Stan Winston, master of makeup and special effects, has made dozens of films, including "Interview With the Vampire," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Wrong Turn," which was just released on DVD. Currently, he is busy working on a movie called "Trick or Trick," which he says, "explores the rules of Halloween." Writer Leslee Komaiko spoke with Winston about the holiday.
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Halloween is one of the important aspects of my childhood that actually influenced my life as an artist and the art form I ended up following in creating monsters for a living. I was a very avid fan of all the classic horror movies and famous monsters of film. When Halloween came around when I was very young, that gave me the chance to actually begin the process of what my entire life was about: creating creatures and characters.
The first memories I have of truly exploring my artistic talents was creating monsters for myself on Halloween. It was my favorite time of the year. I was the one who turned myself into a werewolf and hid behind trees to scare trick-or-treaters. For me it was definitely an art form. I loved it. Just the thought of being a legitimate time for me to create a character on myself where normally it would have been thought, that's bizarre. What are you doing? The day was the one day of the year I fit in. It was truly the day of the year that my aspirations were fulfilled. Other than that I was this strange kid. Now I am fortunate enough to treat every day of my life as Halloween.
