February 9, 2006

Hollywood's Master Storytellers™, the long-running film series that showcases the most celebrated and successful filmmakers in the motion picture industry, will host Industrial Light & Magic's Best Visual Effects Academy Award® nominees for War of the Worlds on Thursday, February 16, it was announced by Gordon Meyer, the creator, host and one of the executive producers of the influential series. War of the Worlds will also be Hollywood's Master Storytellers' first regular presentation at its new home, the world famous Grauman's Chinese Theatres Complex at Hollywood & Highland.

Now in its fourth continuous year of operation, twice-a-month Hollywood's Master Storytellers features conversations in front of a live audience with some Hollywood's most talented artists, including George Clooney, James Cameron, Drew Barrymore and Oliver Stone to name just a few of the celebrated people who have appeared before Hollywood's Master Storytellers audiences since the series debuted.

The War of the Worlds event on February 16 will feature the Oscar®-nominated visual effects team from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), led by Dennis Muren who, with eight Academy Awards® and a total of fourteen nominations, has won more Oscars® than any artist living today. ILM's effects teams were nominated for two of this year's three Visual Effects Oscars® and have garnered 36 Oscar® nominations and 14 wins during its 30-year history. Muren will be joined by Visual Effects Supervisor Pablo Helman, Animation Supervisor Randal M. Dutra and Special Effects Coordinator Daniel Sudick. ILM's other nomination this year was for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

ILM will receive the National Medal of Technology from President Bush on Feb. 13 for its three decades of innovation in the motion picture industry, marking the first time an entertainment company has received the honor.

Although Hollywood's Master Storytellers normally showcases writers, actors, directors and producers, it's not the first time they've featured visual effects artists. Stan Winston, who shares Academy Awards® with War of the Worlds guest Dennis Muren for his work on Jurassic Park and Terminator 2: Judgement Day proved to be a favorite with Hollywood's Master Storytellers' audience, according to Meyer. "Stan's appearances in front of sold-out crowds with Jurassic Park and Aliens demonstrated just how fascinated fans are with visual effects. In our calendar listings, we described Stan as a 'visual effects wizard,' and it's fair to say that Dennis, Pablo, Randy and Daniel have demonstrated comparable wizardry, not only with War of the Worlds, but with the other films they've worked on, both individually and collectively." Those films include some of the biggest hits of the last 20 years, including Independence Day, Men in Black, Master and Commander and the recently completed Star Wars trilogy, Meyer added.

For John Culton, who shares executive producer duties for Hollywood's Master Storytellers and Nadine Hamdan, it's fitting that the first regular Hollywood's Master Storytellers show at the Chinese will pay homage to the team from Industrial Light & Magic. "The Chinese is an iconic venue that really symbolizes Hollywood. And a big part of the magic of Hollywood is our ability to take audiences places they've never imagined before, much less seen. The artists at ILM have been doing that for almost 30 years, making it possible for filmmakers to tell their stories in new and compelling ways, including many of our alumni, like writer/director James Cameron (Terminator 2), director Irvin Kershner (Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back), producer Walter Parkes (Men in Black), writer/producer Bob Gale (Back to the Future) and producers Sean Daniel and Jim Jacks (The Mummy)."

"Ever since George Lucas founded Industrial Light & Magic in a Van Nuys warehouse to create visual effects for the very first Star Wars movie, they have set the standard for the visual effects industry," adds Hamdan. "ILM in general and Dennis, Pablo, Randy and Daniel in particular, have played an invaluable role in creating some of the most successful and critically acclaimed movies of the past 30 years. They really are unsung heroes in this business because of the way they so magnificently make the impossible possible. We are truly honored to welcome them into the Hollywood's Master Storytellers family."

The Hollywood's Master Storytellers presentation of War of the Worlds, featuring a live discussion with Academy Award® nominees Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randal M. Dutra and Daniel Sudick takes place on Thursday, February 16 at the Mann's Chinese Theatres, located in the Hollywood & Highland complex. Future Hollywood's Master Storytellers events will take place on the first, third and fifth Tuesdays of each month. Tickets for all Hollywood's Master Storytellers programs at Mann's Chinese are available at the Chinese Theatres' box office and online at MovieTickets.com. Direct links to online ticket sales can also be found at www.HollywoodsMasterStorytellers.com, hosted by FilmStew.com.