Star Wars FX guru embarks on fresh sci-fi odyssey

Associated with some of the biggest event pictures in Hollywood in the last two decades, this high priest of Hollywood special effects has just stepped off a trans-Atlantic flight to attend another mega event. The Fifth Annual Screen Videocon Awards to be held at the Andheri Sports Complex on Saturday where he8217;s a guest of honour.

If his biography were a T-shirt it would be one with Been there done that8217;. In bold. Over the last two decades, Edlund has straddled the Hollywood FX scene like a colossus blowing up entire planets, buildings, conjuring up ghosts, aliens, recreating Jumbo Jets then crashing them in over a dozen box office monsters.

From the three Star Wars films, to Raiders of the Lost Ark, 2010, Poltergeist, Ghostbusters, Alien 3, Die Hard, Batman Returns, Multiplicity and Air Force One, Edlund slowed down his frentic pace to be able to scoop up four Oscars for special effects after being nominated 11 times.

You can almost hear the wheels in his brain whirring as this special FX wizard passionately discusses his next big project in his hotel room.

8220;It8217;s an anti-war film, but not preachy. A love story like Doctor Zhivago and Titanic set against a space odyssey,8221; he says of his sci-fi blockbuster called The Forever War whose book rights he recently purchased from author Joe Haldeman for an undisclosed sum. The film deals with Earth in around 2050 AD where space warriors enter black holes to do battle with alien races on the far side.

Edlund will produce the 100 million dollar plus film and play Godfather8217; with special effects, which the film promises to dole out in plenty. 8220;It8217;s not another Star Wars,8221; he8217;s quick to add. 8220;Star Wars was a space fantasy,8221; he says bemoaning the lack of suitable sci-fi scripts as most of the themes have been done.

So you kind of understand why he isn8217;t with George Lucas for the next three instalments of the biggest movie franchise in history. 8220;In eight years I pretty much had enough of it,8221; says Edlund.

The two-time British Academy award winner and co-chairman of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences8217; scientific and techinical awards committee is now working on a weekly future news show with Future Shock8217; and Third Wave8217; author Alvin Toeffler.

Though he8217;s on his first visit to India, Edlund is no stranger to the country. An avid fan of Rudyard Kipling8217;s classics, Raj lore, Satyajit Raj films, Indian classical dance and Indian cuisine.

So what8217;s the future for FX? Cyberactors, maybe a computer generated Bogart in a sequel of Casablanca or Peter Sellers in yet another howlarious Pink Panther episode?

8220;That8217;s really stretching it,8221; Edlund laughs, quickly discounting all these notions as pure fantasy. 8220;You could never capture the emotional performance of say Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the Day.

For all his FX breakthroughs, Edlund believes that special effects will always play a supporting role to the main characters. For instance, he reveals how he snapped up Star Wars when Lucas told him Alec Guiness would play Jedi guru Obi Wan mouthing the famous trust in the force8217; lines.