Sir Richard Leslie Taylor (born 8 February 1965) is the founder, creative director 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, distinct ...

and special effects 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 t ...

, England, on 8 February 1965, and emigrated as a child to New Zealand, where his family lived at Te Hihi, and later the Auckland 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.

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, distinct ...

, 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. 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, and two for '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' in Costume Design 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 distributed ...

'', 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'' and '' The Chronicles of Narnia'' 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, 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, Sain ...

, Taylor was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, 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'' 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 New Zealand's

tall poppies Tall Poppies Records is an Australian record label founded in September 1991 by Belinda Webster. It focuses on recording solo and chamber music in the classical genre. It is particularly dedicated to promoting the work of Australian composers. ...

who are successful on an international level. In February 2012 Taylor was named New Zealander of the year, beating finalists

World of Wearable Art World of WearableArt (WOW) is an internationally recognised design competition, attracting entries from more than 40 countries each year. The competition features wearable art entries, which are judged on durability, the safety and comfort of t ...

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. As of 2014, Taylor is involved in Magic Leap, 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 hum ...

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 This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

, ''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:

, '' King Kong'' (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