An old hand at creating fantasy worlds strives toward – and succeeds in – designing spaceships that don't look like all the others, plus a low-key, “mysterioso” universe that is not flooded by bright light.
Peter Ellenshaw's career has spanned 45 years of active motion picture work in England and the US, included more than 50 films for several major producers and has now culminated in his work as production designer and director of special effects for Walt Disney Productions’ $20 million deep-space adventure, THE BLACK HOLE.
One should not be fooled by his slight build, British equanimity, or self-effacing sense of humor – Peter Ellenshaw is a creatively powerful personality, and his power lies in his imagination. That imagination is much in evidence in the 33 Disney films he has worked on. Ellenshaw’s artistry has recently been showcased with tributes in New York's Museum of Modern Art, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the American Film Institute in Washington, DC.
Ellenshaw has achieved true mastery at creating fantasy worlds that exist only on celluloid. He learned his trade as assistant matte artist on such great Alexander Korda epics as THINGS TO COME (a terrifying and hopeful vision of the future), THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (a fantasy masterpiece that brought all of the Arabian nights magic to life), REMBRANDT and VICTORIA THE GREAT. After five years in the Royal Air Force during World War II, Ellenshaw worked on his own as matte artist for Michael Powell’s STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN and BLACK NARCISSUS. Mervyn LeRoy asked Ellenshaw to paint the mattes for his regal epic QUO VADIS.
Walt Disney used to say jokingly that he discovered Ellenshaw making chalk drawings on the sidewalk in London's Trafalgar Square. In truth the long and close association of these two creative artists began in quite a different way. Ellenshaw had long been working as a matte artist for the top British filmmakers when, in 1948, Walt Disney went to England to begin production of his live-action features, TREASURE ISLAND, THE STORY OF ROBIN HOOD, SWORD AND THE ROSE and ROB ROY. To recreate a long-gone England, Disney chose Ellenshaw.
