James P. Gleason

Inspired by "King Kong" as a small boy in suburban Chicago, young James P. (Jim) Gleason dreamed of becoming an animator/special effects wizard like his heroes Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen. Until he could afford a movie camera, Jim had to settle for drawing animation in paperback margins. He bought his first movie camera in eighth grade and immediately began experimenting with animation and motion studies. He produced and screened slapstick action films through high school, peppered with animation and special effects, laced with surrealism and dark humor. He planned this work to be a portfolio for film school. To everybody's surprise, Jim was talked out of film school by his high school sweetheart. He instead became a computer programmer and settled down in the Chicago suburbs to raise a family. When the marriage collapsed, he no longer had a reason NOT to go to film school. Abandoning a successful data processing career, Jim moved out west and returned to student life. He attended USC's School of Cinema-Television with a talented group of graduate students known as the 99ers. Though his work now has more depth than his slapstick high school larks, Jim is still enthralled with special effects, surrealism and dark humor, as revealed in his ghostly "Attaining the Image" and ghastly "Anniversary Retreat." "Antebody," Jim's thesis film, marks the completion of his studies and the beginning of his second career. Not related to James Gleason, the character actor. Has two children, Jennifer and Robert.