News for May 31, 2006

Portrait of a Special Effects Whiz

5/31/06, 6:00 pm EST - Xoanon

Allen Hemberger was safely ensconced at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., teaching his first semester in the engineering department when he got the call. It was from New Zealand. There was a giant ape in the woods, and they needed his help. Hemberger hung up the phone and considered the options: stay in the Midwest teaching about visual effects or hop on a plane to the other side of the planet to work with one of the world's foremost directors, Peter Jackson, on his epic remake of the classic thriller King Kong. "It was too sweet of an opportunity for me to pass up," Hemberger recalls, "so I took it." [More]