Michael Joyce has been making models for movies since 1978. (First flick: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.) The miniature-effects specialist describes his job this way: “A production company comes in and says, we want to build this, film it, and blow it up—and we want you to handle everything.” Now 60 and running his own shop, Joyce is something of a rare breed these days. When modern moviemakers want to obliterate Manhattan, it’s easier and cheaper to fire up a PC than to assemble a little Big Apple from scratch. Still, for explosions, some directors insist on models. “In a computer,” Joyce says, “you don’t get that randomness, that haphazard commotion of a nice explosion.” Although his most famous kablooey moment might be the iconic scene in Independence Day when aliens demolish the White House, Joyce is up for laying waste to just about anything he can build.