Eric Saindon, an American visual effects artist who won an Oscar for Avatar: The Way of Water on Sunday, was taken to a hospital during the ceremony with severe pain and eventually underwent surgery for a rupture in his small intestine, glamsquad reports
On March 12, Saindon, 53, shared the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects with Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, and Daniel Barrett. He worked as a senior visual effects supervisor on James Cameron’s blockbuster film.
His mother, Lila Saindon, told NBC affiliate News Center Maine that Saindon had been experiencing “serious pains” all day and had visited a hospital as a result before the ceremony.
Doctors suspected that Saindon had appendicitis, followed by kidney stones.
He was treated for pain, but ‘determined to be at the Oscars,’ according to his mother, he put on his tuxedo while in the hospital and headed to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the ceremony.
After accepting his award with his three colleagues at the show, Saindon was driven back to the hospital in a limousine.
Doctors operated on him after it was discovered he had a rupture in his small intestine.
‘I’m just glad he left when he did,’ said a rep for the VFX production company Weta FX on Monday. A rupture is serious business.’
According to Saindon’s mother, he was later transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
According to his mother, he will not be allowed to return to his home in New Zealand for another month.
Saindon’s Oscar win was his first after being nominated twice for Best Achievement in Visual Effects (along with Letteri) for his work on 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and 2013’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
The Avatar team beat out nominees from All Quiet on the Western Front, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Batman, and Top Gun: Maverick in the category.