Q19: Did OLW build any miniatures?

A: Only the "Nuclear Man 2 bondo rocket." Mike Lessa, [head effects animator] and Kevin Kutchaver [effects animator] were involved, you should ask them about it.

Q20: There was a significant amount of matte paintings in SUPERMAN IV. Did you
do any yourself?

A: No. Most were done in the U.K. In fact, my father, [Oscar-winning Disney visual effects legend] Peter Ellenshaw came over from California to do some matte paintings at Elstree in a very modest matte department that we set up. It was somewhat nostalgic for him, considering he had worked just down the road at the old MGM studios forty years earlier, when he did the matte paintings on Quo Vadis.

Q21: Why was storyboard artist and cartoonist Martin Asbury chosen to be the other matte artist? As far as I am aware, SUPERMAN IV is the only film for which he did mattes. Of all the hugely talented and available matte artists Stateside and in the U.K., why did your father pick a storyboard specialist?

A: Actually it was my idea to have Martin do mattes. Although he was [and probably still is] a great storyboard artist and comic strip cartoonist, he wanted to get into matte painting; expanding his skills and providing another way to hopefully attract work to the U.K. effects business. And, plus we didn't have many other matte artists to draw from.

Q22: Is that because most of the matte artists in the U.K. had been part of the first three SUPERMAN movies and hence were "off-limits" to you on SUPERMAN IV?

A: Perhaps that was the case, though I do remember we contacted Ray Caple at the time, but I think he was working on another film at the time.

Q23: But you still decided to base the matte department in the U.K.?

A: Yes, I wanted to get a jump on doing matte paintings while we were still shooting the live action. So if we did the matte paintings in England, I could keep an eye on them while I was there. On the other hand, I knew that it would be best to wait until there was a rough cut to do the effects animation and blue screen composites.

Q24: And wasn't Return to Oz Oscar nominee Michael Lloyd engaged to do some matte shots at Disney?

A: Yes, we gave them some shots to do: matte paintings and opticals. But the sequences they worked on got dropped from the film. In fact it seems most of the matte shots for SUPERMAN IV were in the parts of the film that eventually got cut from the 134-minute version.

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