Peter Jackson with Andrew Leslie on the set together.
Peter Jackson with Andrew Leslie on the set together.
Sir Peter Jackson shocked and deeply saddened by the death of his lensman collaborator on the two Middle-earth trilogies
Sir Peter Jackson has paid a touching personal tribute to Andrew Lesnie, the Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer who was behind the camera on eight of his films.
Lesnie, 59, who won the Academy Award for cinematography for The Fellowship Of The Ring in 2002, died of a heart attack on Monday.
He was director of photography on the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as The Hobbit films.
"Being an only child, I grew up wondering what it would be like to have a brother. It wasn't until today, in trying to deal with the terrible news of Andrew's passing, that I came to realise how much he had become that person for me - someone I could intrinsically love and trust - which I know now means someone who is up for all the good and the bad.
"Andrew was an irreplaceable part of my family and I am in total disbelief that I'll never again hear his infectious laugh, nor benefit from his quiet wisdom, or enjoy his generous praise."
"He always had my back. The more anxious I became, the more calm he would be. A solid rock in the unpredictable world we both chose to work in. After 17 years and 8 movies together, the loss of Andrew is very hard to bear."
Jackson described Lesnie, who also shot his The Lovely Bones and King Kong, as one of the great cinematographers of our time.
Sir Ian McKellen who played Gandalf the wizard in the Middle-earth films said Lenise was "irreplaceable".
"He was a master of the new technologies that climaxed with the 3D Hobbit movies but his artistry was as personal and inspired as a painter in oils, magically capturing light and spreading it over landscapes wild and domestic and and across the actors' faces too
"If you liked the look of Middle-earth know that it couldn't have been as it was without Andrew's special expertise.
"What his hard work cost him was impossible to tell because his merry spirit informed every minute on set.
"He is irreplaceable."
Andrew Lesnie with his Academy Award in 2002. Photo/Getty
Lesnie's other credits included early Australian television work and indepdendent films as well as Babe and its sequel, I Am Legend and Rise of the Planet of the Apes .
His most recent work was on Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner.
Russell Crowe with Andrew Lesnie on the set of The Water Diviner.
In a 2004 interview, Jackson said Lesnie's work on films about an adventurous talking pig that led him to offer the Lord of the Rings job.
"I'd never worked with him or even met him before, but he'd shot the Babe films and I thought they looked amazing, the way he'd used backlight and the sun and natural light to create a very magical effect.
"And Babe had that larger-than-life feel about it that I wanted.
"So when we began looking for [Directors of Photography] in early 1999, I first decided to get either an Australian or New Zealand DP as they'd be used to the way we make films
"Every country is slightly different in that way, and I immediately thought of Andrew. "
Tributes for Lesnie flowed on Twitter:
Devastating news from home. The master of the light, genius Andrew Lesnie has passed on .
