Who is the mysterious Dr Grordbort, and what has he got to do with New Zealand’s legendary multi Academy Award® winning Weta Workshop? Well, it seems that Grordbort has reached out from his parallel universe and appointed Weta Limited to manufacture his awesome range of Rayguns.
With names such as the MANMELTER 3600ZX Sub-Atomic Disintegrator Pistol; the F.M.O.M. INDUSTRIES Wave Disrupter Gun, or even the GOLIATHON 83 Infinity Beam Projector, you know that these have been created by a truly warped mind! [More]
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Special effects king Richard Taylor will fly the Kiwi flag in Monaco this week amid the world’s leading entrepreneurs, a prospect he finds daunting. Attending the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year awards, after winning the New Zealand title last October, Mr Taylor will compete against 46 others from around the world in the luxury Mediterranean port. But it was the prestigious company, rather than the swanky location, that was the biggest treat. “We have always thought of ourselves as creative people, not business people. It’s a bit daunting actually,” he said. [More]
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Thanks to TORnado Grammaboodawg for sending this great article about Richard Taylor. Seems our favorite Weta chief will be in Monaco this week meeting with the 46 candidates for the world title. The winner will be announced Sunday but the full story can be read right here.
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From WETANZ.com: Weta Designer Stephen Crowe returns to the forums to answer as many questions as he can on NZ Thurs 31 May. Here are some of the highlights from last week’s blitz…
Here’s a snippet:
What was your first project with Weta and what was your best?
Stephen: “I was originally brought in to work on the Neon Genesis Evangelion live action movie – which was good fun, and a very steep learning curve for me. The BEST one is probably what I’m working on right now – which of course I can’t talk about!”
How do you find managing the often competing demands of a full work week, extra-hours freelance work, family, socialising and personal projects?
Stephen: “It’s really incredibly difficult to fit it all in, and to say that I’m ‘managing’ these aspects of my life would be grossly unfair to that word!
“Progressing some personal projects is becoming more and more important to me … in particular a graphic novel concept that I’ve been kicking around for a wee while now.. the book takes place somewhere else, or sometime else (is that specific enough?), or probably BOTH, and the main character is a freelancing engineer who is offered a lucrative and attractive contract to go and work on a nearby island that is populated by a mysterious but benevolent race of beings who have largely kept to themselves since their arrival quite some time ago. The engineer ends up becoming involved in a SINISTER PLOT, no less!
“So lots of fun sci-fi design opportunities to keep me happy, and some action/drama to pull it all together. The challenging part will be writing the thing – so maybe a collaboration is in order, as I’ve never written fiction. So utilising my spare half hour per month to it’s fullest, I should be done by about 2047! Keep an eye out…”
Weta Designer Daniel Falconer and a mystery designer also jumped onto the Forums to join in, too!
Congratulations to Weta Forum members Ulrik_fC, hsaunderson, Targos, oldduffer and Arranz, who won a King Kong poster signed by Stephen himself.
Stephen will be hopping on again tomorrow NZ Thurs 31 May (that’s Weds to those of you in North America), so make sure if you haven’t already, you sign up and create an account (free!) to chat to Stephen and the crew.
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In my opinion Halo is to video games what American Idol is to television, and yet both 20th Century Fox and Universal decided a Halo movie (with newbie director Neill Blomkamp directing) just wasn’t going to happen. But that was then, and this is now — with Halo 3 getting set to demolish the gaming world, Peter Jackson told OnFilm magazine that he expects the project to lift itself out of development hell once Fox and Universal catch a glimpse of the Halo hype first hand. As far as Blomkamp goes; Jackson notes: “We wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. It’s Neill’s call.” But that’s not all the man has on his plate; apart from directing The Lovely Bones, Jackson is producing a remake of 1954’s The Dam Busters; a project he’s kept quiet about for quite some time. [More]
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To celebrate their return to London’s biggest and baddest movie, comic and media convention, Weta Limited are selling 1,200 collectibles from their King Kong range at the bargain price of £1! Sounding a little too good to be true? Well, it isn’t! [More]
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