R.I.P. Eileen Moran

[Reza]

Producer Eileen Moran dies

Posted: 12/04/2012
Last Updated: 38 minutes ago ABC News

Hollywood directors PETER JACKSON and JAMES CAMERON have paid tribute
to visual effects producer EILEEN MORAN following her death in New Zealand.

Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh broke the news about Moran, who
worked on a number of the moviemaker's films including The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey, in a note to staff at his visual effects company
Weta Digital on Monday (03Dec12), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The note reads, "Fran and I are terribly upset at the news that we
lost Eileen a couple of hours ago. She was a lovely, decent person
who had great respect for all the artists she worked with.

"Eileen was so proud of Weta and the work all of you have done over
the years. She was fiercely loyal to the company, and to Fran and I
personally, and we will always be grateful for her friendship."

Moran, who was in her mid-50s, was unable to attend the world
premiere of The Hobbit movie in New Zealand last week (28Nov12)
because she was in hospital, but no information is known about her
cause of death as WENN goes to press.

The producer had teamed up with Jackson several times in the past, on
films including King Kong and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and she
also worked on James Cameron's Avatar.

Cameron says, "Eileen was an integral part of building Weta Digital
into the most powerful engine for imaginative imagery that ever
existed, and she shepherded some of the milestone films of her
generation to completion."

Moran served as leader on the Weta Digital team that won the Best
Visual Effects Oscar for sci-fi blockbuster Avatar in 2009, and she
won an award from the Visual Effects Society for her work on King
Kong, as well as two more for Avatar. In 2011, she was nominated for
Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin.

She also worked on movies such as Fight Club, I, Robot, X-Men: The
Last Stand, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Lovely
Bones and this year's (12) Prometheus.

Moran is survived by her children, Jack and Ava