Pete Kozachik, a visual effects and stop-motion artist whose work on acclaimed animated films by Tim Burton, Henry Selick and others brought recognition and an Oscar nomination, died Sept. 12 at his California home in the Bay Area following a years-long battle with aphasia and primary progressive aphasia. He was 72.
His death was first announced on Tucson’s NBC affiliate station Kvoa. Kozachik attended high school and college in Tucson, and his brother Steve Kozachik is vice mayor of the city.
While best known for his Oscar-nominated work on 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Selick and produced by Burton, Kozachik launched his career in 1984 on the sci-fi film Dreamscape starring Dennis Quad. In ’86 he was the visual effects camera operator on the notorious Howard the Duck, going on to build a solid roster of credits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,...
His death was first announced on Tucson’s NBC affiliate station Kvoa. Kozachik attended high school and college in Tucson, and his brother Steve Kozachik is vice mayor of the city.
While best known for his Oscar-nominated work on 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Selick and produced by Burton, Kozachik launched his career in 1984 on the sci-fi film Dreamscape starring Dennis Quad. In ’86 he was the visual effects camera operator on the notorious Howard the Duck, going on to build a solid roster of credits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,...
- 9/18/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Pete Kozachik, the Oscar-nominated visual effects artist who contributed his stop-motion expertise to such films as The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Corpse Bride and Coraline, has died. He was 72.
Kozachik died peacefully Tuesday in hospice care in his Northern California home of complications from primary progressive aphasia, a rare form of Alzheimer’s, his wife, Katy Moore-Kozachik, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kozachik also operated a stop-motion camera on Ghostbusters II (1989) and served as director of miniature photography on Starship Troopers (1997) and as a visual effects cameraman on Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (2002).
At Industrial Light & Magic, he worked on films including Howard the Duck (1986), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Innerspace (1987) and Willow (1988) before rejoining frequent collaborator Phil Tippett on the RoboCop sequels released in 1990 and ’93.
For director Henry Selick, Kozachik was director of photography on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach...
Kozachik died peacefully Tuesday in hospice care in his Northern California home of complications from primary progressive aphasia, a rare form of Alzheimer’s, his wife, Katy Moore-Kozachik, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Kozachik also operated a stop-motion camera on Ghostbusters II (1989) and served as director of miniature photography on Starship Troopers (1997) and as a visual effects cameraman on Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (2002).
At Industrial Light & Magic, he worked on films including Howard the Duck (1986), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Innerspace (1987) and Willow (1988) before rejoining frequent collaborator Phil Tippett on the RoboCop sequels released in 1990 and ’93.
For director Henry Selick, Kozachik was director of photography on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach...
- 9/18/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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