Juan-Luis Sanchez, or Juan Luis Sanchez, is a digital artist who worked for Industrial Light & Magic between 2001 and 2006. In that time he worked on Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
Before working for ILM, Sanchez worked for Rhythm and Hues, working as technical pipeline supervisor and later digital effects animator in movies such as Mousehunt (1997, Gore Verbinski), Babe: Pig in the City (1998, George Miller) and Mystery Men (1999, Kinka Usher). He also worked for Digital Domain as effects artist in The Grinch (2000, Ron Howard).
Sanchez began working for ILM in 2001. Under the tutelage of creature supervisor James Tooley, he helped lead the creature simulation team on Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (2002, George Lucas), setting up the costume for an all-digital Yoda. He was also filmed as a Temple Jedi but he was not seen in the final shot. However, he did double for Christopher Lee as Count Dooku for several establishing shots in the film. Due to his work, he can be seen in documentary From Puppets to Pixels: Digital Characters in Star Wars Episode II (2002).
He went on to lead the cloth setup for Dobby The House Elf in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002, Chris Columbus).
He worked for ILM as lead simulation artist in films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski) and its sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003, Jonathan Mostow), Van Helsing (2004, Stephen Sommers) or The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005, Andrew Adamson). He returned to the Star Wars saga for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005, George Lucas) as digital clothing supervisor.
He was also responsible for supervising the clothing on the digital replacement of Yoda in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (1999, George Lucas), work that was completed in 2003 between Episodes II and III, but only come to light with the release of the Blu-Ray editions in 2011.
As an extra, double or motion-capture performer, he has performed uncredited work in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002, Chris Columbus) as a Quidditch official, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003, Jonathan Mostow) as a Skynet scientist. He has performed motion capture for both Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Gore Verbinski) as a pirate during the Moonlight Serenade sequence of that film and also in the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski) in the dice game sequence. His motions were captured as the basis for a crowd of clones in The Island (2005, Michael Bay), and he was one of many extras in War of the Worlds (2005, Steven Spielberg). He also reprised his role as Christopher Lee's double as Count Dooku for one brief shot of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005, George Lucas) in which Dooku's hands are sliced off by Anakin (who was played in that shot by John Knoll).
Concluding his work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, Gore Verbinski) he joined Lucasfilm Animation for several months, based at Skywalker Ranch to work on the animated feature Strange Magic (2015, Gary Rydstrom), developing early character studies and ideas.
From 2007 onwards he has worked in both the UK and California on a variety of film projects, including Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix (2007, David Yates), the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010, Samuel Bayer) and Let Me In (2010, Matt Reeves).
In his most significant role since leaving ILM he was the lead for the digital space suits on Gravity (2013, Alfonso Cuaron) whilst at Framestore in London, for which he was recognised with a VES Award for Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture in February 2014. He has worked on Edge of Tomorrow (2014, Doug Liman) and was the creature effects supervisor for Paddington (2014, Paul King), also at Framestore London.
He presently lives and works in Spain.
He has recently focused on projects unrelated to visual effects, including a daily writing project in which he sends a postcard each day to whoever wishes to receive one.[1]
In print, he has contributed to Dressing a Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars. His personal diaries were featured in Star Wars Insider, and he contributed to the book Special Effects: The History and Technique by Richard Rickitt and Ray Harryhausen. He also maintains a blog where he talks about his experiences as a VFX artist and his time at Industrial Light and Magic.[2]
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