October Sky

Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Joe Johnston originally intended to become a commercial artist, but a summer job drawing sketches and storyboards for George Lucas’ “Star Wars” (1977) altered the course of his career forever. As an artistic director at the famed Industrial Light & Magic Company, his work included designing Yoda for “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), the first of three films for which he served as visual effects art director. He shared an Academy Award for the visual effects on Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), and after performing similar duty on “Return of the Jedi” (1983) and second unit work on “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984), Johnston got the hankering to direct and returned to school to study filmmaking at USC, all the while continuing his special effects work as ultralight sequence designer of the big budget bomb “Howard the Duck” (1986) and production designer of the ABC-TV projects “The Ewok Adventure” (1984) and “Ewoks: The Battle For Endor” (1985), as well as handling second unit direction on the latter.

After working as a second unit director on “*batteries not included” (1987), Johnston earned an associate producer credit on Ron Howard’s “Willow” (1988) before landing in the director’s chair on the Disney-produced “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” (1989). Much of the action of that film required the youthful characters to be smaller than the grass, home objects and animals around them, and Johnston’s visual effects prowess made him a natural for the assignment. The picture was a huge winner for the studio, and Johnston was on his way but not before a brief return to designing aerial sequences for Spielberg’s romantic fantasy “Always” (also 1989). His sophomore effort, “The Rocketeer” (1991), told the story of a pilot who stumbles on a secret air-pack that allows him to fly and effectively captured the look of the 30s and the gee-whiz innocence of Saturday matinee serials. Though his involvement in “Raiders” and “Temple of Doom” provided invaluable training for the task at hand, it did not prevent him from constructing a picture a bit too long on talk, hamstringing it with audiences. He then acquitted himself admirably at the helm of the live-action sequences of the unsuccessful Macaulay Culkin vehicle “The Pagemaster” (1994), with critics almost universally faulting the film’s lackluster animation.

Despite reviews suggesting the film might be unsettling for children, Johnston scored a moderate box-office success with the special-effects extravaganza “Jumanji” (1995), starring Robin Williams as a man who had played a dangerous board game as a child with the game—and its effects—traveling through time. His next effort, “October Sky” (1999), adapted from Homer H. Hickham Jr.‘s memoir “Rocket Boys”, took his filmmaking to a new level, presenting in fable-like simplicity the unashamedly inspirational story of four boys whose obsession with rocketry caused them to look beyond the narrow confines of their community. Even cynics decrying the package as too neatly plotted could not help but be moved by the wonderful ensemble acting, including turns by a deglamorized Laura Dern as the dream-stoking teacher and Chris Cooper as the father who really believes a life in the coal mines is what’s best for his son. Building on his period work in “The Rocketeer”, Johnston powerfully evoked the 1950s Cold War-era and space race with the Russians, not to mention the dirt and grime of the West Virginia town and the claustrophobic conditions of the coal mines that seemed each boy’s destiny. Belying his “techno” background, the director wisely allowed the strength of the source material to speak for itself. Ironically, he followed up with the effects-laden sequel “Jurassic Park 3” (2001). —TCM