The company's clients include Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Sony Pictures Entertainment, HBO, Paramount Pictures, The Weinstein Company, Dimension Films, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Mercedes Benz, Verizon, Pantene, MGA Entertainment, Carlsberg, Kmart, and Braun.  In addition to “Tower Heist”, Gravity’s other recent feature film credits include “Crazy, Stupid, Love”,  “The Adjustment Bureau”, “Arthur”, “The Other Guys”, “Salt”, “The Reader”, and “Ghost Town.”  The company’s television credits include HBO’s “Bored to Death”, “The Sopranos”, and “Sex and The City.”

Gravity’s New York office is located at 315 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY, 10017.  The phone is 212/986-1584.  The company’s West Coast office is located in the Lantana Building, 3000 West Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA, 90404.  The phone is 310/264-3909.  For more information, please visit www.gravityworld.com.

ABOUT “TOWER HEIST”:

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in “Tower Heist,” an action-comedy about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them.  After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the unique revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.  www.towerheist.net

Press Release from Phosphene

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – November 7, 2011 – Independent design and visual-effects company Phosphene announced today that it created elaborate CG environments for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment’s new action-comedy starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy, “Tower Heist.” Building an elegant swimming pool and deck on the roof of an opulent Manhattan condo tower or the interior of a three-cab, 60-story elevator shaft is all in a day’s work for the company.
 
The Phosphene visual-effects team, under the direction of Creative Director/VFX Supervisor John Bair, augmented and manipulated the physical environment in approximately 70 very complex 3D CG set extensions for Universal Pictures’ new action-comedy, “Tower Heist”, probably the biggest film effects project ever completed in NYC. The film, directed by Brett Ratner, was released nationally on November 4, 2011.

Explained Phosphene co-founder and VFX executive producer Vivian Connolly: “New York’s VFX infrastructure and community is growing at a very fast pace, and it has been amazing to be able to take on a film this size and show the worldwide film community how capable the New York visual-effects talent pool is. We are experiencing a trend of wonderful directors finishing their films here and feel incredibly fortunate to be part of the growth of the visual-effects community in the city.”

Said Ratner of the collaboration: “John Bair and his company, Phosphene, with a very small group of artists, were able to deliver shots for ‘Tower Heist’ with absolutely no compromises and perfect execution. It would have taken any other huge VFX company months to pull off what Phosphene did in a matter of weeks with perfection...there were no CBB’s [could be betters] when it came to Phosphene’s shots!“

For the exterior of The Tower (in real life, Trump International Hotel & Tower at Columbus Circle on Manhattan’s Westside),  Phosphene created a luxurious outdoor environment for the film’s Wall Street billionaire, Arthur Shaw. Removing the array of satellite dishes and technological equipment on the existing building, Phosphene replaced the roof with an expansive swimming pool—with a floor that sports a painted $100 bill—and a roof deck. These digital replacements were vital for the numerous aerial shots, as well as shots that required the addition of city vistas behind the film’s actors.