MONTREAL — VFX supervisor Laurent Taillefer, who has worked on projects that include Ad Astra,
Deadpool,
Stranger Things,
The Walk and
Ghost in The Shell, recently joined creative company Rodeo FX (rodeofx.com). Originally from France, Taillefer became fascinated by the countless possibilities that VFX offered, causing him to change his initial desire to direct to a creative position where he believed the “real magic happened.”
At a time when VFX training was somewhat scarce in France, he learned the ropes from artists and industry veterans, developing his expertise as a generalist on advertising projects in Paris. After arriving in Montreal in 2006, he helped build departments and teams at several renowned studios, including Scanline, Atomic Fiction, Mokko Studios, Mikros Image, and Raynault VFX.
"I've always been attracted to technology and how it can be leveraged by teams and integrated into processes,” he explains. “It led me to constantly rethink the structures in place to optimize production. But after a while, I really wanted to get back into the creative side of things, I missed the magic."
Laurent collaborated with Robert Emmerich on the feature Moonfall, where he had the chance to go on-set to assist the director. His most recent productions include Thor: Love and Thunder, Free Guy and the HBO series His Dark Materials.
Rodeo FX just finished work on the new Netflix series The Witcher: Blood Origin and the Disney+ movie The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. The studio is currently preparing for the theatrical release of the fourth installment in the John Wick franchise.