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William Mesa(I)

  • Visual Effects
  • Producer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Long considered one of the most innovative visual effects directors in the industry, William Mesa made his name as Vice-President of Introvision. While at Introvision, he was the supervisor/director of visual effects for such diverse films as Rob Reiner's Stand By Me, Stallone's Rambo III (1988); Sam Raimi's Darkman (1990) and Army of Darkness (1992); Andy Davis' Under Siege (1992); Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy (1989), and Peter Weir's Fearless (1993).

William directed the effects work on Andy Davis's Mega-hit The Fugitive (1993). He was instrumental in the now-legendary train crash with Harrison Ford.

William has been the recipient of many awards over the years. In 1988, William received the Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. In 1993, he received a British Academy Award Nomination for Best Visual Effects on the Fugitive. He has won three Emmy Awards for his visual effects on the CBS telefilm, Miracle Landing (1990), the Hallmark Hall of Fame special, The Hugga Bunch (1985) and most recently for the HBO mini-series The Pacific. He also received numerous other awards. In 2001, won seven major awards for Best Commercial Visual Effects for the Batman/Onstar commercials and he won Visual Effects Society Awards for The Last Samurai (2003) and The Pacific (2010).

In 1993 William founded Flash Film Works Inc. Under this company William directed the science fiction action adventure Terminal Force a.k.a. Galaxis (1995) for HBO as well as the CD ROM game Maximum Surge (1996). His second directorial was the picture DNA (1996), that premiered on HBO. William Mesa continues to visual effects supervise such works as Wes Craven's New Nightmare, The Waterboy (1998), Collateral Damage (2002), Holes (2003) and The Guardian (2006). Flash Film Works has also worked on such films as Deep Blue Sea (1999), Red Planet (2000), The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), The Last Samurai (2003) and Dolphin Tale (2011).

William also co-produced the web series Dragon Age: Redemption.
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    • Won 3 Primetime Emmys
      • 25 wins & 4 nominations total

    Known for

    Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai (2003)
    The Last Samurai
    7.8
    • Visual Effects
    • 2003
    Harrison Ford in The Fugitive (1993)
    The Fugitive
    7.8
    • Visual Effects
    • 1993
    Walkers (2025)
    Walkers
    Short
    • Visual Effects
    • 2025
    Saffron Burrows in Deep Blue Sea (1999)
    Deep Blue Sea
    6.0
    • Visual Effects
    • 1999

    Credits

    IMDbPro

    Visual Effects



    • The Truth About the War in Heaven: Declaration of War
      • visual effects supervisor
      • Pre-production
    • St. Sebastian
      • visual effects supervisor
      • Completed



    • Lightworkers (2026)
      Lightworkers
      7.0
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2026
    • Prize Fighter: Heavyweight Edition (2026)
      Prize Fighter: Heavyweight Edition
      Video Game
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2026
    • Walkers (2025)
      Walkers
      Short
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2025
    • Estelle (2023)
      Estelle
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2023
    • Kids on Site: Hard Hat Edition (2022)
      Kids on Site: Hard Hat Edition
      Video Game
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2022
    • Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition (2019)
      Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition
      6.9
      Video Game
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2019
    • Calum Worthy, Joel Courtney, and Andi Matichak in Assimilate (2019)
      Assimilate
      5.3
      • visual effects supervisor: Flash Film Works
      • 2019
    • Double Switch: 25th Anniversary Edition (2018)
      Double Switch: 25th Anniversary Edition
      7.0
      Video Game
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2018
    • Kodi Smit-McPhee in Alpha (2018)
      Alpha
      6.6
      • visual effects supervisor: Flash Film Works
      • 2018
    • Lost Fare (2018)
      Lost Fare
      4.9
      • visual effects supervisor
      • 2018
    • Gerard Butler and Talitha Eliana Bateman in Geostorm (2017)
      Geostorm
      5.4
      • visual effects supervisor: Flash Film Works
      • 2017
    • Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
      Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
      6.2
      • visual effects sequence supervisor: Moving Target
      • 2016
    • Barely Lethal (2015)
      Barely Lethal
      5.4
      • visual effects supervisor: Flash Film Works
      • 2015
    • Melissa McCarthy in Spy (2015)
      Spy
      7.0
      • visual effects supervisor: Flash Film Works
      • 2015
    • Rebecca Romijn, Lindy Booth, Christian Kane, John Larroquette, and John Kim in The Librarians (2014)
      The Librarians
      7.3
      TV Series
      • visual effects supervisor: Flash Film Works
      • 2014–2015

    Producer



    • Walkers (2025)
      Walkers
      Short
      • producer
      • 2025
    • Kids on Site: Hard Hat Edition (2022)
      Kids on Site: Hard Hat Edition
      Video Game
      • producer
      • 2022
    • Parched (2020)
      Parched
      5.6
      Video
      • executive producer
      • 2020
    • Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition (2019)
      Corpse Killer: 25th Anniversary Edition
      6.9
      Video Game
      • producer
      • 2019
    • Double Switch: 25th Anniversary Edition (2018)
      Double Switch: 25th Anniversary Edition
      7.0
      Video Game
      • producer
      • 2018
    • Felicia Day in Dragon Age: Redemption (2011)
      Dragon Age: Redemption
      6.1
      TV Series
      • producer
      • 2011
    • Christopher Nolan in 9th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards (2011)
      9th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards
      TV Special
      • graphics & animation producer
      • 2011
    • DNA (1996)
      DNA
      3.7
      Video
      • co-producer
      • 1996
    • Brigitte Nielsen in Galaxis (1995)
      Galaxis
      3.7
      • co-producer
      • 1995

    Director



    • Walkers (2025)
      Walkers
      Short
      • Director
      • 2025
    • Maximum Surge (1996)
      Maximum Surge
      4.0
      Video Game
      • Director
      • 1996
    • DNA (1996)
      DNA
      3.7
      Video
      • Director
      • 1996
    • The Darkening (1995)
      The Darkening
      3.2
      • Director
      • 1995
    • Brigitte Nielsen in Galaxis (1995)
      Galaxis
      3.7
      • Director
      • 1995

    Personal details

    • Official site
      • Flash Film Works
    • Alternative name
      • Bill Mesa

    Did you know

    • Trivia
      (1997-) Runs the visual effcts company "Flash Filmworks."

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