“For the most part, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you know? I don't think much happens to people unless you're Meryl Streep.'' - Brian Letson
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Brian Letson will be seen walking the Oscars red carpet with James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and some of Hollywood's biggest stars on Sunday night.
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The 40-year-old actor will sit down at Vancouver's Dolby Theater to hear his name among the nominees for best visual effects. The famous presenter will wait until she opens the red envelope to find out if her work on Tom Cruise's blockbuster " Top Gun: Maverick" will earn her an Oscar.
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"It's exciting," Letson told Postmedia News on Saturday, minutes before his flight from Vancouver International Airport to Los Angeles.
“For the most part, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you know? I don't think much happens to people unless you're Meryl Streep.''
When he first learned that he and fellow VFX artists Ryan Tudub, Seth Hale and Scott R. Fisher had been nominated, Letson was surprised.
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Litson, a Canadian citizen who has lived in Vancouver for 14 years, is originally from South Africa.
"So the idea that someone from South Africa could be part of the Oscars, yeah, that's cool."
Litson's parents and extended family would come from a town outside Cape Town called Somerset West.
"Probably the best thing about the Oscars is knowing that everyone is excited about the whole show," he said.
Litson's date will be his partner of three years, Miawen Leborgh, and he will wear a watch his mother gave him.
Of all the celebrities he will be dealing with, Letson said he would like to meet Brendan Fraser, who is nominated for best actor for his role in The Whale.
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"That's one of the reasons I really got into visual effects because he did the original Mummy," said Litson, who worked on the visual effects for the Cruise-starrer The Mummy reboot.
The goal of the visual effects team for Top Gun: Maverick was to make the dogfight scenes so realistic that you couldn't tell what was real and what was CGI.
Litson was inspired by the visual effects work on the original Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg in 1993.
“They had a mix of puppetry and visual effects. The combination of the two produced excellent results. Similarly, Top Gun had a mix of live action as well as visual effects that could create a more realistic effect. a lot of what we did incorporated elements from real life.
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Letson remembers the moment he decided his future was in visual effects. Twenty years ago I lived in South Africa and worked in architectural rendering. He remembers watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and being blown away by the visuals.
"I decided that's what I wanted to do. So I quit my job on Monday."
He started serving food and coffee to people working on movie sets until he ventured into the visual effects industry.
Letson arrived in Vancouver just as the industry was declining.
"It was something I really appreciated being a part of growing up," he said.
The city's position as the world center of visual effects is now firmly established.
“If you want great footage, come to Vancouver,” he said.
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Litson was nominated to work at the Moving Picture Company Ltd. , but is now head of visual effects at Framestore Ltd. , an international studio with offices in Vancouver.
Letson and his team were also nominated at the British Academy Film Awards in London last month. They lost to the visual effects team of Avatar: The Way Of Water .
"Whether you win or lose, experience is what you take with you," he said. "I can't wait to see if we actually win on Sunday."
kderosa@postmedia.com
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