- Written by Emma Saunders
- Los Angeles entertainment reporter
It's not every day you get an Oscar nomination. But special effects supervisor Neil Corbould is better than he is a thing or two.
The Brit, who has been nominated for three visual effects Oscars this year, described the experience to the BBC as “absolutely incredible”.
He is known for his work on Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1, The Creator, and Napoleon.
He joked that competing against himself was probably the “kiss of death.”
“It's amazing to be nominated three times,” he told me in the plush lobby of a hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.
Suggestions that perhaps the pressure is off are quickly dismissed, given Corbould's numerous nominations and Oscar wins (for “Gladiator” and “Gravity”). “I'm a very competitive person, so I always want to win.”
He has no idea where he will sit at Sunday's ceremony. “Maybe there will be three seats, and we might have to play musical chairs!”
But what is the biggest plus? “I'll be invited to three different after-parties.”
Neil got his start in the world of special effects when his uncle Colin Chilvers (who later won an Oscar for his efforts) took him to the set of the 1978 film Superman. It all started when I was asked to go there.
“As a kid, I was a huge Superman fan and would bug him many times to ask him to take me to work with him, which I eventually did. The set was a Fortress of Solitude set with Christopher Reeves flying across the middle of the stage, full of smoke and dry ice.
“From that day on, I thought, 'This is what I want to do.' And 46 years later, I'm still doing it.”
We spoke to Mr. Colbor about the challenges of each of his very different Oscar-nominated projects.
Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1
“This was probably one of the most challenging films we've ever done, because (director) Chris McQuarrie wanted to do everything he could in front of the camera. We had a full-scale steam locomotive, bridges, tracks, “We built a remote-controlled train,” Corbould explains. .
“For special effects guys, it's great to work on movies like this because they're based on practical effects.”
“It's really easy. The train just gets off[the bridge]. Because of the scale of it. The amount of preparation that went into it, the construction of the train, the mining of the quarry. And we only tried it once.” ”
napoleon
Corbould described his long-time collaborator and fellow Briton Ridley Scott as a “genius”, adding that the 86-year-old Scott, who directed “Napoleon” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, “worked harder than anyone else”. “I'm doing it,” he says.
“I've worked with him over the years so I can understand a little bit what he wants.
“The most difficult thing was the speed and the large staged battles like Waterloo. This huge battlefield was moving around a lot, a kilometer and a half from one side to the other, with British troops on one side, On the other side was the French army.The other side.
“I would really like to see an expanded version (director’s cut) of that.”
creator
“Visually it's stunning, it's like a work of art,” Corbould says of Gareth Edwards' sci-fi action film about a futuristic war between humans and AI robots.
The film was made on a relatively low budget, in stark contrast to Corbould's Mission: Impossible and other blockbuster films.
“We only sent two people to Thailand (for the shoot), and local special effects staff helped us out. We prepared a container and packed as many smokers and other equipment as we could into it. .I like challenges!”
He added: “Gareth is a very talented director and we need to embrace his way of making films.”
The rise of CGI
Corball also praised films like Mission: Impossible for being “very based on practical effects.”
“In this day and age, you don't know how long it's going to last. Movies of this epic scale have to keep making a lot of money, or they'll disappear.”
Having said that, he added: “Thirty years ago they told me that in the new digital age practical effects would become a thing of the past. But today we are stronger than ever.”
He credits that to “directors like Chris Nolan (whose 'Oppenheimer' has been nominated for 13 Oscars), Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott. Because it's rooted in the practical realm of film.'' I think the two go together. ”
tax reduction
So why does the UK have such a healthy visual effects industry, with companies like Framestore, DNEG and of course Neil Corbould SFX?
“We're a very close-knit community…a small industry on a small island, so you have to be good,” Colbor explains.
Mr Corball welcomed the news, saying it was a “great step in the right direction”, with a range of measures recently announced in the budget, including increased tax relief for special effects costs.
And there is no rest for the evil ones, because his next project is already decided.
“It looks like I'll be working with Gareth again on the new Jurassic movie,” he says.
The release date is already set for July 2025.