Dean Wright (born May 15, 1962) is a film director and visual effects supervisor, best known for his work on ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy and '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''.

Biography

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

-born Wright enrolled at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

film school to pursue a career as a filmmaker. Relocating to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1989, he landed work with one of the industry's most prominent directors,

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

, on the groundbreaking project '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''. The film's success propelled Wright into larger production rolls in a variety of capacities alongside acclaimed filmmakers. He became the

VFX Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

production manager for Cameron's own visual effect's house,

Digital Domain Digital Domain (also known as Digital Domain Media Group or DDMG) is an American visual effects, computer animation and digital production company headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California. Digital Domain has produced visual effects ...

. Collaborating with effects supervisor Rob Legato, Wright worked on ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

''. The film garnered eleven

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

, including the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Wright was promoted to visual effects producer and helped land

's next landmark project, '' What Dreams May Come'', which also earned the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. After producing the VFX for several other projects, he joined

Dream Quest Images Dream Quest Images, later known as The Secret Lab, was an American visual effects company, co-founded in 1979 by Hoyt Yeatman, Scott Squires, Ohio native Rocco Gioffre, Fred Iguchi, Tom Hollister and Bob Hollister. History After early piecemeal ...

. During his tenure he was responsible for the production of all VFX at the facility, overseeing more than thirty feature films, theme park attractions and animation projects, including '' Reign of Fire'', ''

102 Dalmatians ''102 Dalmatians'' is a 2000 American crime comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Directed by Kevin Lima from a screenplay by Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Bob Tzudiker and N ...

'', ''

Mission to Mars ''Mission to Mars'' is a 2000 American science fiction adventure film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Jim and John Thomas, and Graham Yost, and suggested by Disney's theme park attraction of the same name. The film depicts the first ...

'', ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...

'', Oscar-nominated '' Mighty Joe Young'', ''

Unbreakable Unbreakable may refer to: Books * ''Unbreakable'' (book), the 2017 autobiography of Australian tennis player Jelena Dokic * '' Unbreakable: My Story, My Way'', the 2013 autobiography of singer Jenni Rivera Film and television * ''Unbreakable' ...

'', ''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient ( Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released ...

'' and ''

Bicentennial Man "The Bicentennial Man" is a novelette in the ''Robot'' series by American writer Isaac Asimov. According to the foreword in ''Robot Visions'', Asimov was approached to write a story, along with a number of other authors who would do the same, ...

''. In 2002, Wright became visual effects producer for the final two chapters in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' film trilogy. In undertaking this challenge, he teamed with Oscar-winning VFX supervisor

Jim Rygiel Jim Rygiel (born February 17, 1955) is an American visual effects supervisor. He has worked on major feature films since 1984, including ''The Lord of the Rings'' movie trilogy (for which he won three consecutive Academy Awards for Best Visual ...

. In 2003 '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' was recognized with eight

Visual Effects Society The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and p ...

awards, as well as both the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

and the Academy Award for Visual Effects. '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' won in all of the eleven

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Director, and Visual Effects. Wright picked up the top

award for his work on the project. Wright was the visual effects supervisor for

Andrew Adamson Andrew Ralph Adamson (born 1 December 1966) is a New Zealand film director, producer, screenwriter and animator. He is best known for directing the DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks animated film ''Shrek'' (2001), which is based on the Shrek!, ...

's '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', and was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and VES Award for Best Visual Effects for 2005. He was also the Visual Effects Supervisor for the Narnia follow up, ''

Prince Caspian ''Prince Caspian'' (originally published as ''Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia'') is a high fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis and published by Geoffrey Bles in 1951. It was the second published of seven novels in ''The C ...

''. In 2008, Wright began preparing for his directorial debut on the big budget VFX bible epic, ''Kingdom Come'', but when the film's start of production was delayed, Wright was hired to rewrite and direct what was to become the largest ever Mexican produced feature film, ''Cristiada'' (also titled ''For Greater Glory''), starring Andy Garcia, Peter O'Toole and Eva Longoria. The film was released June 1, 2012 by 20th Century Fox. Wright would join MGM as a visual effects executive for film and television. He would oversee projects such as ''

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

'', '' Fargo'' and ''

No Time to Die ''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy thriller film and the twenty-fifth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series, and the fifth and final to star Daniel Craig as fictional British MI6 agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bon ...

''.

Select filmography

* '' Cristiada'' (2012) .... Director, Writer * '' The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'' (2008) .... Visual Effects Supervisor * '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (2005) .... Visual Effects Supervisor * '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003) .... Visual Effects Producer * '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' (2002) .... Visual Effects Producer * '' Reign of Fire'' (2002) .... Visual Effects Executive Producer * ''

'' (2000) .... Visual Effects Executive Producer * '' Gone in 60 Seconds'' (2000) .... Visual Effects Executive Producer * ''

'' (1999) .... Visual Effects Executive Producer * '' What Dreams May Come'' (1998) .... Visual Effects Producer * ''

'' (1997) .... Visual Effects Production Manager

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Dean Living people University of Arizona alumni 1962 births Visual effects supervisors Film directors from Michigan