Tim Landry

Preston Timothy Landry, or Tim Landry, is a filmmaker and visual effects artist. He had a long career making magic, starting with his education at USC Film School, and those skills have served him well in a wide range of mediums. Tim Landry also served as a board member for the prestigious Visual Effects Society for many years, and had collected numerous awards ranging from the CLIO to the Emmy to multiple THEA awards for theme park work.

Tim Landry worked as a visual effects supervisor in commercials, television, and feature films, and finally many years as an employee at Walt Disney Imagineering, contributing to some of the most spectacular and complex attractions enjoyed by millions worldwide. His film credits include George of the Jungle, The Sixth Sense, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He also contributed to such classic theme park attractions as The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours, The Hall of Presidents, and Soaring: Fantastic Flight. His work as a Disney Imagineer can be seen in all the Disney Parks worldwide as well as the Disney Cruise Ships and Disney+. Beyond the specific projects, Tim Landry documented his experiences and challenges as well as the ups and downs of being an artist in his film, Shoveling Pixie Dust: a Memoir, released in 2021.

Biography[]

Life and career[]

Preston Timothy Landry was born in the army hospital in Ft. Huachuca Arizona. Following his education at the University of Southern California's vaunted film school, Tim Landry worked as a visual effects supervisor at Dream Quest Images, which was later purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 1996, subsequently renamed "The Secret Lab" in 1999, and ultimately closed down in 2001, leaving most employees of Dream Quest now unemployed, Tim Landry included. Landry took what small jobs he could get for several years, mostly compositing, matte painting, and some set supervision for projects that would be finished in another studio without him.

Early in his career, Tim Landry worked as cel painter on the short comedy Gravity (1976). He also received awards and acclaim for his innovative and ground-breaking student films Chapter 21 and Cabbages and Kings or the Dancing Princess. He then worked as a visual effects artist on projects such as the science fiction thriller Freejack (1992) and the science fiction comedy Coneheads (1993).

After being given the title of visual/digital effects supervisor in January 1993, Tim Landry contributed to the creation of television series such as The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993), Earth 2 (1994-1995), JAG (1995-1996), Invasion (2005-2006), and Prison Break (2005) as well as to the Alien Nation television movies Millennium (1996), The Enemy Within (1996), and The Udara Legacy (1997). Landry also contributed in doing only one shot for Star Trek: The Next Generation series.

Film work includes the comic adaptation The Crow (1994), the comedy Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995), the television movie Moses (1995), Disney's comedy Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997), the comedies George of the Jungle (1997) and My Favorite Martian (1999), the comic adaptation Inspector Gadget (1999), the thriller The Sixth Sense (1999), the action comedy Shanghai Noon (2000), the family adventure Snow Dogs (2002), the action comedy Bulletproof Monk (2003), the thriller Out of Time (2003), the fantasy film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), and the family movie Charlotte's Web (2006).

Walt Disney Imagineering[]

During the time working at "The Secret Lab" under Disney, Tim Landry became acquainted with Walt Disney Imagineering, which was trying to finish Disney's California Adventure Park, with Landry himself assigned to creating effects for a couple of media projects for the park, including The Bakery Tour and Golden Dreams. Landry also worked on CinéMagique, a loving tribute to the movies which combined live actors, theatrical effects, and film effects that ran for over forty six thousand performances at Disneyland Paris. CinéMagique became a career favorite project for director Jerry Rees, producer Tom Fitzgerald, and Landry himself serving as visual effects supervisor. After The Secret Lab was closed down in February 2002, Tim Landry found himself in freelance again until he was returned to Walt Disney Imagineering for full-time employment. Taking the job, Landry moved toward a career that provided opportunities to learn, have fun, and make a difference while strengthening other families and bring more joy to the world.

Landry would be breaking ground in technologies that he would use for the next 15 years: projection effects, using projected video and strange ways to accomplish real world illusions. Having crossed over into the theme park world rather than creating magic for the screen, Tim Landry was creating illusions in the real world, which he said was "an exhilarating and challenging new frontier." He also considered the people he got to work with at Imagineering as "often smarter, kinder, and less full of ego than their equivalents in the film business," which Landry believed he could be comfortable. In Disneyland, Tim Landry got to work with a group of Imagineers in a laboratory sandbox to develop new projection effects that expanded their tool set. Landry also had the opportunity to contribute new effects to classics such as The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Despite being given a diagnosis and treatments to chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Landry worked on the Mystic Manor, an attraction for an expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland that referenced the Haunted Mansion. Under the leadership of Joe Lanzisero, in collaboration with Jerry Rees, they set ambitious standards for the E-ticket attraction, laser effects, lots of mechanical and projection magic, and a finale that utilized 20 projectors and blew out a whole wall of a gallery using concepts Landry helped design. The very first image guests see as they enter the attraction depicts a fictitious 1916 opening day for the mansion, and since he was doing the artwork, Landry added himself and his wife Maureen along with a young Walt Disney and his brother Roy.

Along with the other attractions in Disneyland Paris, Landry was involved in a long overdue upgrade to the Paris version of the Haunted Mansion called Phantom Manor. He was involved in assignments like adding stormy skies to several scenes and animating new changing portraits for the entry hall. One of the paintings in the hallway, created by artist Greg Pro, featured a cowboy who bore a strong resemblance to Tim Landry, making him one of the 999 happy haunts that inhabit Phantom Manor.

Retirement[]

After over 15 years working at Disney theme parks throughout the world at Walt Disney Imagineering, Tim Landry retired and created Shoveling Pixie Dust: a Memoir, a film which documented his overall career. Beyond the specific projects, Landry would speak of his personal experiences and challenges, such as facing health issues like chronic lymphocytic leukemia, all while maintaining his faith in God. Shoveling Pixie Dust premiered in 2021 to positive reactions of audiences at film festivals.^[1]

External links[]

Notes and references[]

↑ Tim Landry's "Shoveling Pixie Dust: a Memoir" - YouTube

[Shoveling_Pixie_Dust-1] Tim Landry's "Shoveling Pixie Dust: a Memoir" - YouTube

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