Die Hard (1988)

Born in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Boates was a notable artist of English-Canadian underground comix in the 1970s. He worked at The Georgia Straight in Vancouver, a weekly underground tabloid where he met the influential cartoonist Rand Holmes. He contributed to Fog City Comix and All Canadian Beaver Comix in Canada and among other titles, Forbidden Knowledge Comix in the USA. In the 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles and worked there in the film industry as an illustrator and visual effects art director. Boates entered American film with 2010 (1984) as an artistic consultant. Other notable visual effects credits include FRIGHT NIGHT (1985), POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE (1986), MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987), DIE HARD (1988), THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990), BATMAN RETURNS (1992), CLIFFHANGER (1993), TRUE LIES (1994), UNDER SEIGE 2: DARK TERRITORY (1995) and EVENT HORIZON (1997). Since the late 1990s, Boates has concentrated on production and storyboard illustration for such films as MEN IN BLACK (1997), THE 13TH WARRIOR and DOUBLE JEOPARDY (both 1999), THE 6TH DAY (2000), RESIDENT EVIL and I SPY (both 2002), HOPE SPRINGS, X2 and PAYCHECK (all 2003), AVP: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (2004), FANTASTIC FOUR (2005), X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (2006), WIND CHILL and 4: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (both 2007), DEATH RACE (scheduled for 2008), and WATCHMEN (scheduled for 2009).  Nominated for Achievement in Visual Effects 1988: DIE HARD (w. Richard Edlund, Al DiSarro & Thaine Morris) 1 nomination