Career Dan O'Bannon

1 career

1.1 work
1.2 1970s
1.3 1980s
1.4 1990s
1.5 2000s
1.6 posthumous

career
early work

carpenter expanded dark star short feature released in 1974 final budget of us$60,000. o bannon served in number of capacities, including scripting, editing , acting in 1 of leading roles ( pinback ). in 1975, dark star won golden scroll award (the saturn awards original name) best special effects.

o bannon, growing science-fiction , horror enthusiast, abandoned technical work (including stint computer animator on george lucas classic star wars) screenwriting.

1970s

o bannon attended usc film school , lived near los angeles campus in old two-story house affectionately called menlo manor shared other usc students (don jakoby, collaborated on several screenplays dan including blue thunder; , jeffrey j. lee, became well-known artist in europe). part of student film dark star filmed there, o bannon co-starring sgt. pinback. spent many late nights in old hollywood editing , other student films. wish become director. dark star edited o bannon using 1940s moviola.

he attached supervise special effects alejandro jodorowsky production of frank herbert s dune, fell apart in 1975 , movie never made major hollywood studios wary of financing picture jodorowsky director. o bannon s role prominently featured in 2013 documentary jodorowsky s dune. collapse of dune left o bannon broke, homeless, , dependent on friends survival. while living friend ronald shusett, came story o bannon s career-making film alien (1979), wrote screenplay , supervised visuals.

1980s

in 1981, o bannon helped create animated feature heavy metal, writing 2 of segments ( soft landing , b-17 ). o bannon voiced displeasure next big-budget outing, john badham s blue thunder (1983), action film los angeles helicopter surveillance team. written don jakoby, blue thunder underwent extensive rewriting, losing of political content. , jakoby scripted lifeforce (1985), movie based on colin wilson s novel space vampires , directed tobe hooper veers alien visitation vampirism , apocalyptic ending. not received @ time, , considered box office flop. o bannon again collaborate jakoby , hooper 1986 remake invaders mars. purists considered inferior 1950s original , performed poorly @ box office. o bannon worked consultant c.h.u.d., helping create design concept title creatures.

in 1985, o bannon moved director s chair return of living dead. alien, film met success, spawned numerous sequels, , became cult classic.

1990s

in 1990, o bannon , shusett re-teamed make total recall, adaptation of short story can remember wholesale philip k. dick. project 2 had been working on since collaborating on alien. film earned on us$100 million. earlier screenplay duo titled hemoglobin produced low budget feature bleeders (1997).

o bannon s second directorial feature, resurrected (1992), low-budget horror effort released direct-to-video. based on writings of h. p. lovecraft, focused on family s ancient rituals awaken dead. in 1995, o bannon received co-writing credit sci-fi film screamers adapted philip k. dick story second variety , having written initial version of screenplay michael campus in 1980s.

2000s

in 2001, o bannon filmmaker-in-residence @ chapman university s dodge college of film , media arts.

posthumous

in 2013, dan o bannon s guide screenplay structure released, co-written matt r. lohr.