Pete Kozachik, the Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor behind “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Corpse Bride,” “James and the Giant Peach” and others, has died. He was 72 years old.
Kvoa News Tucson first reported the news, commemorating Kozachik and sending condolences to his family, including brother Steve, the Arizona city’s councilman and vice mayor. Pete died Sept. 12 after suffering complications due to aphasia and primary progressive aphasia.
Kozachik received an Oscar nomination for his work on Tim Burton’s stop-motion holiday classic, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Besides the Henry Selick-directed 1993 animated film that combines Halloween and Christmas, he also worked on films like “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “The Matrix.”
“Dreamscape” (1984) starring Dennis Quaid launched the visual artist’s film career. He worked as visual effects camera operator on “Howard the Duck” (1986), and he went on to contribute to “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” “Innerspace,” “Willow,” “Ghostbusters II,...
Kvoa News Tucson first reported the news, commemorating Kozachik and sending condolences to his family, including brother Steve, the Arizona city’s councilman and vice mayor. Pete died Sept. 12 after suffering complications due to aphasia and primary progressive aphasia.
Kozachik received an Oscar nomination for his work on Tim Burton’s stop-motion holiday classic, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Besides the Henry Selick-directed 1993 animated film that combines Halloween and Christmas, he also worked on films like “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “The Matrix.”
“Dreamscape” (1984) starring Dennis Quaid launched the visual artist’s film career. He worked as visual effects camera operator on “Howard the Duck” (1986), and he went on to contribute to “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” “Innerspace,” “Willow,” “Ghostbusters II,...
- 9/18/2023
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Pete Kozachik, a visual effects and stop-motion artist whose work on acclaimed animated films by Tim Burton, Henry Selick and others brought recognition and an Oscar nomination, died Sept. 12 at his California home in the Bay Area following a years-long battle with aphasia and primary progressive aphasia. He was 72.
His death was first announced on Tucson’s NBC affiliate station Kvoa. Kozachik attended high school and college in Tucson, and his brother Steve Kozachik is vice mayor of the city.
While best known for his Oscar-nominated work on 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Selick and produced by Burton, Kozachik launched his career in 1984 on the sci-fi film Dreamscape starring Dennis Quad. In ’86 he was the visual effects camera operator on the notorious Howard the Duck, going on to build a solid roster of credits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,...
His death was first announced on Tucson’s NBC affiliate station Kvoa. Kozachik attended high school and college in Tucson, and his brother Steve Kozachik is vice mayor of the city.
While best known for his Oscar-nominated work on 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Selick and produced by Burton, Kozachik launched his career in 1984 on the sci-fi film Dreamscape starring Dennis Quad. In ’86 he was the visual effects camera operator on the notorious Howard the Duck, going on to build a solid roster of credits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,...
- 9/18/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Pete Kozachik, the Oscar-nominated visual effects artist who contributed his stop-motion expertise to such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Corpse Bride and Coraline, has died. He was 72.
Kozachik died peacefully Tuesday in hospice care in his Northern California home of complications from primary progressive aphasia, a rare form of Alzheimer’s, his wife, Katy Moore-Kozachik, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kozachik also operated a stop-motion camera on Ghostbusters II (1989) and served as director of miniature photography on Starship Troopers (1997) and as a visual effects cameraman on Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (2002).
At Industrial Light & Magic, he worked on films including Howard the Duck (1986), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Innerspace (1987) and Willow (1988) before rejoining frequent collaborator Phil Tippett on the RoboCop sequels released in 1990 and ’93.
For director Henry Selick, Kozachik was director of photography on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach...
Kozachik died peacefully Tuesday in hospice care in his Northern California home of complications from primary progressive aphasia, a rare form of Alzheimer’s, his wife, Katy Moore-Kozachik, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kozachik also operated a stop-motion camera on Ghostbusters II (1989) and served as director of miniature photography on Starship Troopers (1997) and as a visual effects cameraman on Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (2002).
At Industrial Light & Magic, he worked on films including Howard the Duck (1986), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Innerspace (1987) and Willow (1988) before rejoining frequent collaborator Phil Tippett on the RoboCop sequels released in 1990 and ’93.
For director Henry Selick, Kozachik was director of photography on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach...
- 9/18/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Here lies… The Pumpkin King of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the visual effects that made him dance.
The work of Pete Kozachik, Eric Leighton, Ariel Valesco-Shaw and Gordon Baker holds a unique place in the history of the Academy’s visual effects category. As the first – and as of 2012, the last – soley animated film to receive a nomination in this category, it earned the visual effects branch’s respect like none before or since. Oh sure, Mary Poppins and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? won the category in their respective years, but those trophies came predominantly for the way they integrated animation with live action. The Nightmare Before Christmas, however, earned its nomination for the way Henry Selick’s stop-motion universe came to life thanks to innovative camera techniques.
While many may think this film’s idea of “visual effects” lays exclusively at the floating ghosts and shape-shifting shadows that...
The work of Pete Kozachik, Eric Leighton, Ariel Valesco-Shaw and Gordon Baker holds a unique place in the history of the Academy’s visual effects category. As the first – and as of 2012, the last – soley animated film to receive a nomination in this category, it earned the visual effects branch’s respect like none before or since. Oh sure, Mary Poppins and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? won the category in their respective years, but those trophies came predominantly for the way they integrated animation with live action. The Nightmare Before Christmas, however, earned its nomination for the way Henry Selick’s stop-motion universe came to life thanks to innovative camera techniques.
While many may think this film’s idea of “visual effects” lays exclusively at the floating ghosts and shape-shifting shadows that...
- 10/29/2012
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
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