Mixed success for Sussex nominees at the Oscars

By The Newsroom
Published 29th Feb 2016, 08:32 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 21:50 BST
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Sussex nominees Paul Norris and Matt Charman had mixed success at the 88th Academy Awards.

Worthing’s Paul Norris won for his visual effects wizardry on sci-fi thriller Ex Machina but Crawley-born screenwriter Matt Charman lost out for his Steven Spielberg-directed Bridge of Spies.

Charman was nominated alonsgide the Joel and Ethan Coen for Best Original Screenplay but they lost out to Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer for Spotlight.

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In the Best Visual Effects category, Norris along with colleagues Andrew Whitehurst, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett beat Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and Stars Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens to the prestigious award.

Paul was thrilled he and three of his colleagues were nominated in the Visual Effects category for their work on Ex Machina.

He said: “On a movie that size it was a total shock to us. The Oscar nomination was the biggest surprise.

“We weren’t expecting that at all.”

Playwright Matt, who lives in Southwater, near Horsham, said he had to pinch himself when world-renowned director Steven Spielberg asked him to write the Cold War thriller in 2014.