Causing effects: meet the gay and lesbian digital artists behind Hollywood's splashiest special effects.

The world of movie visual effects is, like most artistic arenas, peopled by a high percentage of gay men and lesbians, but that doesn't mean some aspects of this multifaceted profession are any more welcoming. "In some positions in production it can be a serious issue," explains effects supervisor Joe Bauer on the phone from the set of Blade: Trinity in Vancouver, Canada. Bauer, whose other credits include Elf and Final Destination 2, started his career in television on the last season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the first season of Star Trek: Voyager; tie has confronted homophobia on many occasions. "Film sets are predominantly straight, and I've had to deal with it time and time again," he says. "I came out on The Next Generation, and when I did I was quite a crusader, but you get disheartened after a while. I find it's best not to say anything and [to] get through the show being non-confrontational."

Once the shoot is over, however, postproduction facilities tend to have little time or tolerance for homophobic attitudes. "There are too many of us out there that are making an impact," explains George Suhayda, a senior visual effects art director currently working on the intimated family movie The Polar Express. "It's an artistically oriented and fiercely competitive environment, and can't be about sexual orientation. The focus is always on the movie."

Jay Redd agrees. He is a visual effects supervisor based at Sony Pictures Imageworks whose most recent credits are The Haunted Mansion mid Stuart Little 2. "There are a lot of fringe people in effects," he says. "People on the edge of trends and styles. At Imageworks you get people coming in wearing suits as well as shorts and T-shirts; with orange hair, tattoos, piercings; a straight guy who wears women's clothes to work. You can be who you want to be. Everything's so open."

Redd became immersed in special effects as a teenager in Utah by combining art and computer technology in high school. He came out when he moved to Los Angeles to take a job at effects facility Rhythm and Hues at the age of 21 in 1993. Like many gay teen overachievers, he says, he channeled his energies into his creative passions to compensate for the drawbacks of being in the closet in the Mormon state. "L.A. had a big impact on my life," he explains. "At Rhythm and Hues, I started working on the film Babe and started a relationship with a coworker, which lasted four years."

Steve Schweicart is following in Redd's footsteps. He has been in Los Angeles for less than a year and is working as an animation coordinator at Rhythm and Hues on the Scooby-Doo sequel. Although not closeted, he says he doesn't advertise his sexuality. "When 1 first started I was very insecure because it felt like such a straight environment, but I found other gay people who worked here and we all became friends," he says.

Schweicart, who studied visual effects and animation at the Savannah [Ga.] College of Art and Design, says he eventually wants to be an animator. "It's a high-pressure, high-stress job," he adds, "but ultimately rewarding. You feel good about your work."

On the financial side of effects, there are a high number of lesbians working as effects producers. One of the most accomplished, Lydia Bottegoni, is at present overseeing the $50 million effects budget for Spider-Man 2, which opens nationwide on July 2. She is charged with delivering the effects on time and budget by June 1.

"There are a disproportionate number of lesbians in the job," she notes, smiling, "and I can't tell you why. I work at Sony Pictures Imageworks, and there are four or five others here. We have a corner on the market--as well as many women in the artist pool." Bottegoni, who got into the business with the help of a lesbian friend, says that at both Disney, where she started out, and Sony, "it's widely accepted as OK--as, of course, it should be."

Part of Bottegoni's challenge is to ensure that the archvillain in Spider-Man 2--Dr. Octopus, a.k.a. Doc Ock (played by Alfred Molina)--is convincingly fitted with four computer-generated mechanical arms. "In some scenes we have completely modeled and fabricated Alfred Molina in the computer, and [we] hope that, we will wow the effects world. We think it's the best. example of a computer-generated person to date on film."

Suhayda, whose previous credits in design and illustration include Disclosure, Contact, and Tales From the Crypt, muses, "Do we have a higher rate of good taste or not'? I do think that so many trends and styles have been developed by gay men and women [for which] we aren't always given the credit. I like to think we are keeping it safe for Americans to go to the movies!"

And maybe, one day, gay-themed films will also emerge with their own effects budgets. Jay Redd, for one, is preparing to direct his first short film in March, about a gay male relationship. And yes, he says, there will be some special effects.

Goodridge is US. editor of Screen International.