PHIL JONES PASSING
It is with great sadness that we report to you the passing of Phil Jones, the writer director of the upcoming ‘Hellborn.’
Mr. Jones died unexpectedly this month, and we send our deepest regrets and condolences to his family and friends. A true genre fan, his final film, ‘Hellborn,’ will be released on video later this year, starring Bruce Payne and showcasing make-up effects by Brian Penikas (‘Jeepers Creepers’ and ‘Jeepers Creepers II’).
‘Working on Phil’s film projects was like working on a clubhouse or school project.’ Penikas tells the Corner. ‘You know, Little Rascals-style, ‘Hey Gang, let’s put on a show!’ Those kinds of projects are fun. Down and dirty movie making.’
‘Phil knew what he wanted, and being a big fan of classic horror and sci-fi made him enjoyable to be around. He would often stop by the lab just to hang out and go ‘fan-boy’ with my crew and myself.’
‘He had an extensive memorabilia collection, much of which were vintage original movie and tv show costumes and props. He was always contracting us to restore a prop or to build custom mannequins to display his collection. Some of the nicest display pieces we have ever made were for Phil’s expansive collection of original CLASSIC Planet of the Apes movie costumes, many of which you see displayed on our Apemania.com website pages.’
‘Right up until the day of his untimely death, Phil was bringing us restoration/display projects. We had several Cylon restorations going on as well as a custom Dr. Zira mannequin in the works for him when he passed away. Sometimes it felt like our lab was one big Phil Jones toy box! He always had something cool for us to make or fix. It was always a pleasure to have all of that ‘Hollywood history’ trekking through our shop.’
‘It hasn’t really ‘sunk-in’ that the man has left us. I still half expect him to show up at the lab with yet another cool memorabilia item that’s just screaming for a cool display mannequin, or that he’s just trying to hide from the wife until he can figure out a way to sneak it into the house without her knowing it! (Collector’s wives sometimes just don’t understand the needs of their hubbies!!!)’
‘Phil’s energy and excitement will definitely be missed. I am happy that he shared so much of that energy with us in the years that we new him.’
A jack-of-all-trades, Jones dabbled in all facets of the industry whether it be directing, producing, or writing. To read more about his upcoming film, ‘Hellborn,’ check out Fangoria’s January ’03 issue (#219).
Courtesy of Creature Corner
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