Lucasfilm Officially Opens New ILM Building In London

The doors were open yesterday on Industrial Light & Magic's new department in London.  They also revealed the new senior team to head the department.  They marked the opening with an opening ceremony.  Present were UK Chancellor George Osborne; Ed Vaizey, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy; Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy; ILM president and general manager Lynwen Brennan; ILM chief creative officer John Knoll; ILM London’s director of operations, Sue Lyster; creative director Ben Morris; and animation director Michael Eames.

The London studio is currently working on the highly anticipated sequels Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars: Episode VII and will also service the UK market directly.
Brennan praised London for its “fantastic visual effects industry and rich talent pool made”, which made it “an ideal location to expand our global footprint”.

The studio’s most recent addition is art director and concept artist Kevin Jenkins.
Ben Morris, who will head ILM London, joins from London-based Framestore where he served as a visual effects supervisor on projects such as War Horse, Lincoln, The Golden Compass and Gravity. 

Earlier in his career, Morris worked at both MillFilm and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop contributing to Gladiator and Babe. 

“Being given the opportunity to build a world class VFX studio in London and cut its teeth on a film series like Star Wars is a dream come true,” said Morris.

 Speaking at the opening ceremony, Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilms and a producer on Star Wars VII, said it was “quite remarkable standing here within three weeks of finishing filming on Star Wars episode VII”. She continued: “This studio continues a long tradition of Stars Wars films being made in London, it goes back to 1976. I think Stars Wars aspires to technical excellence and that’s what brings ILM to London today as this explosion of creativity inside the UK has been quite remarkable.”

Read more at http://www.screendaily.com/news/lucasfilms-ilm-opens-in-london/5078666.article# 

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