407 - ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT's VFX Supervisor Frank Petzold

Frank Petzold is an internationally acclaimed Director and VFX Supervisor, and he’s been working in film for over 25 years. Whether working in film or television, Frank creates cutting edge visuals.

Before stepping into the world of directing, this award-winning VFX Supervisor enjoyed a successful career in Germany as a Director of Photography, specializing in shoots with visual effects components. In the early 90s, Frank joined the Tippett Studio in California to supervise and direct VFX work for major Hollywood films. Starting with the cult classic STARSHIP TROOPERS, he quickly moved from one blockbuster to the next, including ARMAGEDDON, THE MATRIX, HOLLOW MAN, THE RING, GOLDEN COMPASS and many others.

Working closely with Directors such as Steven Spielberg, Paul Verhoven, Frank Oz, Gore Verbinsky, Ivan Reitman, Frank learned how to bring story to life. With that extensive experience, he began directing complex commercials for the international market.

When ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT Director Edward Berger called Franks, with whom he worked on the AMC Series THE TERROR, the idea of working on such an iconic literary IP made Frank intimidated and inspired at the same time. Based on Erich Maria Remarque’s best-selling 1929 novel of the same name, the film follows an idealistic young German soldier in WWI who soon learns the harrowing reality of war. Because of the intimate perspective and to capture the verisimilitude of life in the trenches, Petzold’s goal was to ground the visual effects in photorealistic reference points. In other words, in this case, less is more. In 2023, the film won 4 Academy Awards.

Frank has been a member of VES since 1999.

In this Podcast, Allan McKay talks to the VFX Supervisor and Director Frank Petzold about his start in VFX at the legendary Tippett Studio; his work on STARSHIP TROOPERS, HOLLOW MAN, ARMAGEDDON, as well as the 2023 Academy Award Winning film ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/407.