Alex Funke
American photographer
title: "Alex Funke" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-special-effects-people", "1944-births", "living-people", "special-achievement-academy-award-winners", "best-visual-effects-academy-award-winners", "best-visual-effects-bafta-award-winners", "mass-media-people-from-santa-barbara,-california"] description: "American photographer" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Funke" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American photographer ::
Alex Funke (born October 12, 1944, in Santa Barbara, California) is a special effects photographer.
Career
He worked with Charles and Ray Eames for eleven years, a period he deemed important to his career success. His first Oscar was a shared win 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. At the 75th and 76th Academy Awards, 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 awards with Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, and Randall William Cook.
Selected filmography
- 1977 – Powers of Ten
- 1978 – Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
- 1979 – Buck Rogers
- 1981 – Heavy Metal
- 1988 – The Blob
- 1989 – The Abyss
- 1990 – Total Recall - Shared an Academy Special Achievement Award for this.
- 1991 – Grand Canyon
- 1992 – Freejack
- 1992 – The Lawnmower Man
- 1995 – The Indian in the Cupboard
- 1995 – Waterworld
- 1996 – Executive Decision
- 1996 – The Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace
- 1997 – Starship Troopers
- 1998 – Snake Eyes
- 1998 – Mighty Joe Young
- 1999 – Mystery Men
- 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
- 2008 – The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
- 2015 – Fast & Furious 7
- 2017 – Blade Runner 2049
References
References
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=JJGeC8kqrEUC&dq=%22alex+funke%22+effects&pg=PA90 Charles and Ray Eames: designers of the twentieth century by Pat Kirkham, pg 90]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=MOwdgVQqzdsC&dq=%22alex+funke%22+effects&pg=PA290 Peter Jackson: from Prince of splatter to Lord of the rings by Ian Pryor, pg 290]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=1odPDYvGBygC&dq=%22alex+funke&pg=PA306 The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood by Kristin Thompson, pg 306]
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