Richard Taylor

Weta, named after an insect that is found primarily in New Zealand, was established by Richard and his partner Tania Rodger 16 years ago. They had been active in the business for a number of years, but it was their work on the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy that did more than just put the spotlight on them. It also earned them an Oscar.

IGN FilmForce spent some time on the sets of Narnia towards the end of 2004. Besides touring the sets, meeting members of the cast and crew and even hanging with some wolves, FilmForce was taken on a very extensive tour of the WETA studios led by Taylor himself.

ComingSoon.net has spoken with the people behind the effects in Narnia, the crack team of Richard Taylor and Dean Wright of Weta FX (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) working with make-up effects specialist Howard Berger of KNB FX. Essentially, the three men supervised a huge crew of people to combine make-up and practical on-set effects with groundbreaking computer-generated digital effects.

Richard Taylor, who supervised the designs of armor and weapons for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming film adaptation of Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, said that although both stories were adapted from British novels of the same period, the styles of the films have significant differences.

The panel featured Howard Berger (the B of KNB EFX), Dean Wright (visual effects designer), Richard Taylor and Ben Wootten (Weta peeps) live and in person and later featured director Andrew Adamson and all four of the kids from the movie via satellite. They were in London doing ADR (Addition Dialog Recording) for the film, but took the time to sit in on the panel discussion.

The amazing array of movie presentations at Comic-Con International in San Diego wrapped-up with some very special surprises and announcements during the panel for Walt Disney Pictures’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, based on the series of books from C.S. Lewis. Those who decided to skip out on the convention after Saturday’s full day certainly missed out on a great preview of what to expect from the film.

Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media present The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe— Journey through the wardrobe and into the extraordinary world of Narnia for a revealing look at Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media’s spectacular new film based on the C. S. Lewis classic.

This fall, Walt Disney Pictures will bring to the large screen The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the classic novel series by C.S. Lewis. Hasbro unveils its toy line based on the film at the American International Toy Fair in New York in February.