Special effects supervisor Neil Corbould has worked with Hollywood’s elite during his nearly 50-year career in the film industry.
Neil, 61, is best known for his work on major blockbusters including Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Black Hawk Down, and won an Oscar for his efforts on the 2013 thriller Gravity.
He is now impressively nominated for three Oscars at the 2024 Academy Awards for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Napoleon and The Creator.
Neil goes head-to-head in the Visual Effects category, taking three of the five nominations, while also competing against Godzilla Minus One and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Ahead of the esteemed awards ceremony, Neil spoke exclusively to MailOnline about what it feels like to be in the running for an Academy Award and gave insight into the glitzy Hollywood affair.
Special effects supervisor Neil Corbould (pictured) has worked with Hollywood’s elite during his nearly 50-year career in the film industry
Neil (pictured on set) has now been nominated for three Oscars at the 2024 Academy Awards for his work on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Napoleon and The Creator
Commenting on his three nominations, Neil said: ‘I’m a little shocked. I’ve won a few, but I’ve never been nominated three times in the same category in one year.’
‘I feel very honored to have been nominated three times, I am quite speechless, it is all still sinking in. “I want to thank the Academy and the members for voting, it’s great,” he added.
Neil said he will be taking his wife Maria to the Oscars and shared his excitement about joining all the A-stars for the epic night.
‘Me and my wife Maria are really looking forward to it, probably won’t win, because I have three – law! But we’re going to go out and enjoy it and soak up the atmosphere,” he said.
‘It’s amazing, you’re there with all your peers and the who’s who of Hollywood! Every time I was there it was always a very surreal moment because you walk down the red carpet and there are all these people you know – because they are stars or celebrities – but you don’t know them! I’ve been lucky to win two because when you win one everyone wants to talk to you, which is great!’
Neil also gave insight into what the Academy Awards are really like behind the scenes and shared his own plans for the big night.
He said of the ceremony: ‘It looks long on TV, but the way they do it is quite slick. They bring you in, they make you sit down. My secret is to drink a few glasses of champagne to calm the nerves a bit!’
“(I’m looking forward) to soaking up the atmosphere and spending time with all the other nominees,” he continued.
Neil described working on the Mission: Impossible franchise, starring Tom Cruise (pictured), as the ‘biggest’ project he worked on as he revealed how they pulled off those terrifying stunts.
Neil also worked with Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix on the war film Napoleon and hopes to take home an Oscar for one of his three nominated epics
Neil goes head-to-head for visual effects, taking three of the five nominations, while also competing against Godzilla Minus One and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
‘There’s probably a big lunch in LA about three weeks before, which is very informal and relaxed. So I’m looking forward to it and just doing a little jet setting.
‘I’ve got to fly out for lunch, then I’ll fly back for an awards ceremony, then I’ll fly back for the Visual Effects Society awards, as I’ve got three nominations in there too for different films in different categories, and then back for the BAFTAs, so it is here, there and everywhere. Then go back to Oscar night!’
Neil also revealed how films are selected for the prestigious Academy Award nominations, revealing that he had to pitch his films to a panel after the visual effects category was reduced from around 350 films.
He explained: “The Academy voted it onto a long list, I think it started with about 350 films. The visual effects department then tunes it to 20 and then to 10.
“Then in LA they have something called the bake off, which happened a little over a week ago, where you get the ten films and each film goes on stage and explains what we did with each film, and you sell them as the true. yourself.
“Then the visual effects community votes on the five films. I flew to LA last week and played musical chairs, jumping up and down because I got up three times, which was pretty funny.
“We were all in our own movies, and because I was in three movies, there was a chair for me in every movie, so I basically had to jump between the three!”
Neil memorably won an Oscar for his groundbreaking visual effects work on the 2013 sci-fi film Gravity, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, and hopes to take home another gong at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Neil said he will be taking his wife Maria (both pictured in November) to the Oscars, and raved about how they are looking forward to interacting with the stars on the epic evening.
He shared his hope that one of his nominated films will win an Oscar as he toppled all three blockbusters (Neil is pictured working on set)
He shared his hope that one of his nominated films wins an Oscar as he toppled all three blockbusters, but admitted it’s always nerve-wracking going on stage to accept an award.
Speaking about his performance on stage in front of an audience full of Hollywood stars, he said: “I have to say my brain is going a little numb. There’s so much talent in the audience that I kind of gloss over it.
‘Then I suddenly walk off stage and think: what just happened?’
“I’ve been on the other side of not winning very well, and that’s not much fun, I’m a bit of a sore loser,” he added jokingly.