Quick Facts
Biography
Paul J. Franklin is an English visual effects supervisor who has worked with visual effects since the 1990s. He is known for his long-running working relationship with director Christopher Nolan which dates back to Batman Begins (2005). Franklin won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects for Inception (2010), and won a second Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Interstellar (2014). He shared the wins with Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb, and Chris Corbould. Franklin has also been nominated for an Academy Award for The Dark Knight (2008). He was nominated for BAFTA Awards for Batman Begins, The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
Background
Franklin was born in Cheshire, England. He was educated at Sandbach School in Cheshire from 1978–1985.He attended the Cheshire School of Art and Design for a year and changed to Oxford University to study fine art. At Oxford, he made his first films and combined graphics with animation. He graduated in 1989. He worked two jobs as a videotape editor and then began a career in computer graphics and animation at Psygnosis (now SCE Studio Liverpool) in the early 1990s. He eventually helped found the visual effects company Double Negative in 1998 with financing from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. He headed the 3D effects for Double Negative's first film Pitch Black (2000).
Franklin was an undergraduate external examiner at Bournemouth University for 4 or 5 years and also gave visiting practitioner lectures at BU's Media School. In 2012, Franklin received an honorary degree from Bournemouth.
Filmography
Franklin worked on the following films as visual effects supervisor:
- Revelation (2001)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
- Batman Begins (2005)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
- The Dark Knight (2008)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
- Inception (2010)
- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
- Interstellar (2014)