/ Emilio Ruiz "The Wizard"
Jorge Vidal
On the occasion of an Exhibition in Dragazno (November 2021), a village one hour from Madrid that was a film studio decades ago, I have been lucky enough to appreciate closely some of the work of the master Emilio Ruiz, known as "The Wizard".
Emilio was creator among other effects, of the models of “Dune”, the original David Lynch's at a time when there was no digital and therefore.
It's quite sad that this craft has been lost. Now it is so easy to use digital tools that it is devaluing both the ability to do it and the effect it produces.
On a curious note, B-movie director Juan Piquer Simón bought the Dragazno "studios" to produce his own films.
It seems that in the archive of the Filmoteca there are quite a lot of material of Emilio and I suppose among other old school effects artists, gathering dust. Commercial vision is needed, because in other countries there would be a museum dedicated to all this work and a public paying to see it.
As a consolation we are left with the book "Rolling around the world", very difficult to find and that is a bible for special effects. Secret knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation and that, however, with the digital era seems to have been almost completely abandoned.
The material in the book corresponds to that famous documentary by Sigfrid Monleón "The Last Trick”, which is a true marvel.
Thanks to Emilio Ruiz for his legacy and to all those who preserve it.