Craig Foster, the director of the Oscar-winning octopus movie, lost his million-pound residence after a mysterious fire engulfed his opulent oceanfront estate in South Africa while he was away.
The 52-year-old filmmaker delighted audiences around with his film My Octopus Teacher, about his bond with a female octopus from the Atlantic Ocean.
His unusual relationship with the mollusk was shown in the movie, which won him an Academy Award at the 2021 BAFTAs. The movie showed him seeing his eight-tentacled companion every day for a year.
He and his Indian film director wife Swati Thiyagarajan reside in a four-bedroom house in Simonstown that has views of False Bay, where he shot the Best Documentary Feature.
The £1 million home was completely destroyed in the disaster, although no one was injured in the fire that high winds converted into a fireball. The fire was ultimately put out by firefighters from nearby fire stations.
“It was a really significant fire and the roof was engulfed in flames, but fortunately nobody was wounded and the animals inside all got out,” neighbor Matthew Steward said. It’s a good thing it didn’t spread to neighboring houses.
The Simon’s Town Fire and Rescue and the Cape Medical Response responded to the upscale Murdock Valley fire, which broke out at 10 a.m. on Thursday. The fire was put out in two hours.
‘That home was the HQ for My Octopus Teacher and it even appeared in the film quite a bit, and it had become a part of our local history here,’ said another neighbor who wished to remain anonymous.
Craig and Swati would be devastated, she said, since there may be decades’ worth of their filmmaking inside, along with notes, priceless research, and perhaps the Academy Award they received for their film.