American Cinematographer - December 2023 - 87

In Memoriam
Pete Kozachik, ASC
(1951-2023)
" Just the possibility of shooting a whole
movie was both attractive and out of my
comfort zone. "
animation. After that wrapped,
Selick and Tim Burton asked
Kozachik to shoot the stop-motion
feature The Nightmare Before
Christmas. At the time, Phil Tippett
had just offered Kozachik a
job filming effects on the ultimate
dinosaur movie, Jurassic Park.
Kozachik opted for NightPete
Kozachik, ASC, a self-taught
cinematographer who parlayed
a childhood passion for Ray
Harryhausen movies and King
Kong into a distinguished career
in animation and visual effects,
died Sept. 12 in Carmel, Calif. He
was 72.
Kozachik was born in Michigan
on March 28, 1951, and raised
mostly in Tucson, Ariz. Sparking
to monster movies at age 9, he
haunted a local newsstand for
copies of Famous Monsters of
Filmland and Popular Photography,
and began experimenting
with Super 8 and stop-motion
animation.
After moving to Arizona, the
15-year-old searched the Yellow
Pages for film work. " Now that
I was this close to Hollywood, I
knew there must be something
going on, " Kozachik wrote in his
2021 memoir, Tales from the
Pumpkin King's Cameraman.
Finally, he connected with Aztec
Studio, where he began assisting
on educational and industrial
films. The principals were brothers
from Brooklyn, N.Y., and one
introduced Kozachik to issues of
American Cinematographer. " As
I read through them, " he wrote,
" the real pro filmmaker's world
opened up to my dazzled eyes. "
In 1979, he took his reel to
L.A. and cold-called several
photographic-effects experts for
feedback. ASC members Joseph
Westheimer, Linwood Dunn and
Howard Anderson III were among
those who encouraged him. He
eventually landed a job as a modelmaker
at Coast Special Effects,
which was busy with TV spots
and effects assignments for television
shows and theatrical features.
Kozachik recalled that one
day, after he delivered a model
with a sensitive mechanism, " the
boss said, 'You made it; you might
as well shoot it.' I worked onstage
from then on. "
After six years at Coast,
Kozachik landed a job as a camera
operator at Industrial Light &
Magic. He spent the next several
years working on shots at ILM,
Tippett Studio and elsewhere,
contributing to such films as
Innerspace, Willow, RoboCop 2,
The Abyss and Honey, I Shrunk
the Kids. Then, Henry Selick - a
young director he'd worked with
on a Pillsbury commercial - came
calling. Selick wanted Kozachik
to shoot his MTV pilot Slow
Bob in the Lower Dimensions,
which combined live action and
mare - " just the possibility of
shooting a whole movie was both
attractive and out of my comfort
zone, " he says - stepping aboard
as both director of photography
and visual-effects supervisor.
His work on the film garnered a
1993 Academy Award nomination
(shared with Eric Leighton, Ariel
Velasco-Shaw and Gordon Baker)
for Best Visual Effects for the film.
Kozachik went on to collaborate
with both Selick and
Burton multiple times: He was the
animation director of photography
and visual-effects supervisor on
James and the Giant Peach, the
director of photography and visual-effects
supervisor on Burton's
Corpse Bride, and the director of
photography on Selick's Coraline.
Kozachik enjoyed writing about
his work, and his byline appeared
in his favorite magazine three
times, on AC cover stories about
making The Nightmare Before
Christmas (Oct. '93), Corpse Bride
(Oct. '05) and Coraline (Feb. '09).
The magazine also covered his
collaboration with Hiro Narita,
ASC on James and the Giant
Peach (May '96).
Kozachik became an ASC
member on Jan. 8, 2007, after Narita,
David Stump, Dennis Muren
and Alex Funke put his name
forward.
In a recent interview with
SFGate, Selick called Kozachik
" a stop-motion-animation
revolutionary. " He added, " Using
sophisticated mood and storytelling
lighting, ILM-inspired mo-con
camera moves, and brilliant
in-camera fire and smoke and
ghost effects, Pete was a cinematic
world-builder who, leading
his enormously talented lighting
team, took stop-mo to a new
universe inhabited by flesh-andblood
characters. "
Kozachik is survived by
his wife, scenic artist Katy
Moore-Kozachik.
DECEMBER 2023 / 87
TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASC ARCHIVE. BOTTOM PHOTO COURTESY OF KATY MOORE-KOZACHIK.
American Cinematographer - December 2023

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