Hills local Jason Billington up for Oscar Award for his special effects wizardry on Deepwater Horizon

THE PONDS local Jason Billington’s big shot at Oscar fame is here, with his film Deepwater Horizons one of the five nominations in the special effects category.

THE HILLS local Jason Billington’s big shot at Oscar fame is here, with his film Deepwater Horizons one of the five nominations in the special effects category.

While he may not be well known in The Hills or even in Australia, Mr Billington’s amazing creativity can be seen in several Hollywood blockbusters including the Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Misson Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Pacific Rim, Jurassic World, WALL-E, Star Trek and Battleship.

The father-of-two’s skills can also be seen in the Oscar-nominated film, Lion, starring Nicole Kidman.

Gina Rodriguez and Kurt Russell in a scene from Deepwater Horizon.

Deepwater Horizon is based on based on a true story on a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and stars Kurt Russell, Mark Wahlberg, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson, Dylan O’Brien and Gina Rodriguez.

The Ponds resident and special effects supervisor for Deepwater Horizon, said the Oscar nomination is still sinking in but he is hoping for the best when the 89th Academy Award winners are announced on February 26 in Hollywood, California.

Mr Billington, 37, who works for Sydney-based Iloura, has years of experience in the film industry, having spent nearly a decade in San Francisco, working for Industrial Light & Magic, which was founded by the legendary director George Lucas in 1975.

Mark Wahlberg in a scene from the film.

“It feels great to be acknowledged but I am still taking it in,” Mr Billington, 37, said.

“I would love Deepwater Horizon to win the award because we are the underdogs but I think The Jungle Book or Rogue One; The Star Wars Story will be the favourites, though all five nominations deserve to win.”

Remarkably, 40 per cent of the terrifying fire scene, so graphically captured in Deepwater Horizon, were shot in a car park in Louisiana with Mr Billington and his team providing the spectacular special effects from the Sydney studio.

Deepwater Horizon was released in Australia in October 2016.

“Working with the Transformer series was my most challenging work I think because every time we did it, it used to push me to the limits,” the former William Clarke College student said.

“The work I did at the Transformers really helped me with Deepwater Horizon where we had to make the audience be a part of whole action and feel the heat.

“One of the challenges we faced was designing and building the interior of the engine.

“It contained a bunch of repeating patterns and shapes which could make it feel small and look CG (computer generated) very quickly, so we played with light reactions to enhance the atmosphere.

Jason Billington has worked on several Hollywood blockbusters.

“During a critical scene, the engine pistons speed up so quickly that they ultimately seize up and stop, giving a moment of calm before the storm of explosions ignite, starting the storyline for the second half of the film.

“Another challenge we had to think about for the initial explosion was the scale of it — it had to be fast and massive, as it’s this explosion that drives the entire destruction of the Deepwater Horizon.

“Starting with nothing, we successfully created a fiery and terrifying event where the viewer lives the danger through seamless explosive shots, and ultimately experiences total devastation and destruction.”

The Castle Hill-born and bred artist studied at Castle Hill Public School and Pacific Hills Christian School (Dural) before taking up visual arts and photography at William Clarke College, Kellyville, for his HSC.

A platform burns off excess gas while assisting in the capping of the Deepwater Horizon oil well on July 10, 2010. Picture: AP

He later did a Bachelor of design and visual communication degree at the University of Western Sydney (1998-2002) and his first foray into animation came via a work experience stint at GMD, Sydney, doing commercials.

After finishing his degree Mr Billington worked another six months with GMD before working on his first film, Ghost Ship at Gold Coast, which he said “was a lot of fun”.

Later he and his wife Paula decided to travel the world and he ended up working in the US film industry, landing his first big job with Industrial Light & Magic where his creative side was unleashed to the full.

A brown pelican covered in oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill along the Louisiana coast in June 2010. Picture: AP

“It was one of my dreams to work for Industrial Light & Magic and Paula and I lived in San Francisco for nine and half years,” Mr Billington said.

Mr Billington’s parents Wayne and Judith still live in Castle Hill while his brother Adam works in IT and sister Kirin is a fashion designer.

DEEPWATER HORIZON

■ Film snapshot: In April 2010, crew members begin their tour aboard British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling platform 56km off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. A huge explosion then rocks the rig as demand for producing rises, with the crew racing to cap the spill and reduce casualties.

■ Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Dylan O’Brien, Gina Rodriguez, John Malkovich and Kate Hudson

■ Nominated for: Best Visual Effects award at the 2017 Oscars on February 26 in Hollywood

■ Other nominees: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Doctor Strange, The Jungle Book and Kubo and the Two Strings

■ Directed by: Peter Ber