

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and the stage

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

. He may be best known for designing and creating the facial appliances

Facial prosthetic

A facial prosthetic or facial prosthesis is an artificial device used to change or adapt the outward appearance of a person's face or head....

 for the stage productions of Disney

Walt Disney Theatrical

Disney Theatrical Group, also known as Disney Theatrical Productions, is the stageplay and musical production arm of The Walt Disney Company...

’s Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (musical)

Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...

.

Dods’ early work as an amateur filmmaker

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 involved the construction of miniature

Miniature effect

A miniature effect is a special effect created for motion pictures and television programs using scale models. Scale models are often combined with high speed photography or matte shots to make gravitational and other effects appear convicing to the viewer...

 models and sets

Set construction

Set construction is the process by which a set designer works in collaboration with the director of a production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production...

 for elaborate stop-motion animation

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 projects. His creation of latex-covered animation models led him toward the crafts of sculpting

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

, mechanics

Mechanics

Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....

 and mold-making

Molding (process)

Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....

, which in turn led toward a budding career as a mask

Latex mask

Latex mask generally refers to a full-head enclosure or disguise, often worn by someone as a part of a costume and usually made from natural latex rubber, though some masks can be made of vinyl, silicone rubber or foam latex. Latex masks are particularly popular around holidays such as Halloween,...

- and monster

Monster

A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...

-maker (as displayed in the independent

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 1980s horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

s Nightbeast

Nightbeast

Nightbeast is a 1982 science fiction/horror film directed by cult director Don Dohler. It is a remake/sequel of sorts to Dohler's first film The Alien Factor. The story concerns a small town sheriff who must stop a rampaging alien from killing the residents of Perry Hall. Most of the cast of The...

, Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn

The Deadly Spawn

The Deadly Spawn is a 1983 horror film directed by Douglas McKeown and starring Charles George Hildebrandt.It follows the story of a crash-landed alien that finds refuge in the basement of a house and grows to monstrous proportions, eating those unlucky enough to venture down...

, Spookies

Spookies

Spookies is a 1986 independent horror film. Remembered for its copious creature effects, its patchwork editing, and for boasting an effective soundtrack, Spookies was given a limited theatrical release in 1987-88 and a more widespread video release in 1988. It was shown on cable television's USA...

, and My Demon Lover).

Following his studies under Academy Award-winning make-up artist Dick Smith, Dods was employed as make-up artist, mold-maker and mechanical effects

Physical effects

Physical effects is a sub-category of special effects in which mechanical or physical effects are recorded. Physical effects are usually planned in preproduction and created in production.Physical effects may be divided into at least four categories:...

 designer in mainstream feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

s, including Poltergeist III

Poltergeist III

Poltergeist III is a 1988 American horror film. It is the third and final film of the Poltergeist film series...

, Ghostbusters II

Ghostbusters II

Ghostbusters II is a 1989 science fiction comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Ghostbusters and follows the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities...

, Death Becomes Her

Death Becomes Her

Death Becomes Her is a 1992 American dark slapstick screwball comedy fantasy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis...

, Longtime Companion

Longtime Companion

Longtime Companion is a 1989 film with Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, and Mary-Louise Parker. The first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of AIDS, the film takes its title from the words The New York Times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of...

, A Kiss Before Dying, The Santa Clause

The Santa Clause

The Santa Clause is a 1994 American fantasy-dramedy film directed by John Pasquin, it is distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. and starring Tim Allen. In the film, Allen plays Scott Calvin, an ordinary man who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall from his roof on Christmas Eve...

, Alien Resurrection, and The X-Files

The X Files (film)

The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files...

.

Dods also was effects supervisor on 18 episodes of the syndicated

Television syndication

In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 television series

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 Monsters

Monsters (TV series)

Monsters is a syndicated horror anthology series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. As of 2011, Monsters airs on NBC Universal's horror/suspense-themed cable channel Chiller in sporadic weekday marathons.In a similar vein to Tales from the...

, and worked as a set construction supervisor on the Back to the Future

Back to the Future: The Ride

Back to the Future: The Ride is a simulator ride based on and inspired by the Back to the Future trilogy and is a mini-sequel to 1990's Back to the Future Part III. In the United States, it was replaced by The Simpsons Ride...

theme park ride at Universal Studios Florida

Universal Studios Florida

Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...

.

Most recently, Dods created the prosthetic make-up for the creature, played by Shuler Hensley

Shuler Hensley

-Early life:Hensley was born in Atlanta, Georgia. The youngest of three children, Hensley grew up in Marietta, Georgia. His father, Sam P. Hensley, Jr., is a former Georgia Tech football star, retired civil engineer and former state senator. His mother, Iris Antley Hensley, was a ballerina and the...

, in Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...

 musical stage adaptation of Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein (musical)

Young Frankenstein, officially known as The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, is a musical with a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks. It is based on the 1974 comedy film of the same name written by Brooks and Gene Wilder and directed by Brooks, who has...

, which debuted on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

in November 2007.

External links

• 2004 interview with John Dods at UpcomingHorrorMovies.com