ByGeorge!

March/April 2008

GW Alumnus Wins Oscar for Visual Effects


Bill Westenhofer, M.S. ’95, visual effects supervisor for Rhythm & Hues Studios, poses with his Oscar.

By Julia Parmley

On Feb. 24, Bill Westenhofer’s “wildest dreams” came true when he was honored with an Oscar for achievement in visual effects for his work on The Golden Compass at the 80th annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

When he learned he won, Westenhofer says he was so stunned he could “barely hear a thing.” “It’s still a bit of a blur,” says Westenhofer, who earned an M.S. from GW’s School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1995. “I have to look at the Oscar on my mantel and pinch myself.”

To earn his Oscar, Westerhofer, visual effects supervisor for Rhythm & Hues Studios, led a crew of 500 on two continents for more than 18 months and produced approximately 400 shots for the movie, which starred Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Dakota Blue Richards.

Westenhofer was previously nominated by the Academy in the same category for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also won an Orange Academy Film Award for special visual effects for The Golden Compass at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London on Feb. 10, and the movie is one of the Visual Effects Society’s nominees for best visual effects.

Westenhofer’s interest in graphics and visual effects began during his graduate education at GW’s Institute for Computer Graphics with James Hahn, chair of the Department of Computer Science. In 1994, Westenhofer joined Rhythm & Hues Studio in a technical director position and found himself in Los Angeles working on his first assignment: a Rice Krispies commercial. His first movie was 1998’s Babe: Pig in the City and soon Westenhofer’s work took him around the world to countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and England.

Westenhofer says he was star struck at the Academy ceremony, and was congratulated by a number of celebrities and invited to Elton John’s annual Oscar party.

Currently in Los Angeles shooting a movie with Will Ferrell at Universal Studios, Westenhofer says he enjoys the process of creating characters and scenes in movies. “You get the feeling that you are playing all day,” he says. “When you make a creature dance on screen that you’ve created out of nothing, it’s amazing to see. But never in my dreams did I imagine I’d win an Oscar.”




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