Sir Richard Leslie Taylor (born 8 February 1965) is the founder,

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

and head of New Zealand film

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

and

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wo ...

company

Wētā Workshop Wētā Workshop is a special effects and prop company based in Miramar, Wellington, in New Zealand, that produces effects for television and film. The company is the mascot named after the New Zealand wētā, one of the world's largest insect ...

Early life

Taylor was born in Cheadle,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

, England, on 8 February 1965, and emigrated as a child to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, where his family lived at Te Hihi, and later the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

suburb of Patumahoe. He was naturalised as a New Zealand citizen in 1974. Taylor studied at Wesley College, Paerata, and then became a graduate of the former

Wellington Polytechnic Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural o ...

Career

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

, Taylor and his company created all of the

props A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

, costumes, prosthetics, miniatures and weaponry for Jackson's epic ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy. For his work on the three films, he shared in winning four

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. This included two for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' in

Make Up Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

and

Visual Effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

, and two for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' in

Costume Design Costume design is the creation of clothing for the overall appearance of a character or performer. Costume may refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a class, or a period. In many cases, it may contribute to the fullness of the arti ...

and Make Up. He was nominated for Costume Design for ''The Fellowship of the Ring''. Taylor can be seen and heard on all of ''The Lord of the Rings'' DVDs, in behind-the-scenes documentaries and on the audio commentaries on the extended edition DVDs. He also appeared on set to give direction to actors and stunt personnel in several fight scenes. Both Richard Taylor and Wētā Workshop appear in the documentary film ''

Reclaiming the Blade ''Reclaiming the Blade'' is a 2009 documentary written and directed by Daniel McNicoll and produced by Galatia Films on the topic of swords. ''Reclaiming the Blade'' was a number one movie rental on iTunes. The feature-length film was distribute ...

'', where they discussed the creative and technical process of how movie props (specifically swords) are created at Wētā Workshop. Swords created by Wētā for films such as ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'' and ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been Adaptations of The Chron ...

'' are featured in the film as well. In the

2004 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2004 were appointments by some of the Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

, Taylor was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have re ...

, for services to design and the film industry. In the

2010 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

, Taylor was promoted to

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to film. Wētā Workshop has also worked on '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''. Richard Taylor and his crew designed and built all the armor, weapons and special props for the film. The company were also heavily involved in the making of Peter Jackson's interpretation of ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' for which he won his fifth Academy Award, in Visual Effects. In April 2009, Richard Taylor won the supreme award at the World Class New Zealand Awards. The awards honour

's tall poppies who are successful on an international level. In February 2012 Taylor was named New Zealander of the year, beating finalists World of Wearable Art founder

Suzie Moncrieff Dame Suzie Moncrieff (born Suzanne Elizabeth Dick, ) is a New Zealand sculptor and arts entrepreneur, and the founder of the World of Wearable Art show (WOW). Early life Moncrieff was born in 1948 or 1949, at Hope, near Nelson, New Zealand, ...

and Auckland plastic surgeon Sharad P. Paul, nominated for his work on

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

. As of 2014, Taylor is involved in

Magic Leap Magic Leap, Inc. is an American technology company that released a head-mounted virtual retinal display, called ''Magic Leap One'', which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects, by "projecting a digital light field ...

, a startup company reported to be working on projects relating to

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

and

computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the human ...

that has received over $500 million of venture funding.

Awards and nominations

* Nominated: Best Costume Design, '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001) * Won: Best Makeup, ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001) * Won: Best Visual Effects, ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' (2001) * Won: Best Makeup, '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003) * Won: Best Costume Design, ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' (2003) * Won: Best Visual Effects, ''

'' (2005)

References

External links

*
Richard Taylor's profile page
on the homepage of Weta Workshop {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Richard 1965 births Living people Best Costume Design Academy Award winners Best Costume Design BAFTA Award winners Best Makeup Academy Award winners Best Makeup BAFTA Award winners Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Best Visual Effects BAFTA Award winners Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand film producers New Zealand make-up artists Special effects people People from Cheadle, Greater Manchester