Ernie Fosselius - Film Career

Film Career

Fosselius' film career began in the early 1970s when he co-created 20 original animated films for Sesame Street.

Fosselius is known for his satirical short films. His short films first appeared in 1976 in Mother's Little Network, a Pythonesque sketch comedy show for WGBH-TV in Boston, was The Hindenburger, in which a flying Big Mac burst into flames over New Jersey while a radio announcer (voiced by Fosselius) emotionally sobbed: "Oh the humanity, Oh the cheese!"

Porklips Now was a send-up of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now which starred Billy Gray of TV's Father Knows Best.

Fosselius was hired by Universal Studios to develop comedy screenplays. After working for many months on a script entitled "Two Guys from Space", the studio pulled the plug on the project and offered him the directing job on Pee-wee's Big Adventure as a consolation. Fosselius passed on it and went back to Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, where he made his living as a sound effects and foley editor on many feature films including Ed Wood, Serial Mom, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Amadeus.

Fosselius continued to write screenplays (11 scripts that never went into production, including the Zippy the Pinhead movie) and work in the movie business as a director of "industrial" shorts, a special effects fabricator (Robocop 2, etc.)an actor, sound editor, voice actor.

Ben Burtt asked Fosselius to contribute unusual voices and vocal effects to several Lucasfilm productions, such as the two pilots in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He wrote the lyrics to "Lapti Nek". He voiced the "Ack Ack"s in Mars Attacks and he is also the voice of Trantor The Troll in Ernest Scared Stupid. He provided the voice of Poggle the Lesser in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and voiced the sobs of the Rancor Keepers, Malakili and Giran, in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. He also contributed to the music score of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and is credited with co-writing the song "Lapti Nek".

Fosselius directed the Eegah episode of Cinema Insomnia with Mr. Lobo and, staying true to his directing technique, also created many of the props. In 2009, Fosselius created a tribute to Ed Wood with his short film, Plan 9.1 from Outer Space, which featured hand-carved wooden puppets of the characters from the popular Ed Wood film, Plan 9 from Outer Space. The puppets acted out the scenes along with the edited soundtrack of the original film.