Phil Tippett Inspired This Week's Poker Face—and Here Are All the Awesome Creations

Phil Tippett Inspired This Week's Poker Face—and Here Are All the Awesome Creations

The legendary Star Wars and Jurassic Park artist also animated the creatures in the Rian Johnson show.

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Nolte with some Tippett creations
Nick Nolte starred in the new episode of Poker Face, and he has some friends.
Screenshot: Peacock

Have you been keeping up with the best superhero show on television? We’re talking, of course, about Poker Face, the episodic detective show created by Rian Johnson and starring Natasha Lyonne. Lyonne plays Charlie, a woman with a secret ability to detect a lie, which Johnson himself admitted that, yes, is kind of a superpower.

The season’s eighth episode, “The Orpheus Syndrome,” was just released (watch it here!) and sci-fi fantasy fans should take note. It was not just inspired by the life and work of legendary animator Phil Tippett, Tippett and his studio created a handful of new creatures and maquettes for the episode.

Poker Face was the best project that has crossed my radar for quite some time,” Tippett tweeted about the episode. “Working with Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne was a pleasure.” He added, “Clear direction, trust, and no frame fucking always make my day!”

The episode was co-written and directed by Lyonne, by the way, and in it Nick Nolte played a Tippett-esque character named Arthur Liptin. What follows are some images of Liptin/Tippett’s brand-new creations.

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Nolte as Liptin with some creatures

Nolte as Liptin with some creatures

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Here’s the Tippett character working with some of his creations.

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The Red Light

The Red Light

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Each character plays a part in the overall narrative of the episode. We’ll start with the being with a red light as a face.

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Bright light

Bright light

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Animating the Light

Animating the Light

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Light head on film

Light head on film

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The Director

The Director

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There’s also a character with a camera as his face, directing the scene.

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More director

More director

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Black and white director

Black and white director

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Animating the director

Animating the director

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Three heads

Three heads

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There’s also a three-headed beast.

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Beast in action

Beast in action

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Black and white beast

Black and white beast

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Medusa

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A large Medusa head is crucial to the story.

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More Medusa

More Medusa

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Lady in the Water

Lady in the Water

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An almost mer-person comes out of the head of another creation.

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Mer-Head

Mer-Head

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He’s got the mermaid coming out of his head.

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Head in action

Head in action

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Tim Russ

Tim Russ

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Star Trek alum Tim Russ also plays the crucial role of Max—but this isn’t him. It’s an incredibly lifelike maquette of him.

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More Max

More Max

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The whole gang

The whole gang

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