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.
Category: Production
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.
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]
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]
Rachel from WETA writes: A reminder that tomorrow (Fri 25 May) we will open our pre-ordering for the first of the three Weta Originals, the ‘Goliathon 83 Infinity Beam Projector’. The Goliathon is the heaviest of the three, and if the press information is anything to go by, is “perfect for clubbing small seals or naughty children”. The Goliathon 83 was featured alongside the Rayguns range in this month’s WIRED Magazine. [More]
Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop is in talks to create visual effects for an action adventure film telling the story behind the devil’s fall from grace, an industry website has reported. The film – to be produced by Christine Iso’s Los Angeles-based Pacifica International company – may also be shot in New Zealand to take advantage of local tax credits, screendaily.com said. The writer of Sleepless In Seattle, David Ward, is producing a script from a story by first-time director Ray Griggs, who has personally financed development of the project. The film, Lucifer, describes how the devil was once an angel whose pride caused him to be cast out of heaven and bring sin and death to mankind. [More]