Oscar Bravo
He’s that rarest of creatures: an Irish Oscar winner. But if Richard Baneham sat next to you on the bus you wouldn’t recognize him. That’s because he toils behind the scenes as a special effects ace. He talks about hooking up with James Cameron on Avatar and gives his thoughts on the debate raging around Hollywood – 3D or not 3D?
Roe McDermott, 25 Jan 2011
If asked to list some Irish Oscar winners down your local pub quiz, it’s likely that the name ‘Daniel Day Lewis’ will spring to mind, followed by ‘Peter O’Toole’ and then maybe even yer man from The Frames. However, last year it was Tallaght man Richard Baneham who walked away with a gong, having worked on the visual effects for James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest-grossing film in history. And so, one year on from his win, with the 2011 Oscar nominations looming, we asked Baneham about his journey to the Oscars, the pressure of living up to his award and the challenges facing visual effects artists.
Baneham studied classical animation in Ballyfermot College of Further Education, whose alumni also include the Oscar-nominated animators of The Secret of Kells and Granny O’Grimm. Following his degree, the determined student moved over to the States with his soon-to-be wife Aisling, and spent years building up a good reputation in some of the smaller film studios. “One of my first main jobs was working on a movie – and I’m ashamed to say it – called The Swan Princess. But sure it paid the bills – hey, we were 22, all we needed was money to drink and pay our rent!”
After spending another couple of years paying his dues, Baneham finally got his big break when Warner Bros’ Brad Bird selected him to work on the critically-acclaimed animated classic, The Iron Giant. From that point on, it was a fateful line of events that brought his performance animation work for the character of Gollum in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to a certain Mr James Cameron’s attention.
“Jim had been testing the waters to see if CG facial rigs could be built to give a fully enhanced performance, and when he saw the Gollum sequence I had worked on – the soliloquy where Gollum becomes Smeagol and Deagol and they talk to each other – Jim apparently said ‘right, we’re ready to make Avatar, the technology and tool-set is far enough along to make this movie.’ So I was asked was there any chance I’d be free for a meeting with James Cameron. I managed to free my schedule! He and his team were so open to ideas, it was instantly a great match.”
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