Acclaimed Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, whose beautiful work brought Middle Earth to life, has died. The Oscar-winning cinematographer of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films was 59 years old.
Lesnie suffered a heart attack on Monday, reports News.com.au.
His death was met with shock from the Australian and New Zealand film community. Even Russell Crowe, who picked him for his DP on the just-released The Water Diviner, called it “devastating news.”
The Australian Cinematographers Society did confirm Lesnie’s death, but noted that his family will be releasing a statement soon.
“Words cannot express the absolute feeling of loss, particularly for his immediate family,” Ron Johanson, the president of the ACS, wrote. “Andrew gave us many personal cinema moments, moments that will live with us forever, and yet he has been taken from us way too early, and we are now left with those memories.”
Lesnie won an Academy Award for his work on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He continued working with Jackson on The Hobbit trilogy, King Kong and The Lovely Bones.
He began shooting films in 1979. His other work includes Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, I Am Legend, The Last Airbender and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. His final project was Crowe’s The Water Diviner, which was just released in the U.S. In 2002, he joined the ACS’ Hall of Fame.