Sky falls in for Bond workers as effects firm slashes jobs

 
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Handout
Asher McShane19 October 2012

The London-based firm behind the special effects of the latest James Bond blockbuster Skyfall is making a round of redundancies — only days before the £93 million film’s UK premiere.

Double Negative Visual Effects, which also provided effects for The Dark Knight Rises, confirmed they were getting rid of staff, but refused to reveal the exact number. They said the cuts were due to “a lack of projects”.

The Oscar-winning studio has two London offices, one in Mortimer Street and another in Shaftesbury Avenue, and had employed 1,000 workers until today’s news.

Skyfall, Daniel Craig’s third appearance as 007, will have its premiere at the Royal Albert Hall next Tuesday.

An insider, who did not wish to be named, said the company was “getting rid of loads of people”.

He said: “It’s a massive blow. I don’t know if any senior staff have been fired. I think they are still making decisions.”

In a statement, the company said that the job losses “reflected the needs of the films we are working on”. A spokeswoman said: “The number of people we will be making redundant is not significant. From time to time we need to grow and contract to reflect the needs of the films we are working on. Our policy has always been — and will continue to be — to hold onto people where possible.

“It wouldn’t be fair to our crew going through the redundancy process to give an estimated figure at this time. Double Negative has had a busy year delivering spectacular visual effects for some of the biggest films of the year.

“We are currently completing work on four films. The decision to streamline our operation for the time being is a natural part of the cycle of our industry. And 2013 is lining up to be a very busy year.”

The firm launched in Soho in 1998 with 30 workers. It created special effects for The Dark Knight Rises, the new Total Recall, and the Harry Potter series and won an Oscar for visual effects for its work on Leonardo

DiCaprio film Inception in 2010.

It has also won two Bafta awards — for Inception and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

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