Adam Savage Visits North Bergen to Film Segment Praising the NBHS Art Department

Adam Savage, the producer and host of MythBusters, visited North Bergen High School on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019 to film a segment about the amazing work the art department students have done on various projects throughout the years.

Led on a tour of student projects and props by art teacher Steven Defendini, Savage shared his enthusiasm for creating art from common objects, periodically exclaiming, “That’s brilliant” when informed how recycled or discarded materials were repurposed into stunning new creations.

NBHS first came to Savage’s attention when the school drama club staged a live production of Alien based on the movie, using sets and props built from scratch. Savage posted a rave about the production online, single handedly launching a groundswell of attention that led to the original film director, Ridley Scott, personally praising the students and funding an encore presentation, and star Sigourney Weaver visiting the school to view the performance and meet the cast.

Savage, whose special effects work has appeared in more than 100 TV commercials and a dozen feature films including Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Galaxy Quest, and the Matrix sequels, met with some of the students who built the Alien props and talked with Defendini about a wide variety of topics related to their mutual love of superheroes and genre film, and the value of inspiring younger generations to be creative problem-solvers and out-of-the-box thinkers.

Defendini will be joining Savage onstage at the New York Comic Con on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019 for the panel discussion “Celebrating 40 Years of Alien with Adam Savage.”