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Starship Troopers 2 blasts into Melbourne Digital Media Festival

Lock and Load! The alien bugs are back in STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION, the much-anticipated sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s cult-classic 1997 hit Starship Troopers.

Marking the directorial debut of Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Phil Tippett (who worked on VFX for the original Starship Troopers in addition to other high-profile films such as Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park), STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION will debut this month from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment on Special Edition DVD.

Tippett Studios Visual Effects Supervisor ERIC LEVEN will profile the blockbuster sequel at the Australian Effects & Animation Festival Melbourne, June 1-3 at the Melbourne Convention Centre. At AEAF Melbourne, Leven will join some of the world’s biggest animation and visual effects companies to provide an insiders’ look at the creation of the stunning visuals in today’s film, TV and games. The AEAF Melbourne program includes the creative and technical talent behind Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Shrek 2, Master and Commander and the forthcoming Columbia Pictures movie Hellboy, a supernatural action-adventure based on Mike Mignola's acclaimed Dark Horse Comics series of the same name.

Starring a sexy cast of talented young stars, ST 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION is loaded with state-of-the-art CGI creature effects, high-octane futuristic battle sequences and the infamous man-eating killer alien bugs!

Tippett Studio visual effects supervisor, Eric Leven, was hired as a Technical Director on the original STARSHIP TROOPERS in 1996. Since that time, Eric has advanced his career from Technical Director to Animator, FX Animator, Associate VFX Supervisor, and CG Supervisor.

After a short stint on LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, Eric returned to Tippett Studio where he has significantly contributed to shaping the effects animation department, creating shop-wide protocols for integrating these special visual effects into their overall products.

In his spare moments, Eric pursues his own filmmaking ambitions having completed two short films: STOP MOTION: MOTION BLUR, and STOP MOTION II: MOTION CAPTURE, each with cameos of Phil Tippett as an evil stop-motion artist, trying to prevent new technologies from succeeding.