Chris Walas - Misplaced Pages

American special effects artist (born September 17, 1953)

Chris Walas
Walas in his self made documentary detailing his life's work
Born	Christopher James Walas 1955 (age 69–70) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Other names	Christopher Walas Christopher J. Walas
Occupations	Special effects artist Special make-up effects artist Film director Film producer Screenwriter
Years active	1978–present

Christopher James Walas (born 1955) is an American special effects artist, make-up effects artist, film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his work on the film The Fly (1986), for which he won an Academy Award and was nominated for two British Academy Film Awards.

Biography

His main body of work is with special effects in a wide variety of films, from science fiction to action-adventure. His work on The Fly led to his directorial debut on The Fly II. He also won an Academy Award for Special Effects Make-up on The Fly and is well known for his creation of the Gremlins. Walas was also partially responsible for creating the famous sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Nazis melt from the intense heat created by the Ark of the Covenant. Walas created false heads for Ronald Lacey, Wolf Kahler, and Paul Freeman.

Filmographies

Special effects

2002	Dark Heaven	designer: angels
1991	Curse III: Blood Sacrifice	monster design
1991	Naked Lunch	special effects and monster design
1990	Arachnophobia	creature effects supervisor
1989	The Fly II	effects designer and creator: Chris Walas Inc.
1987	House II: The Second Story	makeup and creature effects designer
1986	The Fly	creature effects
1985	Enemy Mine	aliens creator and designer: Chris Walas Inc. special creature makeup and effects director: Chris Walas Inc.
1984	Gremlins	creator: Gremlins
1983	Return of the Jedi	creature consultant
1982	E.T. the Extraterrestrial	model maker (uncredited)
1981	Dragonslayer	close-up dragon: ILM
1980	Airplane!	special projects
1980	Humanoids from the Deep	special effects (uncredited)
1979	Up from the Depths	special effects
1978	Piranha	special properties

Makeup effects

1995	Jade	special makeup effects
1995	Virtuosity	special makeup effects
1989	Tales from the Crypt: "The Switch"	special makeup effects
1985	Enemy Mine	special makeup effects
1984	Gremlins	special makeup effects
1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark	special makeup effects: ILM
1981	Caveman	creator: abominable snowman
1981	Scanners	special makeup effects
1980	Galaxina	special makeup effects
1979	Something Waits in the Dark (later known as Screamers)	special makeup effects, U.S. filmed additions to L'isola degli uomini pesce

Visual effects

2002

Dark Heaven

visual effects

Director

1992	The Vagrant
1990	Tales from the Crypt: "'Til Death"
1989	The Fly II

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1985	12th Saturn Awards	Best Special Effects	Gremlins	Won
1986	13th Saturn Awards	Best Make-up	Enemy Mine	Nominated
1987	59th Academy Awards	Best Makeup	The Fly	Won
1987	14th Saturn Awards	Best Make-up		Won
1988	41st British Academy Film Awards	Best Make-up Artist		Nominated
1988	41st British Academy Film Awards	Best Special Effects		Nominated
1993	2nd Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Makeup Effects	Naked Lunch	Nominated

References

Staff (2 June 2022). "From The Fly to A History of Violence: our writers pick their favourite Cronenberg movies". The Guardian. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
Chris Eggertsen (28 April 2016). "Bring on the Gore: Top Ten Practical Effects in Horror!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
Kelso Jacks (29 March 2020). "How Raiders of the Lost Ark's Face Melt Was Filmed (Without CGI)". Screen Rant. Retrieved July 8, 2022.

External links

Chris Walas at IMDb

Awards for Chris Walas

v t e Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling
1981–2000	1981: Rick Baker 1982: Sarah Monzani and Michèle Burke 1983: None given this year 1984: Paul LeBlanc and Dick Smith 1985: Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek 1986: Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis 1987: Rick Baker 1988: Ve Neill, Steve La Porte, and Robert Short 1989: Manlio Rocchetti, Lynn Barber, and Kevin Haney 1990: Doug Drexler and John Caglione Jr. 1991: Jeff Dawn and Stan Winston 1992: Michèle Burke, Greg Cannom, and Matthew W. Mungle 1993: Greg Cannom, Ve Neill, and Yolanda Toussieng 1994: Rick Baker, Ve Neill, and Yolanda Toussieng 1995: Lois Burwell, Peter Frampton, and Paul Pattison 1996: Rick Baker and David LeRoy Anderson 1997: Rick Baker and David LeRoy Anderson 1998: Jenny Shircore 1999: Christine Blundell and Trefor Proud 2000: Rick Baker and Gail Ryan
2001–2020	2001: Peter Owen and Richard Taylor 2002: Beatrice De Alba and John E. Jackson 2003: Peter King and Richard Taylor 2004: Bill Corso and Valli O'Reilly 2005: Howard Berger and Tami Lane 2006: David Martí and Montse Ribé 2007: Jan Archibald and Didier Lavergne 2008: Greg Cannom 2009: Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow 2010: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey 2011: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland 2012: Julie Dartnell and Lisa Westcott 2013: Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews 2014: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier 2015: Damian Martin, Lesley Vanderwalt, and Elka Wardega 2016: Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini, and Christopher Nelson 2017: David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick, and Kazuhiro Tsuji 2018: Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney 2019: Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan, and Vivian Baker 2020: Sergio López-Rivera, Mia Neal, and Jamika Wilson
2021–present	2021: Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram, and Justin Raleigh 2022: Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Annemarie Bradley 2023: Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston (2023)
Academy Award for Best Makeup before 2012

v t e Saturn Award for Best Make-up
1970s	Dick Smith (1973) William J. Tuttle (1974/75) William J. Tuttle (1976) Rick Baker and Stuart Freeborn (1977) William J. Tuttle and Rick Baker (1978) William J. Tuttle (1979)
1980s	Dick Smith/Dick Smith (1980) Rick Baker (1981) Dorothy J. Pearl (1982) Phil Tippett and Stuart Freeborn (1983) Stan Winston (1984) Tom Savini (1985) Chris Walas (1986) Rob Bottin and Stephan Dupuis (1987) Ve Neill, Steve La Porte, and Robert Short (1988) John Caglione Jr., Doug Drexler, and Cheri Minns (1989/90)
1990s	Carl Fullerton and Neal Martz (1991) Stan Winston and Ve Neill (1992) Kevin Haney (1993) Rick Baker and Ve Neill (1994) Jean Ann Black and Rob Bottin (1995) Rick Baker and David LeRoy Anderson (1996) Rick Lazzarini and Gordon J. Smith (1997) Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger (1998) Nick Dudman and Aileen Seaton (1999)
2000s	Rick Baker and Gail Rowell-Ryan (2000) Greg Cannom and Wesley Wofford (2001) Peter Owen and Peter King (2002) Richard Taylor and Peter King (2003) Jake Garber, Matt Rose, and Mike Elizalde (2004) Howard Berger, Nikki Gooley, and Greg Nicotero (2005) Todd Masters and Dan Rebert (2006) Ve Neill and Martin Samuel (2007) Greg Cannom (2008) Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow (2009)
2010s	Rick Baker and Dave Elsey (2010) Dave Elsey, Fran Needham, and Conor O'Sullivan (2011) Heike Merker, Daniel Parker, and Jeremy Woodhead (2012) Donald Mowat (2013) David White and Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou (2014) Neal Scanlan (2015) Joel Harlow and Monica Huppert (2016) Joel Harlow and Ken Diaz (2017) John Blake and Brian Sipe (2018/19) Amanda Knight and Neal Scanlan (2019/20)
2020s	Love Larson, Donald Mowat and Eva von Bahr (2021/22) Donald Mowat (2022/23)
Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.

v t e Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
1970s	Marcel Vercoutere (1972) Joe Dante and Mark Goldblatt (1973) Douglas Knapp, Bill Taylor, John Carpenter, and Dan O'Bannon (1974/75) L. B. Abbott (1976) John Dykstra and John Stears (1977) Colin Chilvers (1978) Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, and Richard Yuricich (1979)
1980s	Brian Johnson and Richard Edlund (1980) Richard Edlund (1981) Carlo Rambaldi and Dennis Muren (1982) Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, and Ken Ralston (1983) Chris Walas (1984) Kevin Pike (1985) Stan Winston, Robert Skotak and Dennis Skotak (1986) Peter Kuran, Phil Tippett, Rob Bottin, and Rocco Gioffre (1987) George Gibbs, Ken Ralston, and Richard Williams (1988) Ken Ralston (1989/90)
1990s	Stan Winston (1991) Ken Ralston, Tom Woodruff Jr., and Alec Gillis (1992) Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Michael Lantieri (1993) John Bruno (1994) Stan Parks (1995) Volker Engel, Clay Pinney, Douglas Smith, and Joe Viskocil (1996) Phil Tippett, Scott E. Anderson, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., John Richardson (1997) Volker Engel, Patrick Tatopoulos, Karen E. Goulekas, and Clay Pinney (1998) Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires (1999)
2000s	Scott E. Anderson, Craig Hayes, Scott Stokdyk, and Stan Parks (2000) Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston, Michael Lantieri (2001) Rob Coleman, Pablo Helman, John Knoll, and Ben Snow (2002) Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, and Alex Funke (2003) John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara, and John Frazier (2004) Joe Letteri, Richard Taylor, Christian Rivers, and Brian Van't Hul (2005) John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charles Gibson, and Allen Hall (2006) Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, and John Frazier (2007) Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Timothy Webber, and Paul J. Franklin (2008) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
2010s	Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Paul J. Franklin, and Peter Bebb (2010) Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett (2011) Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick (2012) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould (2013) Paul J. Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, and Scott R. Fisher (2014) Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Chris Corbould (2015) John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel, and Neil Corbould (2016) Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, and Dan Sudick (2017) Dan DeLeeuw, Matt Aitken, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick (2018/19) Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach, and Dominic Tuohy (2019/20)
2020s	John “D.J.” Des Jardin, Bryan Hirota, Kevin Andrew Smith, and Mike Meinardus (2021/22) Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett (2022/23)
Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.

Categories: