Occupation Sound engineer Years active 1972 – 2014 | Name Kirk Francis Role Sound Design | |
Born August 27, 1947 (age 76) ( 1947-08-27 ) Oakland, California, United States Awards BAFTA Award for Best Sound, Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing, Satellite Award for Best Sound Similar People Scott Millan, Karen Baker Landers, Per Hallberg, Christopher Rouse, Andy Nelson | ||
GARY HAMSON & KIRK FRANCIS INTERVIEW FOR VICS
Kirk H. Francis (born August 27, 1947) was a production sound mixer in the motion picture industry from 1968 through 2014. He mixed production sound for over 60 films, including 12 Years a Slave, Bull Durham, Under Fire, Wonder Boys, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Sleepless in Seattle, Tin Cup, and I Dismember Mama.
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Francis was given the 2008 Academy Award for Best Sound for The Bourne Ultimatum, and won two BAFTA awards, for The Bourne Ultimatum in 2008 and LA Confidential in 1998 [1]. For LA Confidential he also received an Academy Award nomination in 1998. He received three Cinema Audio Society Award nominations for his work on LA Confidential, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum.
Personal life
In lieu of college, Francis hitch-hiked in 1967 to Goa, India, where he ran a small export business. Upon his return to the US in 1968, he began his career in sound. He is an environmental activist who helped spearhead the saving of the Putney Woods on Whidbey Island, Washington from certain clear cutting and development. His wife Leslie Larch was once a can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France. In 2014, after having spent almost 46 years of his life standing in one spot for 14-16 hours every day while wearing headphones and listening to the far from mellifluous sounds of what amounts to nothing more than an industrial work site, Francis retired from the "movie biz" to better tend his coffee plants. He does not accept work calls. He and Leslie live on the Big Island of Hawai'i.