Joe Letteri

Joe Letteri (born 1957 in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) is Senior VFX Supervisor of Wētā FX in New Zealand, formerly called Weta Digital, which was instrumental in the making of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001 - 2003).
In the production of the latter two The Lord of the Rings films, Letteri was VFX Supervisor, working closely with Christian Rivers, Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, and others in animation. For Weta Digital's work in those films, Letteri won Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. Letteri gives commentary on the Weta designers' creation of the Gollum character for the films, in Michael Pellerin's documentary The Taming of Sméagol.
In the 1990s, Letteri had worked in the production of Star Wars: A New Hope as part of George Lucas' company Industrial Light & Magic. After The Lord of the Rings films, he worked with Peter Jackson again on King Kong (2005), and then on The Hobbit film trilogy (2012 - 2014).
He has also been involved through Weta Digital on projects such as Night at the Museum (2006), Avatar (2009), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), The Jungle Book (2016), War of the Planet of the Apes (2017), Alita: Battle Angel (2019), Avengers: Endgame, Gemini Man, Black Widow (2021), the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).
==Documentary appearances==
*The Lord of the Rings film trilogy appendices
**Part Three: The Journey Continues  >  The Taming of Sméagol
**Part Four: The Battle for Middle-earth Begins  >  Visual Effects  >  Weta Digital
**Part Six: The Passing of an Age  >  Visual Effects  >  Weta Digital
== External links ==
* 
* Bio at Wētā FX
* "Joe Letteri is the Master Behind Performance Capture" article at IndieWire
== External links ==
* Jamie Selkirk
* Richard Taylor
* Tania Rodger
Category:Real people
Category:American individuals
Category:Members of Weta
Category:Film VFX artists