// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs James Ward Byrkit a builder? Does he have a byrkit list?
James Ward Byrkit (also known as James Byrkit or Jim Byrkit) is an American filmmaker. Byrkit is perhaps best known for his collaborations with director Gore Verbinski, working together on films like Mouse Hunt (1997), the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films (2003-2007), and Rango (2011). For Rango, Byrkit co-wrote the script and starred as several characters, most notably Waffles, a horned lizard.[1]
Career
[edit]Byrkit and Gore Verbinski started working together when Verbinski was directing commercials, and Byrkit would storyboard for him. Then, when Verbinski started making movies, he would bring Byrkit in and his work expanded.[2] They worked on Mouse Hunt (1997), The Mexican (2001), and The Ring (2002).[3]
Byrkit was in the middle of directing a commercial when Verbinski called him about Jerry Bruckheimer making a $100 million version of Pirates of the Caribbean ride,[3] which became the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, where Byrkit's end roll title is "consultant" for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and later "conceptual consultant" for Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007).[4][2] Byrkit was hired right away and found himself on the very first location scout to the Caribbean, where he and Verbinski conceived Jack Sparrow stepping off the sinking boat, the musical introduction to Hector Barbossa's skeleton pirates, and other key moments.[5] In his three weeks of consultancy work on The Curse of the Black Pearl, Byrkit also drew the very first drawing of the Black Pearl and other ships. In addition to the more than 3,000 storyboards that Byrkit created for the films, he also bounced back and forth between departments, such as production design, props and the pre-visualization team, helping with simplified animatics of the overwhelmingly complex action sequences that were a blueprint for Verbinski on set, and later, for Industrial Light & Magic's visual effects.[2] Byrkit also directed Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (2011), a short film and an immediate prequel to The Curse of the Black Pearl.[6]
Byrkit is also known for directing the science fiction thriller Coherence, his debut feature which earned critical and audience praise[7][8][9][10] and garnered attention for his unconventional approach in the making of the film as "proof that inventive filmmakers can do a lot with a little",[11][12][13] and identifying him as a groundbreaking talent.[14]
Byrkit's follow-up project, Shatter Belt, is an episodic series in the tradition of Twilight Zone. Production on the first four episodes was completed in 2022, with the world premiere scheduled for the 2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival.
In the Disney+ series Prop Culture, Byrkit made a guest appearance with concept artist Crash McCreery to discuss their work in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.[15]
Awards
[edit]- Breakthrough Director (nominated) at the Gotham Independent Film Awards 2014[16]
- Next Wave Best Screenplay at the Austin Fantastic Fest for Coherence (2013)[17]
- Maria Award for Best Screenplay at the Sitges Film Festival for Coherence (2013)
- Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best In Competition at the Sitges Film Festival for Coherence (2013)[18]
- Black Tulip Award for Best Feature Debut at the Imagine Film Festival for Coherence (2014)
- Imagine Movie Zone Award, Special Mention at the Imagine Film Festival for Coherence (2014)
- Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production for Rango (2011, won, shared with John Logan and Gore Verbinski)[19]
Filmography
[edit]Feature film
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | No | No | No | Consultant | Credited as "Jim Byrkit" |
| 2006 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | No | No | No | Conceptual Consultant | |
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | No | No | No | Conceptual Consultant | |
| 2011 | Rango | No | Story | No | Waffles | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | No | No | No | Uncredited work on the Map[3] | ||
| 2013 | Coherence | Yes | Yes | Executive | ||
| 2016 | The Forest | No | No | Co-producer |
Short film
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Yes, and... | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Fractalus | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2011 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code: Wedlocked | Yes | No | No | Filmed in late 2006[20][21] |
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Stop at Nothing | Yes | No | TV movie | |
| Special Unit 2 | Yes | No | Episode "The Rocks" | ||
| 2020 | Prop Culture | No | No | Himself | Disney+ docuseries, Episode: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" |
| 2023 | Shatter Belt | Yes | Yes | 4 episodes |
Video game
[edit]| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Rango | Yes | Yes | Waffles | [22] |
References
[edit]- ↑ Cavna, Michael. "As a creative renaissance man, writer-director James Ward Byrkit brings 'RANGO' and 'PIRATES' film to your screen". The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- 1 2 3 "POTC3 Presskit" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 21, 2010.
- 1 2 3 "Jim Byrkit Director of Pirates of the Caribbean Short Wedlocked Under The Crossbones Pirate Podcast - YouTube". YouTube.com. January 26, 2016.
- ↑ "POTC2 Presskit" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 2, 2006.
- ↑ "Pirates of the Caribbean". jimbyrkit.com. Archived from the original on 2018-05-30. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
- ↑ "Wedlocked". jimbyrkit.com. Archived from the original on 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
- ↑ "The 40 Best Movies of 2014". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ "Coherence :: Regie: James Ward Byrkit". Rolling Stone (in German). 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ "Age Gate". Canvas by Grolsch. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ Adam. "EIFF 2014: Coherence Review - Film Reviews & Features - Seensome". www.seensome.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ Seitz, Matt Zoller. "Coherence Movie Review & Film Summary (2014) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ "A Super-Spoilery Interview With the Director of 'Coherence,' the Twistiest Movie of the Year". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ stubarr70 (2015-01-22). "THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF 'COHERENCE' – why this micro budget film is a treat for science fiction movie fans". maxrennblog. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Best Of 2014: The 20 Breakthrough Directors Of The Year". Indiewire. 2014-12-02. Archived from the original on 2016-06-25. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ Lanigan, Dan; Byrkit, Jim (May 2020). "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the BLack Pearl". Prop Culture. Disney+.
- ↑ Lattanzio, Ryan (2014-10-23). "How Gotham Nominee James Ward Byrkit Made 'Coherence' in 5 Days with No Script or Budget". Indiewire. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
- ↑ "'Coherence' Trailer Introduces Psychological Puzzle". Bloody Disgusting. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "Sitges - 46ed. Festival Internacional de Catalunya (11/10 - 20/10)". Sitges Film Festival. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "'Rango' wins the Annie Award for animated feature". LA Times. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ↑ "bio". October 22, 2009. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009.
- ↑ Cavna, Michael (July 15, 2011). "As a creative renaissance man, writer-director James Ward Byrkit brings 'RANGO' and 'PIRATES' film to your screen". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 27, 2012. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
- ↑ "James Ward Byrkit (visual voices guide)". Behind the Voice Actors. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.