Erik Winquist

His most recent achievement was supervising the visual effects on Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which earned him nominations for an Academy Award® and a BAFTA.

Erik came to Wellington in 2002 as a compositor on The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. That six-month period made a lasting impression and this year he celebrates 20 years at Wētā FX. His first supervisory roles at the studio were on I, Robot and Peter Jackson’s King Kong, where he supervised the jungle sequences, nominated for a VES Award for Compositing in 2005.

Erik has an enduring interest in developing on-set technologies for visual effects. He has been closely involved with the integration of Wētā FX’s cutting-edge performance capture technology into the production workflow, bringing digital performances into physical sets. More recently, he led an internal research project in the form of a short film called Lancaster, which experimented with the potential of LED virtual production workflows in a dynamic, fast-paced scene.  

Erik’s film credits include Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Avatar, Rampage, and the Planet of the Apes franchise. 

His contribution to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was recognised with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and a BAFTA nomination for Best Special Visual Effects.