From Ballyfermot to Middle Earth and Pandora: The career of two-time Oscar winner Richard Baneham
Richard Baneham is congratulated after winning the Best Visual Effects award for Avatar: The Way of Water during the 95th Annual Academy Awards. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
At Sunday night's 95th Academy Awards, Dubliner Richard Baneham â together with Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett â secured his second Oscar for Best Visual Effects for his work on .
During his 30-plus year career, Richard Baneham has worked on some of the highest-grossing and most visually groundbreaking films of all time.
Here's everything you need to know about Ireland's latest Academy Award winner.
Originally from Tallaght, Baneham attended secondary school in Old Bawn Community School before going on to study animation at Ballyfermot College of Further Education from 1990 to 1994.
In the 1990s, he relocated to Los Angeles with his girlfriend (now wife) Aisling, halfway through his final year of study.
Soon after setting himself up in the City of Angels, he was hired as a clean-up artist on the Swan Lake-inspired animated film .
From there, he never looked back.
ââI was in the right place at the right time," Baneham told the in 2010.
ââThe industry had just seen the advent of , and things were beginning to happen in animation."
Following the release of , Baneham was hired to work on , the debut film of Simpsons alum Brad Bird.
It would be Baneham's first experience working in 3D animation, otherwise known as computer-generated imaging (CGI).
Though its box office numbers were modest, its following has grown in the years since since, and it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest animated feature films ever made.
âIt sort of begins with â we had a moment where the hand breaks away and becomes its own character," Baneham recently told the
Another major career milestone came in 2002, when he was hired as an animator of Peter Jackson's  trilogy.
Jackson, a fan of , hired Baneham as an animation supervisor on both and . For the job, he relocated to New Zealand for two years and supervised a team of 50 or so animators.
Peter Jackson's trilogy would also break new ground as regards visual effects.
Baneham and his colleagues constructed the character of Gollum around the motion capture and voice work of British actor Andy Serkis â something that had never been done before.
In doing so, they, according to  magazine, "changed the course of special effects on film forever".
For their work on the trilogy, Baneham and his colleagues garnered numerous accolades.Â
Up until this year and the release of , was the single most-awarded film ever made. It won 11 Oscars â winning in every category it was nominated.Â
James Cameron, director of blockbuster films and , wrote a first draft of what would become the first in 1995.Â
At that point, CGI on film was in its infancy. Cameron, believing existing visual effects techniques needed time to catch up to his vision for the film, shelved the project.
A decade later, in a post- world, he returned to the idea of Pandora.
Cameron greatly admired what Jackson, Baneham and co had done in bringing Middle Earth to the screen, and so he got in contact with Baneham. During their first meeting, the pair discussed ideas for how Cameron could bring his vision to life.
Cameron then hired Baneham as animation supervisor for the film, which was ultimately released in 2009.
, like the before it, would go on to usher in a new era of visual effects on film.
During its production, Baneham and his colleagues helped craft animated characters using an image-based facial performance capture system which could accurately record even the smallest nuances of the actorsâ facial performances.
The film wowed audiences and critics alike, and it is now the highest-grossing film ever made.
For their work on , Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum Andrew R Jones and Richard Baneham received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 82nd Academy Awards in March 2010.
In an interview on the in 2017, Richard Baneham confirmed he had signed up to work on all four of James Cameron's planned sequels, the first of which, , was released in December 2022.
Though the film was slightly less well received critically as its predecessor, its visual effects have received universal acclaim.
While he has been part of several films which have propelled visual effects forward, for Baneham, story, character and acting remain the keys to successful filmmaking.
âIt is only about whether or not the tool or the medium services the story, services the performance, services the connection with your audience,â he recently told the
He said was not sold solely through visuals, but through performance.
"We were blessed with an amazing cast, who are incredibly collaborative. Technology that empowers the art is bringing it to life through artistic choice.âÂ
During his acceptance speech at Sunday's Oscars, Baneham thanked James Cameron, as Gaeilge.
âGo raibh mĂle maith agat to James Cameron whose artistic thumbprint is on every frame of this movie," he said.
âWe accept these awards on behalf of a very large crew. The effects stand on the shoulders of our actors, their performances are everything.âÂ
After Baneham received his award, Arts and Culture Minister Catherine Martin was among the first to offer congratulations.
She called Baneham "a leader in his field" and "an inspiration to so many Irish young people, particularly all at Ballyfermot College of Further Education.â
Richard Baneham's team have won the Oscar for #AvatarTheWayOfWater !
— Catherine Martin (@cathmartingreen) March 13, 2023
Delighted for Richard & his entire family
He is a leader in his field, constantly breaking new ground in film-making.
An inspiration to so many Irish young people particularly all @BCFE_Official #Oscars pic.twitter.com/KAl8BK2g4Z
The institution itself tweeted it was âabsolutely over the moon for our grad Richie Baneham winning his second Oscarâ.
Absolutely over the moon for our grad Richie Baneham winning his second #oscar #soproud pic.twitter.com/gSqrKiWxFb
— Ballyfermot College (@BCFE_Official) March 13, 2023
