Tuesday February 26, 2013
Locals drive 'Life of Pi' to Oscar victory
By TASHNY SUKUMARAN
tashny@thestar.com.my
On song: Rhythm & Hues employees celebrating at their Cyberjaya office after ‘Life of Pi’ scooped four Oscars during the live telecast yesterday. PETALING JAYA: A group of Malay-sians can bask in Oscar glory with the movie Life of Pi clinching the golden statuette for best visual effects.
The team at Rhythm & Hues KL that worked primarily on the ocean and the tiger Richard Parker in the movie directed by Ang Lee cheered, screamed and cried when they discovered their work had helped win an Academy Award.
“We were watching the live telecast,” said KL branch senior manager Hasnul Hadi Samsudin. “When they announced Life Of Pi as the winner for visual effects, we were ecstatic.”
The award was presented during the ceremony to Guillaume Roche-ron, Bill Westenhofer, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott.
But being part of the Academy Award-winning blockbuster could prove to be more than a well-deserved honour for Rhythm & Hues the win could also result in a slew of investors looking to buy over the studio and save them from folding.
Hasnul was confident the win would help attract investors and that good news concerning the company's future would be announced “sooner rather than later”.
But Hasnul considers his team winners no matter what happens.
“We've come out of this winners, we are already winners,” he said, adding that while he had always felt the studio's work on Life Of Pi was award-worthy, he had never thought it would scoop not one, but four Academy Awards.
According to Hasnul, preparing a few seconds of footage had taken weeks of work.
As the film was shot in a water tank, the team had to remove the background and the divers so they could be replaced with computer-generated seas and skies.
Emmalynn Yam, 23, who did rotoscopy and prep work for the film, could hardly believe the “surreal” turn of events.
“I consider myself extremely lucky because I never once expected to be involved in a film of such calibre.
“During the long hours, I used to joke that if it fell short of an Oscar, I'd flip tables in the studio. Needless to say, there won't be tables flipping anytime soon!”
- Probe on trainee who gave birth at PLKN camp
- American pastor’s murder: Two more Pakistan nationals charged
- William Yau inquest: Verdict later today
- Haze: Muar’s 200 schools to close temporarily from today’s afternoon session
- MCMC offers free money to small businesses, few takers
- Haze: Muar’s air quality turns hazardous; many private kindies close
- China’s Comtec to build one of world’s largest solar wafer making plants in Kuching for RM1.2bil
- Penang freak storm: Only part of Jalan Macalister is open to traffic; CM annoyed
- Hong Kong national involved in train-car accident in Kota Kinabalu dies
- Chieftains handing out dubious titles
- Titles with no standing draw renewed attention
- Nightmare over topless pictures
- Pakatan MPs to attend swearing-in
- ‘Body buried 13 storeys deep’
- Striptease queen married five times in search of true love, says author
- Asian markets in the red, KLCI down 10 points at midday
- Malaysia PC sales hit 898,000 in Q1, 2013, Lenovo top vendor
- RHB Research maintains "Neutral" on auto sector
- Kulim Malaysia offers RM812.3m for another 20% stake in NBPOL (Update)
- RHB Research maintains "Neutral" on IHH Healthcare
- Sumatec up ahead of meeting on O&G asset buy plan
- Ringgit falls to 1-yr low at 3.2010 versus US dollar
- Malaysia's KLCI falls nearly 10 points in early trade
- Malaysian equities to face selling pressure on Thursday
- Public Invest Research: TSH Resources becoming big cap plantation company
- US stocks down after Bernanke hints at slowing stimulus
- Assore - Assmang approves ferromanganese joint venture in Malaysia
- CIMB Research ups MY EG target price to RM1.74
- Malaysia-Market factors to watch on June 20(Thursday)
- Kulim to take another 20% stake in New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (Update)
- Murray poised to end Britain's 77 years of pain
- Steady as Jie goes
- Ferrer loses title after opening round loss
- Park preps for third major title bid at LPGA event
- Gavin Green confident he can take on title-holders this weekend
- Zhang switches focus on developing golf in China
- Thaworn hopes to find his ‘A’ game in Selangor Masters
- Paul Revington is glad to be back to train the Malaysian team
- Heavy task on Faizal’s shoulders
- Singapore Open: Chong Wei Feng fights to survive
- Rachel owes her rich vein of form to change in technique
- Future looks gloomy for men’s squash when Beng Hee calls it a day
- Khairy: RM8mil to be forked out for Sukma due to lack of sponsorship
- A chance for local cyclists to shine
- Rahul survives weekend of harsh hurdles in Norfolk
- Nightmare over topless pictures
- ‘Body buried 13 storeys deep’
- Striptease queen married five times in search of true love, says author
- It’s Honda Accord now for ministers
- Singapore's air turns "hazardous" as Indonesian fires rage
- Chieftains handing out dubious titles
- ‘Don’t go out to Straits of Malacca at night’
- Fake Facebook posting claims housewife is offering sex
- Titles with no standing draw renewed attention
- NS trainee gives birth in camp toilet
- Use of psychometrics assessment for employees can be controversial
- It’s Honda Accord now for ministers
- Nightmare over topless pictures
- Striptease queen married five times in search of true love, says author
- Singapore's air turns "hazardous" as Indonesian fires rage
- China’s Comtec to build one of world’s largest solar wafer making plants in Kuching for RM1.2bil
- MCMC offers free money to small businesses, few takers
- Chieftains handing out dubious titles
- ‘Body buried 13 storeys deep’
- Sumatec shareholders to vote on Kazakhstan oil and gas asset buy
RSS
