‘Tenet’ Becomes Third VFX Oscar Winner From Christopher Nolan’s Oeuvre

The visual effects wizards on Christopher Nolan’s thriller Tenet, led by the team at the director’s go-to VFX house, DNEG, received the VFX Oscar on Sunday. It’s the third VFX Oscar to be awarded to a Nolan-helmed movie.

It’s also the third Academy Award for DNEG VFX supervisor Andrew Lockley, who previously won Oscars for Nolan’s Interstellar and Inception; and the second Academy Award for special-effects supervisor Scott Fisher, who previously won for Interstellar.

It was the first Oscar for production VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson of DNEG, who had one previous nomination, for Mad Max: Fury Road, and had also supervised the effects on Nolan’s Dunkirk. It was the first Oscar nomination and first win for digital effects supervisor David Lee.

In addition to serving as the lead VFX house on Tenet, Interstellar and Inception, DNEG (a London-headquartered VFX company that also maintains bases in Canada, India and the U.S.) was the lead facility on VFX Oscar winner First Man and contributed to the Academy Award-winning VFX work on Blade Runner 2049 and Ex Machina.

As Nolan believes in doing as much as possible in-camera, Warner Bros.’ Tenet relied heavily on in-camera practical effects and techniques, which were combined with digital work.

“This award is for all the talented people who contributed to the effects in this film and that includes people not just from VFX and SFX, but also from stunts and the art department,” said Jackson in a statement to THR. “I’d like to say a special thank you to all the teams who made the transition to working from home so easy and who continued to deliver such outstanding work on this remarkable film.”

Added Lockley in a statement to THR: “On this film more than most it has truly been a collaboration between many departments — special effects, visual effects and stunts — that have enabled us to pull off some genuinely unique movie moments. Thanks to everyone involved in making this possible and to Chris and Emma [Thomas] for giving us the opportunity to be involved in another of their adventures!”