Tim McGovern obit

 

Tim McGovern, Visual Effects Veteran and Oscar Winner for ‘Total Recall,’ Dies at 68

His other credits included 'Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation,' 'Dunkirk,' 'Ant-Man and the Wasp,' 'Men in Black: International' and 'Jungle Cruise,' and he received the VES Founders Award last year.

He was not on the list.

Tim McGovern, a visual effects veteran who earned an Oscar for his work on 1990’s Total Recall, died Saturday. He was 68.

His wife, Reena NeGandhi, posted the news on Facebook.

“Today is the saddest day of my life,” she wrote. “My Husband Tim McGovern, an Oscar winner for the VFX in 1990’s for Total Recall and several more awards from the VES has died today. He passed away in his sleep.”

A digital effects pioneer, McGovern was a Visual Effects Society board member for nearly two decades. He served as vice chair as well as founding co-chair of the VES Awards committee. In October, McGovern received the VES Founders Award and was bestowed lifetime VES membership.

“We were saddened and shocked by the sudden news of Tim’s untimely passing,” said Kim Davidson, VES chair. “Tim and I have been VES members and colleagues for many years, and his passion and loyalty to the Society were exemplary. Tim’s insights, expertise and volunteer leadership have been key to our global expansion, and he will be terribly missed by us all.”

Added Bob Coleman, his former agent and friend: “This is such a shock. Tim McGovern was deeply loved by all who knew him. One of his great legacies and contributions to our industry will be his tireless work of inclusion of VFX workers around the globe into the Visual Effects Society.”

McGovern has numerous film credits on his résumé, starting with 1982’s Tron, which he worked on while employed with the former Robert Abel and Associates.

He went on to become a founding member of Sony Pictures ImageWorks, where he worked on such movies as 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, 2017’s Dunkirk, 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, 2019’s Men in Black: International and 2021’s Jungle Cruise.

Other credits include 1993’s Last Action Hero, So I Married an Axe Murderer and Look Who’s Talking Now; 1997’s As Good as It Gets; and 2023’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

More recently, he worked at DNEG Mumbai and served as chief creative officer at Whisper Pictures, a company that develops and produces animated family films.

In 1991, McGovern was bestowed with a special achievement Oscar for his work on Total Recall. He also won multiple CLIO Awards throughout his career and was a member of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee.

According to his bio on IMDBpro, McGovern was born on June 24, 1955, in Chicago. He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, double majoring in photography and graphic design, in the late ’70s. He earned a doctorate from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2001.

In her post, NeGandhi said that McGovern had written a film and novel that she plans to “take over to get it made for him.”

“He had so many life dreams for his film and now he’s gone,” she wrote. “He’s left it in my hands to make it happen now. I have no idea how I will live without him. He took such good care of me and he was my world. May his soul rest in peace.”

Visual Effects

Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Úrsula Corberó, Billy Magnussen, Yun Jee Kim, and Viveik Kalra in Lift (2024)

Lift

5.5

visual effects supervisor: VES

2024

 

Helen Mirren, Djimon Hounsou, Lucy Liu, Adam Brody, Meagan Good, Rachel Zegler, Zachary Levi, D.J. Cotrona, Grace Caroline Currey, and Ross Butler in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

5.9

visual effects supervisor

visual effects supervisor: DNEG

2023

 

Paul Giamatti, Dwayne Johnson, Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramírez, Emily Blunt, and Jack Whitehall in Jungle Cruise (2021)

Jungle Cruise

6.6

digital effects supervisor: DNEG London

2021

 

Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Tim Blaney, Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Kumail Nanjiani in Men in Black: International (2019)

Men in Black: International

5.6

digital effects supervisor: DNEG

2019

 

Ben Affleck, Pedro Pascal, Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac, and Garrett Hedlund in Triple Frontier (2019)

Triple Frontier

6.5

DFX Supervisor: Double Negative

2019

 

Ryan Gosling in First Man (2018)

First Man

7.3

additional dfx supervisor: Double Negative

2018

 

Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Michael Peña, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Hannah John-Kamen in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp

7.0

dfx supervisor: Double Negative

2018

 

Fionn Whitehead in Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk

7.8

additional visual effects supervisor: DNEG

2017

 

Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Emily Blunt, and Jessica Chastain in The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016)

The Huntsman: Winter's War

6.1

visual effects supervisor: Double Negative Mumbai

2016

 

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

4.6

visual effects supervisor

2015

 

Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

7.4

associate visual effects supervisor: Double Negative

2015

 

Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Eva Green in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

6.5

visual effects supervisor: Prime Focus - Mumbai

2014

 

A Sound of Thunder (2005)

A Sound of Thunder

4.2

visual effects supervisor

2005

 

Christian Bale and Taye Diggs in Equilibrium (2002)

Equilibrium

7.3

visual effects supervisor

2002

 

Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron in Trapped (2002)

Trapped

6.1

visual effects supervisor

2002

 

Feardotcom (2002)

Feardotcom

3.4

visual effects supervisor

2002

 

The Shaft (2001)

The Shaft

4.7

visual effects supervisor

2001

 

Supernova (2000)

Supernova

4.8

additional visual effects supervisor

2000

 

Stigmata (1999)

Stigmata

6.2

visual effects supervisor

1999

 

Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets (1997)

As Good as It Gets

7.7

visual effects supervisor: SPI

1997

 

Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

The Ghost and the Darkness

6.8

visual effects supervisor: SPI

1996

 

Money Train (1995)

Money Train

5.7

visual effects supervisor

1995

 

Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington in Virtuosity (1995)

Virtuosity

5.5

visual effects supervisor: SPI

1995

 

Jeff Goldblum and Jeremy Sisto in Hideaway (1995)

Hideaway

5.3

visual effects supervisor

1995

 

John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, David Gallagher, and Tabitha Lupien in Look Who's Talking Now (1993)

Look Who's Talking Now

4.4

plate supervisor: SPI

1993

 

Mike Myers and Nancy Travis in So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

So I Married an Axe Murderer

6.5

visual effects supervisor: SPI

1993

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Austin O'Brien in Last Action Hero (1993)

Last Action Hero

6.5

visual effects supervisor: SPI

1993

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990)

Total Recall

7.5

visual effects: cgi director

1990

 

CFIC: Brilliance

Short

cgi animator

1985

 

Tron (1982)

Tron

6.7

systems programmer: Robert Abel and Associates

1982