January 27, 2004

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences honored the dedicated and highly skilled artists at Lucas Digital with three Oscar nominations.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound will be well represented at the 76th Annual Academy Awards, scoring major nominations for their work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Nemo and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Sound & Sound Editing

Whether recreating pivotal and tragic events in literature, or imaging a whimsical, imaginary world, Skywalker Sound brings a vibrant reality to moving pictures through their leading edge sound editing.

Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers have been recognized for their sound editing contributions to Finding Nemo. Rydstrom is an 13-time nominee, having also garnered a nomination for his work on The Phantom Menace. And this is the second Academy Award nomination for Michael Silvers, who was previously nominated for Monsters, Inc..

Skywalker Sound's Christopher Boyes, alongside George Watters II, were also nominated in this category for their work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. In addition to Best Sound Editing, Boyes is also nominated in the Best Sound category for his work on Pirates alongside David Parker, David Campbell and Lee Orloff.

This is the seventh Academy Award nomination for Christopher Boyes. He was previously nominated for such films as The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Pearl Harbor and Titanic.

Visual Effects

At Industrial Light & Magic, Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll and Animation Director Hal Hickel have received nominations for Best Visual Effects for their work on Pirates of the Caribbean. This is the third Academy Award nomination for John Knoll. He was previously nominated for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Also nominated alongside the ILMers are Charles Gibson and Terry Frazee.

Also nominated from ILM is Stefen Fangmeier who is recognized for his work as visual effects supervisor on Master and Commander. This is the third Academy Award nomination for Stefen Fangmeier. He was previously nominated for Twister and The Perfect Storm. Nominated alongside Fangmeier are Daniel Sudick, Nathan McGuinness and Robert Stromberg.

A Star Wars: Episode III connection is present in the Best Actress category as Keisha Castle-Hughes, who plays the Queen of Naboo in Episode III, received a surprise nomination for Best Actress for her work in the acclaimed Whale Rider.

The 76th Annual Academy Awards airs at 5:00 p.m. Pacific, Feb. 29, on ABC.

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