Gary Rydstrom

Gary Rydstrom
Background information
Born	Gary Roger Rydstrom June 29, 1959 (age 61) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Sound designer, director, editor
Years active	1984-present

Gary Roger Rydstrom is an American sound designer, director, and editor. He began his career in sound at Sprocket Systems, the sound group at Lucasfilm. He has worked on a number of films, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Jurassic Park, Backdraft, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Through this work, he has won 7 Academy Awards.

Production

Rydstrom did his first work for Pixar on the short film Luxo Jr. Pixar wanted Ben Burtt, who had done the sound on The Adventures of André & Wally B. However, Burtt was busy on another film, so Sprocket Systems offered Rydstrom the job instead. John Lasseter has said it was Rydstrom's work on Luxo Jr., such as creating the lamp's voice from the squeak of a light bulb being screwed in, that taught him how sound can be a partner in the storytelling of a film. Rydstrom commented that after Luxo Jr., John continued to increase the use of sound in their movies, reaching a peak on Tin Toy:

"I think it's the most sound-intensive movie per square inch that I've ever done, because I was essentially both the sound and the music departments. The main character, Tinny, was a one-man band, and he made a sound every time he moved. I loved that. It was great. It was fun to feel like something I was doing was shaping the content of a film."

Rydstrom continued his collaboration with Pixar, working on all of their short films and feature films through Finding Nemo. After a hiatus from motion pictures, Rydstrom returned to compose the sound for Brave. He joined Pixar and made his directorial debut on the short film Lifted (which earned him his fourteenth Academy Award nomination). He was planning to make his feature film directorial debut on Newt, which was scheduled for release in the summer of 2012, but has since been cancelled. He directed the Toy Story short Hawaiian Vacation instead, which was released with Cars 2.

Filmography

Director

• Lifted (2007)
• Hawaiian Vacation (2011)
• Newt (2012) (cancelled)
• The Secret World of Arrietty (2012; English dub translation)
• Strange Magic (2015)

Sound Designer

• Luxo, Jr. (1986)
• Red's Dream (1987)
• Tin Toy (1988)
• Knick Knack (1989)
• Toy Story (1995)
• James and the Giant Peach (1996)
• Hercules (1997)
• A Bug's Life (1998)
• Toy Story 2 (1999)
• Monsters, Inc. (2001)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Mickey's Philharmagic (2003)
• The BFG (2006)
• Brave (2012)
• Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
• The Lone Ranger (2013)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
• Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Sound Re-recording Mixer

• Toy Story (1995)
• A Bug's Life (1998)
• Toy Story 2 (1999)
• Monsters, Inc. (2001)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Brave (2012)
• Tomorrowland (2015)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
• The BFG (2016)

Supervising Sound Editor

• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Sound Supervisor

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Additional Sound Design

Captain Marvel (2019)

Disney Role

Luxo, Jr.

Gallery

Gary Rydstrom in 2003.

Gary Rydstrom attending the 2019 Tribeca Film Fest.

v - e - d

In The Past Glenn McQueen • Daniel Gerson • John Kahrs • Joe Ranft • Justin Wright • Dan Lee • Lee Unkrich • John Lasseter • Rob Gibbs Brain Trust Directors Andrew Stanton • Brad Bird Directors Angus MacLane • Peter Sohn • Sanjay Patel • Dan Scanlon • Ronnie del Carmen • Mark Andrews • Brenda Chapman • Steve Purcell • Brian Fee • Enrico Casarosa • Domee Shi Producers Jonas Rivera • Kori Rae • Katherine Sarafian Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter Associated Figures Bob Iger • Ed Catmull • Steve Jobs • George Lucas • Bob Chapek Signature Voice Actors John Ratzenberger • Bob Peterson • Bonnie Hunt • Josh Cooley • Jerome Ranft • Frank Welker • Bill Farmer • Jeff Pidgeon Signature Musicians Randy Newman • Michael Giacchino • Thomas Newman • Mychael Danna • Jeff Danna • Chris Stapleton • Trent Reznor • Atticus Ross