If you’re a die hard fan of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth adaptations, chances are you probably know the name Joe Letteri. Winner of four Academy Awards, Mr. Letteri has been an instrumental part of bringing the magical world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books to life through the art of visual effects.
Now Mr. Letteri has once again been nominated for his work – this time for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Los Angeles Times’ Cristy Lytal took some time to ask him some questions ahead of the Oscar ceremony – which will be held on March 2nd. Naturally, the interview focused mostly on the creation of the film’s visual centerpiece – Smaug. Continue reading “Oscar winning visual effects artist Joe Letteri speaks with the L.A. Times”
This past Thursday night, the Visual Effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences met to vote for the five VFX nominees at this year’s Oscars. As expected, voters were highly impressed by the frontrunners Gravity and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But the fellow potential nominees were no slouches either. Presentations of the special effects work behind Pacific Rim, World War Z, and others left quite an impression as well. Continue reading “‘Smaug’ Visual Effects wow at Academy Awards bake-off”
A team from Weta Digital has taken out the special visual effects award at the British equivalent of the Oscars. Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew Jones accepted the award in London today for their work on Avatar.
Back in New Zealand, visual effects supervisor Eric Saindon said there was a lot of excitement around the Weta Digital office when news of the win came through by text message. “Everyone’s pretty ecstatic about it, it’s pretty fun to get this award.” More..
Bill Desowitz writes: Now that it’s toppled Titanic at the box office and has become a best picture Oscar contender, Avatar is the talk of the industry. Joe Letteri, senior visual effects supervisor for Weta Digital, kicks off our VFX Oscar coverage with his analysis. More..
The folks from WIFI write: It’s your friends from WIFI again with another Video you might be interested in! We recently attended The Lovely Bones Wellington Premiere and we were able to snag a few quick interviews with some familiar faces including: Gino Acevedo, Philippa Boyens, Jamie Selkirk, Joe Letteri and a few more. More..
Oscar-winning special effects guru Joe Letteri has been made a partner at Weta Digital. Letteri, an American, joins Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk as an equal partner and shareholder in the internationally successful Wellington company. He has been a senior visual effects supervisor for Weta Digital, which provides computer-generated effects, since 2001, and will continue in that role. Before that, he worked at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic for 10 years, and he was a visual effects co-supervisor for the 1997 Star Wars Special Edition. He has played a key role in attracting productions to New Zealand, including James Cameron’s new film Avatar, for which Weta is providing the visual effects. Weta partnership for special effects guru
