Patrick Read Johnson

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title: "Patrick Read Johnson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1952-births", "living-people", "american-directors", "american-male-screenwriters", "film-directors-from-illinois", "people-from-wadsworth,-illinois", "screenwriters-from-illinois", "writers-from-chicago"] description: "American film director" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Read_Johnson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American film director ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Patrick Read Johnson
image	Patrick Read Johnson.jpg
caption	Patrick Read Johnson, on the set of 5-25-77
birth_date
birth_place	Wadsworth, Illinois, United States
occupation	Film director, scriptwriter, film producer, actor, visual effects artist
years_active	1980present
::

| name = Patrick Read Johnson | image = Patrick Read Johnson.jpg | caption = Patrick Read Johnson, on the set of 5-25-77 | birth_date = | birth_place = Wadsworth, Illinois, United States | occupation = Film director, scriptwriter, film producer, actor, visual effects artist | years_active = 1980present Patrick Read Johnson (born May 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker, special effects artist and screenwriter. Born in Wadsworth, Illinois, he is best known for his directorial work on the films Spaced Invaders, Angus, Baby's Day Out, The Genesis Code and 5-25-77. He also has written and produced such films as Dragonheart.

Career

Starting out in the field of practical special effects and models, Johnson was one of the first people outside of Industrial Light and Magic to see Star Wars (albeit in an incomplete form) as chronicled in his semi-autobiographical film 5-25-77. He first saw the film during Spring Break, sometime between late March and early April 1977, when ILM was scrambling to complete VFX shots. He had also visited the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Future General Corporation a few days before and found Douglas Trumbull's work to be "engineered, intimidating and mature" compared to John Dykstra's "shooting-from-the-hip" style.

Johnson ascended into mainstream Hollywood filmmaking following the modest success of Spaced Invaders, invited by John Hughes to work on his adaptation of Dennis the Menace, and then later, the comedy Baby's Day Out. Baby's Day Out was tremendously popular in South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In India, it was played at the largest theater in Calcutta for over a year.

He also wrote the fantasy film Dragonheart, which spawned a franchise. He proposed the idea for the film to producer Raffaella De Laurentiis. Johnson described it as "The Skin Game with a dragon in it...or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Dragon", and that he wanted "the idea of a dragon and a knight conning villages for money" because he thought that the concept was "not only funny, but kind of sweet".

Up until 2021 Johnson served as a filmmaking instructor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

''5-25-77''

Johnson began developing 5-25-77 in 1999 after he met Gary Kurtz. In 2001, Johnson began seeking funding for 5-25-77, and didn't start shooting the film until 2004.{{cite news | last = DeMara | first = Bruce | title = Star Wars-inspired 5-25-77 a long, long time in the making: Director Patrick Read Johnson brings his nearly finished love letter to his own idealistic filmmaking youth to TIFF's Next Wave Festival. | date = 15 February 2013 | url = https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/02/15/star_warsinspired_52577_a_long_long_time_in_the_making.html |newspaper=Toronto Star | accessdate = 2 May 2013}} An incomplete "preview cut" was exhibited in 2007 at Star Wars Celebration IV {{cite news | last = Whittaker | first = Richard | title = Voyage to the 'Hearts of Dorkness': Patrick Read Johnson and the strange oddysey of 5-25-77 | url = http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/screens/2012-07-01/voyage-to-the-heart-of-dorkness/ |newspaper=The Austin Chronicle | date = 1 July 2012 | accessdate = 2 May 2013

On May 25, 2012, the 35th anniversary of the release of Star Wars, Johnson began a cross-country road trip in his 1975 Ford Pinto to attract the funding needed to finish the film's remaining post-production work. Johnson spent the summer of 2012 test-screening 5-25-77, his trip also becoming the subject of a documentary called Hearts of Dorkness, by filmmaker Morgan Flores.

In 2013, the TIFF Next Wave film festival invited Johnson to show 5-25-77 as a "work in progress", the attention from the festival Johnson attributed to the bid of his promotional tour the summer before.

In 2017, it was announced Johnson had completed the film and that it would receive a limited theatrical release on May 25.

Filmography

Films

Filmmaking credits

::data[format=table title=""] | Title | Year | Director | Writer | Executive producer | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Spaced Invaders | 1990 | | | | | | Baby's Day Out | 1994 | | | | | | Angus | 1995 | | | | | | Dragonheart | 1996 | | | | | | The Genesis Code | 2010 | | | | | | 5-25-77 | 2022 | | | | Also wrote title music | ::

Acting credits

::data[format=table title=""]

Title	Year	Role(s)	Notes
Spaced Invaders	1990	Commander / Enforcer Drone (voice)
Joey's Last Wish	2014	Awards Presenter	Shorts
The Roma Project	2015	Dr. Towns
Gilded	2016	Steven Henderson
Telemetry	NASA Official
5-25-77	2022	Dr. Johnson
::

Technical credits

::data[format=table title=""]

Title	Year	Credits	Notes
Deal of the Century	1983	Model maker	Uncredited
2010: The Year We Make Contact	1984	Miniatures crew
An American Tail	1986	Miniature model maker
King Kong Lives	Crew leader: special effects miniatures
Dead Heat	1988	Second unit director / special effects / video graphic animation / Songwriter (song Deat Heat)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure	1989	Miniature construction: Perpetual Motion Pictures
Warlock	Visual effects coordinator / miniature construction: Perpetual Motion Pictures
Dark Country	2009	Visual effects producer: Moonwalker
::

Television

Filmmaking credits

::data[format=table title=""]

Title	Year	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
Dinosaurs	1991				Episode: "When Food Goes Bad"
When Good Ghouls Go Bad	2001				Television movie
LazyTown	2004				2 episodes
Starsailor	TBA
::

Acting credits

::data[format=table]

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Masterpiece	2022	Jac's Dad	1 episode
::

Technical credits

::data[format=table]

Title	Year	Credits	Notes
V	1983	Mothership miniature	Episode: "Part I", uncredited
Amazing Stories	1985	Model maker	Episode: "The Mission", uncredited
::

Music videos

::data[format=table title=""]

Performer	Title	Year	Director	Producer	Songwriter	Notes
Alan Parsons	I Can't Get There from Here	2019				Related with 5-25-77
As Lights Fall
::

References

References

1. (2012-07-05). "PATRICK READ JOHNSON Drives to the Basement – Ain't It Cool with Harry Knowles". [[Nerdist YouTube Channel.
2. Ebert, Roger. (August 6, 2009). "John Hughes: In Memory".
3. Welkos, Robert W.. (1996-06-12). "Screenwriters Want to Tell Own Stories". Los Angeles Times.
4. "Patrick Johnson - School of Filmmaking".
5. [https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000310/2008 IMDb]
6. "Wadsworht Director Has New Hope for Star Wars Flick". Chicago Sun-Times.
7. (February 15, 2013). "Star Wars-inspired 5-25-77 a long, long time in the making". The Star.
8. [http://dorkshelf.com/2013/02/11/interview-patrick-read-johnson/ Dorkshelf.com]
9. Norman Wilner, [https://nowtoronto.com/movies/tiff-next-wave-film-festival-2013-02-14/ "TIFF Next Wave Film Festival"]. ''[[Now (newspaper). Now]]'', February 14, 2013.
10. "The first fan to see 'Star Wars' made a new film about it".

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