Alex Funke (born October 12, 1944 in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

) is a special effects photographer.

Career

He worked with

Charles and Ray Eames Charles Eames ( Charles Eames, Jr) and Ray Eames ( Ray-Bernice Eames) were an American married couple of industrial designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture through the work of ...

for eleven years, a period he deemed important to his career success. His first Oscar was a shared one for '' Total Recall''. Funke became noted as an expert on miniatures and was brought to New Zealand for work on ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy.The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood by Kristin Thompson, pg 306
/ref> At the 75th and

76th Academy Awards The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2003 and took place on February 29, 2004, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

, he won Best Visual Effects for his work on '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' and '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'', respectively. He shared both wins with Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri and Randall William Cook.

Selected filmography

* 1977 – Powers of Ten * 1978 –

Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series) ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction television series created by Glen A. Larson and starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, and Dirk Benedict. The series follows the surviving humans as they flee in the fictional spacecraft ...

* 1979 –

Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...

* 1981 – Heavy Metal * 1988 – The Blob * 1989 –

The Abyss ''The Abyss'' is a 1989 American science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. When an American submarine sinks in the Caribbean, a US search and recovery tea ...

* 1990 – Total Recall - Shared an Academy Special Achievement Award for this. * 1991 – Grand Canyon * 1992 –

Freejack ''Freejack'' is a 1992 American science fiction cyberpunk action film directed by Geoff Murphy and starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins. The screenplay was written by Steven Pressfield, Ronald Shusett (who also pr ...

* 1992 –

The Lawnmower Man "The Lawnmower Man" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the May 1975 issue of ''Cavalier'' and later included in King's 1978 collection '' Night Shift''. Plot summary Harold Parkette is in need of a new lawn mowing service. Th ...

* 1995 – The Indian in the Cupboard * 1995 –

Waterworld ''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Char ...

* 1996 –

Executive Decision ''Executive Decision'' is a 1996 American action film directed by Stuart Baird in his directorial debut. The film stars Kurt Russell, Steven Seagal, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, David Suchet, and B.D. Wong. It depicts t ...

* 1996 – The Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace * 1997 – Starship Troopers * 1998 – Snake Eyes * 1998 – Mighty Joe Young * 1999 –

Mystery Men ''Mystery Men'' is a 1999 American superhero comedy film directed by Kinka Usher (in his feature-length directorial debut) and written by Neil Cuthbert, loosely based on Bob Burden's '' Flaming Carrot Comics'', and starring Ben Stiller, Hank Azar ...

* 2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring * 2002 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers * 2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King * 2005 –

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

* 2008 – The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Funke, Alex Special effects people People from Santa Barbara, California 1944 births Living people Special Achievement Academy Award winners Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Best Visual Effects BAFTA Award winners