Bond's SFX wizard Chris Corbould to receive OBE

30-Dec-2013 • Bond News

Long-standing member of the 'Bond family', special effects supervisor Chris Corbould is to receive the title of Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honors List for services to film.

Since age seventeen Corbould has been involved in making on-screen magic. He served an apprenticeship with the Bond team as early as "The Spy Who Loved Me" and was hired again for the action-packed "Moonraker" - working with Derek Meddings to craft some amazing outer-space sequences in miniature.

He has become prominent beyond Bond, keeping up a high-profile active career as a special effects master away from his 007 duties. Now, Corbould is a famous face on the set of some of Hollywood's biggest and most loved franchises: James Bond, Superman, Batman and Lara Croft. This was not always the case and from time to time Corbould longs for some anonymity, explaining that he feels the audience will find his work more magical if they do not know of him and his on-set duties.

As time goes on, Corbould's miniatures grow larger and larger. Compared to the modest space scenes for "Moonraker", the Venetian house that Corbould and his team 'sink' in the 2006 film "Casino Royale" was a forty foot scale model. It was so convincing it fooled many reviews in to thinking the sequence was CGI.

Thanks to @MeladMoshiri for the alert.