The Edge - The Birth of Weta

This excerpt from arts show The Edge looks at the early days of Weta, the Wellington effects company which would win Oscars for King Kong and Avatar. Dressed in a Tintin T-shirt, Peter Jackson talks about the effects being crafted for Heavenly Creatures, and forecasts a future where filmmaking will go digital. Richard Taylor — later head of Weta Workshop — crafts a sea creature for another project; George Port guides viewers through the basics of digital effects. At this point Port was Weta's only digital effects expert. He worked on Heavenly Creatures for seven months straight.

I really like the Kiwi ingenuity. I mean we’re in a small building, in a tiny room, and we’ve got all this gear. We bought it and didn’t have a clue really how it worked. We've figured it out ourselves, and learnt a lot from it. We’re kind of doing it. They [Hollywood] can do it, so we can do it. It’s a real Kiwi attitude I think, which is kind of fun.

– Peter Jackson on taking on Hollywood from Tasman Street in Wellington

Key Cast & Crew

Richard Taylor

Subject

George Port

Subject

Peter Jackson

Subject

Costa Botes

Director

Mary McCallum

Presenter