The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) announced George Lucas will serve as presenter of its 2014 MPSE Career Achievement Award honoring Randy Thom, director of sound design at Skywalker Sound. The presentation will occur at the 61st MPSE Golden Reel Awards ceremony held on Feb. 16 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites in Los Angeles.
Lucas has a long-running connection with Thom, due to both his work at Skywalker Sound, where he has worked for more than two decades, and his general capacity as a sound editor. One of Thom’s first movie credits was Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, where he served as sound effects recordist. Thom is a two-time Academy Award-winner (The Right Stuff, The Incredibles) and a 14-time Oscar nominee.
The creator of the Star Wars saga and Indiana Jones series, Lucas also directed American Graffiti and THX 1138, as well as the producing a myriad of independent films. In 1971, he formed Lucasfilm, a fully-integrated entertainment company whose global businesses included Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, LucasArts, Lucas Licensing, Lucas Online, Lucasfilm Animation and Lucasfilm Singapore. Lucasfilm was sold to Disney in 2012.