Special Effects Veteran Prepares To Compete Against Himself Twice-Over At Oscars

One man is preparing for a “quite unbelievable” Oscars night, having found himself nominated three times this year in the same category.

Special effects supervisor Neil Corbould is up against himself twice over, after being recognised in the category for his work on three movies – Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, The Creator and Napoleon.

Corbould has two previous Oscars to his name – for Gladiator and Gravity. He told the BBC that this year’s close-to-hand competition could be “the kiss of death,” and said:

“I might have three seats and have to play musical chairs!” The best part? “I get invited to three different after parties.”

Corbould has been working in the film industry for nearly five decades, having followed his uncle into special effects. Colin Chilvers previously won an Oscar himself, for his work on the 1978 movie Superman. He also worked on The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Condorman (1981) and X-Men (2000), as well as directing the ‘Smooth Criminal’ segment from Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.

Neil told the BBC his first visit with his uncle to the set of the movie starring Christopher Reeve was what inspired his career:

“I was a big Superman fan as a youngster and I kept bugging him to take me into work with him, which he did eventually. The first set I saw was the Fortress of Solitude set, with Christopher Reeves flying down the middle of the stage with all the smoke and the dry ice. From that day on, I thought, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

The movies up against Corbould in this year’s Special Effects category are Godzilla Minus One and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Full category details below:

THE CREATOR

Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

GODZILLA MINUS ONE

Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3

Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould

NAPOLEON

Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould