\u201cIt put this little gentle chip on my shoulder where I was like, \u2018I have to prove to everybody that I\u2019m better. Anything I do, I\u2019m going to be better than anyone else\u2019. That was really important to me, because I felt like I was always compensating and so it made me that way, which drove me, which is the benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was also detrimental in that it turned me into this perfectionist who never felt that anything was good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout his 30s and 40s, Barrett would get home from work each day feeling like he\u2019d come up short.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would put in a huge amount of physical effort in terms of hours and beat myself up every night,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
These days, it\u2019s a different story. The 52-year-old is able to look back on those experiences and give his younger self grace. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can see the things that didn\u2019t work for me, the things that hurt me about it. I feel sorry for that old me sometimes when I think about it, but I also am grateful and now I give myself credit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a lovely place to be because all of a sudden, I\u2019m not having to prove myself, I\u2019m not having to work longer hours than everybody else. I don\u2019t beat myself up anymore,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n
In the past, the smallest mistake would torture him for weeks.<\/p>\n
Now, \u201cI can make mistakes and be okay about them within 10 minutes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Long hours were the norm at W\u0113t\u0101 in the early days, Barrett says, but now there’s a bigger focus on crew wellbeing. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
In the early days W\u0113t\u0101 was \u201ca little bit like the Wild West\u201d, Barrett says. \u201cRidiculous\u201d hours were the norm \u2013 he recalls averaging 93-hour weeks on his first film as animation supervisor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got there, it was all about the films, and there was an amazing bunch of people who would give their entire lives over to making the work, and there wasn\u2019t a huge amount of structure in terms of management. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did amazing work, but it was hard work, and without that structure it was difficult for people to see their career paths.\u201d <\/p>\n
Today at W\u0113t\u0101 FX, he says there\u2019s better structure, bigger production teams and a stronger focus on crew wellbeing. <\/p>\n
Working at W\u0113t\u0101 was never the plan for Barrett. During his school years at Cashmere High in Christchurch he had a very different vision for his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to be the greatest painter the world has ever seen,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI drew from an early age and I just loved painting. At my parents\u2019 house they just let me have at it, and the floor and the walls and even the ceiling had oil paint on them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI painted my way into art school in Christchurch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett has worked on the Avatar and Planet of the Apes franchises, as well as countless other films. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n
But he didn\u2019t become a painter. Instead, he majored in sculpture and got a job with Christchurch sculptor Neil Dawson. After a few years painting, welding and helping build Dawson\u2019s works and install them around the world, Barrett decided it was time for another change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was Neil\u2019s career that I was very grateful to be a part of, but it was his career and I felt like I needed my own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett was in his late 20s when he enrolled at what was then Christchurch Polytech. He was there to study graphic design but he \u201cstumbled\u201d into the world of visual effects when a tutor showed him 3D computer animation for the first time. When he saw what it could do, he knew he\u2019d found his calling. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved film, but I\u2019ve always been a drama buff. I\u2019d seen Toy Story, but I didn\u2019t really know how they\u2019d done it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just fell in love with it so hard, I knew that was what I was meant to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He switched to the 3D animation programme, where his new classmates were already halfway through their end-of-year film project. But Barrett got enough work done in the last half of the year that he got offered his first job. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I never got my qualification. I was due to go back for another couple of semesters the next year, but I got my first job in Wellington and that was enough for me. That was the goal.\u201d <\/p>\n
He jumped in boots and all. His first job under the W\u0113t\u0101 umbrella was at Workshop before moving to W\u0113t\u0101 Digital, which is now known as W\u0113t\u0101 FX.<\/p>\n
A couple of decades on, he\u2019s a senior animation supervisor and a Bafta and Academy Award winner for his work on James Cameron\u2019s Avatar: The Way of Water. This year, he won the best special visual effects Bafta for Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/a>, alongside Joe Letteri and Eric Saindon; the trio are also nominated for the visual effects Oscar<\/a>, with the ceremony taking place on Monday. <\/p>\n In nearly 20 years at W\u0113t\u0101, he\u2019s worked on countless films \u2013 many Kiwis probably don\u2019t realise just how many, though we\u2019ve likely seen his work. <\/p>\n \u201cThe films like Avatar, there\u2019s a bit more recognition, a bit more understanding of Peter\u2019s [Jackson] films as well, people understand W\u0113t\u0101 does that,\u201d Barrett says. <\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the Marvel, Planet of the Apes and Fast & Furious franchises \u2013 Barrett was part of the team tasked with digitally recreating the late Paul Walker for Furious 7, which he calls \u201ca strange honour\u201d.<\/p>\n But rather than list his achievements, Barrett prefers to dwell on how \u201cincredibly lucky\u201d he feels to have worked on movies he\u2019s proud of.<\/p>\n He led animation on The Water Horse \u2013 a film that\u2019s particularly special because it was one his kids could watch when they were little. A poster of it hangs in his office. <\/p>\n His daughters are now 14 and 17, his son is 19. When he was working on The Way of Water, they weren\u2019t too interested. It made it easy for Barrett to work on it from home without worrying about sharing spoilers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it came out, I guess they became interested. And then [with] their social media algorithms, they ended up in this little echo chamber of Avatar and all of a sudden, Dad was this star and they were all really excited,\u201d he recalls with a chuckle.<\/p>\n \u201cSo when [the latest Avatar film] came around, I had to be very careful. I couldn\u2019t have anything on screen because they just wanted to know [what happens].\u201d<\/p>\n These days, the way Barrett watches his films is different, too. He\u2019s able to enjoy them instead of fixating on the details. <\/p>\n \u201cThere might be things that are in there that I wanted to fix and then I might see the odd other thing that I missed. These are the little things. I am able to have that conversation with myself these days, like, no one\u2019s going to see that. So I think on the third watch of [Fire and Ash] I watched it as a film probably for the first time, which was lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n On director James Cameron\u2019s films, Barrett\u2019s job is to ensure the actors\u2019 work translates in digital form; a highlight on Fire and Ash was working on the character Varang, played by Oona Chaplin.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what floats my boat and gets me up in the morning, bringing those fantastic performances from the actors through on to the characters.\u201d<\/p>\nJoe Letteri, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett on the Bafta stage. <\/p>\n
Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, in Avatar: Fire and Ash. Photo \/ 20th Century Studios<\/p>\n