Greg Butler (visual effects supervisor)
Gregory S. Butler is an American visual effects supervisor. He graduated from Suffield High School in 1989 and afterwards entered Hampshire College. Despite his initial plans to study history, a work-study job with the audiovisual equipment in the library made him interested in film production. Butler graduated in 1993 with a major in film, television and theater design. Afterwards he moved to California to work for Industrial Light and Magic for 9 months, where after intern work he managed to become an assistant in the effects department, starting with assistant credits in The Mask and Forrest Gump. Following a job at Rocket Science Games until the company's bankruptcy in 1996, Butler went to Tippett Studio and did effects work in Starship Troopers and My Favorite Martian, rising up to a technical director job, and Cinesite for Practical Magic. While reluctant at the requirement of moving to New Zealand, Butler was convinced by his writer-actor brother Jared to jump at the opportunity of working for Weta Digital in The Lord of the Rings. His biggest achievement was working in the creation of Gollum. Butler also worked as a computer graphics supervisor on I, Robot before an invitation to work as an effects supervisor for the Moving Picture Company, in London. He continues on MPC, but is now on the Vancouver office. On January 24, 2012, he was nominated for an Oscar for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. In 2020, he received his second Academy Award nomination, and first win, for Best Visual Effects, for the 2019 film, 1917, at the 92nd Academy Awards.
