About Simon
Creative Director Simon Hughes joined Union in 2012, bringing with him a rare breadth of knowledge gained from nearly two decades of experience with studios in both the UK and Canada.
Hughes embarked upon his visual-effects career in 1997, when he joined the leading London visual-effects facility Cinesite. He worked his way through Cinesite’s editorial, scanning and recording, and compositing departments before moving on to take progressively more responsible compositing roles at Double Negative, Clear Film and CIS/Rainmaker. During this time, he helped to set up two film departments and took on his first project as 2D supervisor.
Hughes’ early experience working on the likes of Gladiator, several of the Harry Potter films and Kingdom of Heaven gave him a firm grounding in the production of high-end visual effects for blockbuster features. Meanwhile, films such as A Cock and Bull Story, 1408 and Inkheart gave him the opportunity to develop his highly regarded creative skills.
In 2008, Hughes moved to Image Engine in Vancouver to work on the Academy Award-nominated District 9, for which he was honoured with a Visual Effects Society award for Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture. Following this accolade, Hughes became one of the most sought-after visual-effects supervisors in Vancouver’s rapidly developing industry, with credits including Universal Pictures’ Safe House, Immortals, Law Abiding Citizen, The Losers and The Factory. During this period, he spent many months on sets around the world, gaining both technical and creative expertise, and bolstering his burgeoning reputation as a highly inventive and flexible VFX supervisor.
Simon's work as VFX Supervisor and Creative Director on Yorgos Lanthimos' award-winning comedy Poor Things has earned him a BAFTA award nomination for Special Visual Effects and was also shortlisted for the 96th Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects.