Eye on Entertainment on Time Warner Cable Interviews Harvey Lowry and Todd Tucker of Drac Studios

Dawna Lee Heising and John Alsedek of “Eye on Entertainment” on Time Warner Cable visited Drac Studios and Green Pictures in Burbank, CA, and interviewed Harvey Lowry and Todd Tucker, founders of the award-winning special effects company, along with legendary makeup artist Greg Cannom.  Drac Studios is a full-service production studio and special effects makeup shop that offers clients the latest in prosthetic makeup, specialty costumes and production services. The incredible work of the creative artists at Drac Studios is ubiquitous and unparalleled in the film industry. Drac Studios features the combined expertise of Lowry, Tucker, Cannom and Ronald L. Halvas.  Their combined and innovative talents offer a history of providing unforgettable characters and creatures for over 100 credited films, television shows, videos and commercials.  Their professional collaboration ensures their clients the best in superior quality makeup effects and production services.

To date, the team behind Drac Studios have created the memorable creatures and special makeup effects that have won three Academy Awards for the films “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, "Mrs. Doubtfire" and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button;” received the Academy’s Technical Achievement Award for creating the most advanced silicone prosthetic makeup applications; and has been honored with seven Academy Award nominations for the films:  “A Beautiful Mind,” “Bicentennial Man,”  “Titanic,” “Roommates,” “Hoffa,” “Hook,” and “The Passion of Christ.”

The creative team at Drac Studios also supplied special effects for “Watchmen”, the 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder that was adapted from the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons; “Dracula”, directed by Francis Ford Coppola; “White Chicks” with the Wayans brothers; “Mrs. Doubtfire” with Robin Williams; “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; “Soccer Mom”, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”; “The Passion of Christ”; and many other films and television shows.  Drac Studios has produced the family comedy "Soccer Mom," and the comedy horror, "Trailer Park of Terror", a horror comedy which premiered to an overflowing audience at Slamdance.

The Drac Studios team formed its own production company in 2007, Green Pictures, which allows Lowry, Tucker and Halvas to develop their own films.  “Monster Mutt” is Green Pictures’ first film, and was directed by Tucker.  "Monster Mutt" is a family comedy that follows the exploits of the family dog, Max, as an evil corporation tests their new energy drink on the lovable Mutt. Max begins his transformation while the family tries to hold on to their lifelong friend. Tucker says that it is a contemporary character-driven PG-rated film, with the mystical feel of films that inspired him like “Gremlins” and “ET”.

Lowry and Tucker started their careers in special effects makeup at Captive Audience Productions.  Before that, Lowry was a medical student at Nova Southeastern University in Florida, and Tucker was a musician who toured with the Tubes.  Tucker was offered a position as the new lead singer for Foreigner and an offer to join Drac Studios on the same day; obviously, he made the right decision!  Lowry is an extreme sports athlete, and his talents include alpine mountain climbing, big wall rock climbing, skydiving and scuba diving.

The next film from Green Pictures will be” Christmas Tales”, which will be filmed in Los Angeles, with Lowry and Halvas producing and Tucker directing the film.  In 1976, writer Robert X. Leeds wrote a story about the four-legged animals that he loved.  A copy reached Orson Welles, who insisted that the story should be made into a feature film.  Welles narrated the story and sent the tape to Leeds.  Unfortunately, Welles died before the feature could be made. Leeds decided to publish the story as a children’s novel, which caught the eye of Lowry and Tucker. Leeds brokered a deal with the duo and has now given the last recorded works of Orson Welles to Green Pictures.  The film will feature Ann Margaret as “Mrs. Claus”.

Drac Studios and Green Pictures corporate offices are located in Burbank, California.  Drac Studios Louisiana was founded in late 2009 and is based in Baton Rouge, LA on the Raleigh Studios lot.  The next films from Green Pictures will be filmed in Louisiana, and include “Seconds Apart”, “Area 51” and “Catwalk”.

For more information on Drac Studios, visit their website at:  http://www.dracstudios.com/ or call:  818-565-5986.

About Eye on Entertainment
"Eye on Entertainment", a division of Eye on Excellence™ Productions, is aired twice weekly on Time Warner Cable in Southern California. The EOE team covers entertainment events, film festivals, red carpets and award shows, and features interviews with successful people in all walks of life, exploring the traits they have in common. Dawna Lee Heising is the executive producer and host of EOE. She is a long-standing member of SAG & AFTRA and is Ms. Universe 2009. The show is produced and directed by John Alsedek, who is also the writer, director & producer of the horror anthology series "AS DARKNESS FALLS", which runs on Time Warner Cable. The EOE co-producer is Steve Van Wormer. The EOE photographer is David McNeil, who is a former executive with United Artists and was one of the developers of Pay-per-View.  For more information, please visit http://www.eyeonentertainment.tv/ and www.youtube.com/eyeonentertainment