- "Well, if they ask me what I do I usually say I'm a digital janitor. Some other people have refrerred to visual effects people as the rodeo clowns of the entertainment business. In that we protect other disciplines. We're sort of the caboose on the movie train. In that we fix things that other people mess up, and we're the last chance to get it right before it goes into the theaters or on the air."
- ―Tim Landry
Preston Timothy Landry, or Tim Landry, is a filmmaker and visual effects artist. He had a long career making magic, starting with his education at USC Film School, and those skills have served him well in a wide range of mediums. Tim Landry also served as a board member for the prestigious Visual Effects Society for many years, and had collected numerous awards ranging from the CLIO to the Emmy to multiple THEA awards for theme park work.
Tim Landry worked as a visual effects supervisor in commercials, television, and feature films, and finally many years as an employee at Walt Disney Imagineering, contributing to some of the most spectacular and complex attractions enjoyed by millions worldwide. His film credits include George of the Jungle, The Sixth Sense, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He also contributed to such classic theme park attractions as The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, The Hall of Presidents, and Soaring: Fantastic Flight. His work as a Disney Imagineer can be seen in all the Disney Parks worldwide as well as the Disney Cruise Ships and Disney+.
Biography[]
Life and career[]
Preston Timothy Landry was born in the army hospital in Ft. Huachuca Arizona. Following his education at the University of Southern California's vaunted film school, Tim Landry worked as a visual effects supervisor at Dream Quest Images, which was later purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 1996, subsequently renamed "The Secret Lab" in 1999, and ultimately closed down in 2001, leaving most employees of Dream Quest now unemployed, Tim Landry included. Landry took what small jobs he could get for several years, mostly compositing, matte painting, and some set supervision for projects that would be finished in another studio without him.
Early in his career, Tim Landry worked as cel painter on the short comedy Gravity (1976). He also received awards and acclaim for his innovative and ground-breaking student films Chapter 21 and Cabbages and Kings or the Dancing Princess. He then worked as a visual effects artist on projects such as the science fiction thriller Freejack (1992) and the science fiction comedy Coneheads (1993).
After being given the title of visual/digital effects supervisor in January 1993, Tim Landry contributed to the creation of television series such as The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993), Earth 2 (1994-1995), JAG (1995-1996), Invasion (2005-2006), and Prison Break (2005) as well as to the Alien Nation television movies Millennium (1996), The Enemy Within (1996), and The Udara Legacy (1997). Landry also contributed in doing only one shot for Star Trek: The Next Generation series.
Film work includes the comic adaptation The Crow (1994), the comedy Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995), the television movie Moses (1995, with Anton Lesser), Disney's comedy Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997), the comedies George of the Jungle (1997) and My Favorite Martian (1999, with Christopher Lloyd), the comic adaptation Inspector Gadget (1999, with Brian George), the thriller The Sixth Sense (1999), the action comedy Shanghai Noon (2000), the family adventure Snow Dogs (2002), the action comedy Bulletproof Monk (2003), the thriller Out of Time (2003), the fantasy film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), and the family movie Charlotte's Web (2006).
After over 15 years working at Disney theme parks throughout the world at Walt Disney Imagineering, Tim Landry retired and created Shoveling Pixie Dust: a Memoir, a film which documented his overall career. Beyond the specific projects, Landry would speak of his personal experiences and challenges, such as facing health issues like chronic lymphocytic leukemia, all while maintaining his faith in God. Shoveling Pixie Dust premiered in 2021 to positive reactions of audiences at film festivals.[2]
Star Wars[]
In 1977, Star Wars became a smash hit and cultural phenomenon. Tim Landry was among the USC students that got invited to screen and answer print at Fox studios. Landry was also involved in a simulator ride called the Astroliner, which was to recreate the thrills like Star Wars. In 1987, the Disneyland opened the attraction Star Tours, which had Mike McAllister as primary camera operator, having previously been the camera guy in Landry's Cabbages and Kings or the Dancing Princess project.[2]
During the time working at "The Secret Lab" under Disney, Tim Landry became acquainted with Walt Disney Imagineering, which was trying to finish Disney's California Adventure Park, with Landry himself assigned to create effects for a couple of media projects for the park, including the Bakery Tour and Golden Dreams. Landry also worked on CinéMagique, a 70 millimeter delivery and a loving tribute to the movies which combined live actors, theatrical effects, and film effects that ran for over forty six thousand performances at Disneyland Paris. CinéMagique featured a scene aboard the Death Star from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, and became a career favorite project for director Jerry Rees, producer Tom Fitzgerald, and Landry himself serving as visual effects supervisor.[2]
In 2005, Tim Landry returned to Walt Disney Imagineering for full-time employment at Disney Parks, after initially being called in for converting the Submarine Voyage attraction at Disneyland into Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Taking the job, Landry broke ground in technologies that he would use for the next 15 years: projection effects, using projected video and strange ways to accomplish real world illusions, which he said was "an exhilarating and challenging new frontier." Landry got to work with a group of Imagineers in a laboratory sandbox to develop new projection effects that expanded their tool set. Landry also had the opportunity to contribute new effects to classics such as The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the 2011 updated version of Star Tours.[2]
