His name is unknown to the general public. At only 39, this Frenchman can claim to have already won two Oscars. Sunday evening, Guillaume Rocheron pocketed the trophy for the best visual effects for 1917 , the film shot in true and false sequence shot of Sam Mendes.
Competition was tough for this Parisian by birth. Avengers: Endgame , The Lion King and Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker and The Irishman were in the same category. Just that.
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" 1917 is a great project that offers an opportunity to rethink our relationship to special effects," said Guillaume Rocheron in perfect English when he received the trophy, which he shared with his colleagues Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy.
#Oscars Moment: Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler, and Dominic Tuohy accept the Oscar for Best Visual Effects for @ 1917. pic.twitter.com/gb9rKXllox
- The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 10, 2020Born in 1981 in Paris, Guillaume Rocheron began his career in 2000 at BUF Compagnie, a French special effects company specializing in image synthesis. Since 2005, he has worked for the highly regarded Moving Picture Company.
20 years of career
In almost twenty years of career, the French has collaborated in many American blockbusters among which Fast and Furious 5 , The Odyssey of Pi , The Dream Life of Walter Mitty , the first two parts of Godzilla or more recently Ghost In The Shell .
Guillaume Rocheron's contribution to these action films had already been recognized by the American Academy of Cinema. In 2013, he won the Oscar for best special effects for Ang Lee's Pi Odyssey . This film had also earned him the BAFTA Award in the same category.
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" By pushing the limits of visual effects technology, the film soon turns into a magnificent sensory experience, which sometimes makes you dizzy, " wrote Olivier Delcroix in the columns of Le Figaro .
From blockbuster to war film
With 1917 , shot in a single real-fake sequence shot, Guillaume Rocheron went from the American blockbuster to a war film with new technical requirements. “The goal was not to create explosions, but rather to find subtle ways not to repeat itself from one transition to the next. We have created cinematic effects that don't exist anywhere else, ”said the technician in an interview with American media GoldDerby.
"A film like that of Sam Mendes involves doing a multitude of magic tricks"
Guillaume Rocheron“ Our biggest challenge on this film was to be completely invisible. We had to work on the way we move the camera, so as not to betray the basic intention. A film like this involves doing a multitude of magic tricks , he continues. This bias has complicated everything, both creatively and logistically . ”
Read also: Sam Mendes: "By Hollywood criteria, 1917 is an atypical film"
The special effects supervisor participated in what was ultimately hailed as a technical masterpiece. “The film seems to be shot in one shot (the technique now allows this kind of feat). The immersion is total. In comparison, The Paths of Glory looks like a puppet show , ” wrote Éric Neuhoff in Le Figaro .
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With two other Oscars - that of the best photography for Roger Deakins and that of the best sound -, 1917 won fewer statuettes than expected. But the film saves the French from the rout: none of the tricolor nominees left the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles with a statuette.
»The trailer for 1917