The visual effects team from Wētā FX in Wellington have secured the most individual nominations for Oscars in the company’s history today.
At 2.30am, Daniel Macarin, Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Erik Winquist, Paul Story, and Stephen Unterfranz received the news they’d been nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Visual Effects category.
“This has been an exceptional year for the artists at Wētā FX, producing groundbreaking work of the highest quality,” Wētā FX’s head of VFX, Matt Aitken said.
Luke Millar, who worked on Better Man as the VFX Supervisor, said he’s been working on the project for the last three years, his work also securing a BAFTA nomination.
“The film represents an insane amount of work and talent from the artists, production and support staff here at Wētā FX and we are humbled that these efforts have been recognised by our peers,” Luke Millar said.
Erik Winquist who was the VFX Supervisor on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes said he was thrilled to wake to the news of an Oscar nomination this morning.
Last week, Winquist and his team also received a BAFTA nomination.
“Collaborating with Wes Ball and 20th Century on this was a delight and it’s so satisfying to see our work recognised by the Academy,” Erik Winquist said.
Macarin who was Wētā FX’s VFX Supervisor on Alien: Romulus said he’s incredibly proud to have his team’s work recognised by the Academy.
“We hope this nomination inspires the next generation of VFX artists and sci-fi space film fans,” Daniel Macarin said.
Nominations for the Best Visual Effects category are determined by votes from members of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.
The 97th Academy Awards are scheduled to be held in Los Angeles on Monday, March 3 (NZT).
