Monday 25 September 2006, 18.30–20.00

Visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri from Weta Digital discusses the creation of the Academy Award-winning visual effects for Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005), showing how Weta built 1933 New York City, grew the lush jungles of Skull Island and brought Kong to life.

Letteri has pioneered and developed many of the digital techniques that have become the standard in bringing photographic quality to high-end visual effects. As an artist, he has specialised in the creation of highly realistic imagery, from the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park (1993) and Gollum in The Lord of the Rings (2001–3) to the 25-foot gorilla in King Kong. Letteri is the winner of two Academy Awards and recipient of the Academy’s Technical Achievement Award for co-developing the subsurface scattering technique that was used to bring Gollum to life.

Tate Modern  Starr Auditorium
£10 (£8 concessions), booking recommended
Price includes drinks afterwards