August 15, 2006

VES AWARDS SET FOR FEBRUARY

Visual effects veteran Dennis Muren will be the recipient of the VES Award for Lifetime Achievement. Muren, who follows George Lucas and Bob Zemeckis as the VES's third honoree for Lifetime Achievement, began his career in 1975 on the first Star Wars movie. He continued with Industrial Light and Magic when it moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area and over the next 30 years became the most honored visual effects artist in history, winning eight Academy Awards for best achievement in visual effects and a ninth Oscar for technical achievement.  

His Oscar-winning credits include The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Innerspace, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. He also earned Oscar nominations for Dragonslayer, Young Sherlock Holmes, Willow, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and most recently, War of the Worlds. In 1999, Muren became the first visual effects artist to be honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.