HAL HICKEL

Animation Supervisor

Hal Hickel joined Industrial Light & Magic in 1996 as an animator for The Lost World: Jurassic Park.  On his next production, he was promoted to lead animator and given responsibility for the animation of several characters in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.  In 2000, Hickel was moved up to animation supervisor, teaming up with multi-Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren on Stephen Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. His special interest in animation lies in the challenge of integrating fantastic characters and creatures into live-action films.  Hickel has since supervised the animation work on Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s Dreamcatcher and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. In 2007, his work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was recognized with an Academy Award^® for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Effects as well as an award from the British Academy.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Hickel studied Film Graphics at California Institute of the Art before being hired by Will Vinton Studios as a clay animator and motion control operator for commercials and television specials featuring the California Raisins, amongst other characters.  Hickel left Vinton in 1994 to join Pixar as an animator on their first animated feature, Toy Story. Upon completing Toy Story, Hickel was hired at ILM.