by Kathryn Perry

Every day, when Gretchen Libby goes to work at Industrial Light and Magic, she faces the same challenge. And every day, it’s a little bit different.

Gretchen Libby's first foray into film with George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic was as special effects associate producer for the team believably recreating the possible last minutes of the breaching Andrea Gail in The Perfect Storm.

“Basically, it’s how are we going to create this shot that nobody’s ever seen, and how can we make it the most awesome thing you’ve ever seen on screen?” the Portland native says.

Libby grew up in Buxton and graduated from Bonny Eagle High School in 1986, then received a degree in communications from Boston College. After working with a lobbyist in Washington, DC—“It wasn’t for me,” she decided—she moved to New York and became production assistant for a company that made miniature models for commercials. “I worked in production on commercials and then met some folks working at a small digital-effects company. When I was exposed to the digital effects, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s the future. I need to go work there.’

“I learned a ton about post-production and visual effects, which prepared me for the move to ILM. I moved to San Francisco in 1997.” Now, Libby’s one of two executive producers at ILM, overseeing the creation of bids for film contracts—that is, producing examples of how ILM would make a scene look and the estimated cost of that effect—managing budgets, schedules, and staff, and acting as a liaison between the studio and the visual-effects team. “The first project I worked on at ILM was The Perfect Storm.”

The company creates some of the most extravagant visual effects in the movie business. They’re especially known for their groundbreaking digital animation, as seen in Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones series.

“You’re gonna call us to do the robots from Transformers or the maelstrom from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” Libby says. “The bigger and more challenging type of work.”

Sometimes, the results seem to stretch the laws of physics. “We serve two masters,” she says. “Photo realism and ‘the movies.’ We say: ‘First, make it real; second, make it look cool.’

“We’re often required to create visuals nobody’s ever done before. Water is always a challenge. [For The Perfect Storm] we went out on a boat in San Francisco Bay to look at water up close; half of us got sick. We look at really detailed info: What does the wake look like? What kind of foam comes off of it? At what point does the white foam become mist? Wolfgang Peterson, the director, wanted to be very true to the story.

“We get to work with some of the best filmmakers out there,” she continues. “I work with really smart people who do cutting-edge things, technology-wise and visually. And I work for George Lucas.”

Libby describes herself as a fan of “all the Star Wars movies.” So it was a particular thrill for her to work directly with Lucas on the prequel Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Her favorite moment? “The Yoda fight sequence, where he fights Count Dooku. My unit worked on those 150 seconds for over three months.

“During Episode II, I worked with George every day,” she says. “Being exposed to the way he thinks about filmmaking and being able to collaborate directly with him—that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, really rewarding.”

Did she find it intimidating searching for the magic beside the man who’d created some of her favorite childhood movies?

“Not at all,” Libby says. “It’s a really close-knit family here—some people have worked here for 30 years—and he’s pretty approachable. We have company parties, and he’s at every one. A lot of people want to meet him, and I think he goes just to let them do that. He’s a very kind person.”

As for behind-the-scenes info about the characters Libby’s helped bring to the screen, she offers, “Davy Jones, the [Pirates of the Caribbean] character that won us the Oscar, is completely computer-generated in the second and third movies.” Actor Bill Nighy did show up on set so the other players could react to him, but the Davy Jones we see on the screen “came from software.” And the monkey? At least he’s real, right? “Computer generated,” Libby laughs.

Despite her hectic schedule, Libby stays in touch with her Maine roots. Her family, including her father, brother, and nieces—and many of her friends—still live in southern Maine. Twice a year, she and her nine-year-old son, Alex—she remains “close friends” with her ex-husband, “a French guy”—fly back east to spend some time in Vacationland.

“We stay about a month in the summer, and one to two weeks in the winter, for Christmas break,” Libby says. “I have a cabin at Sugarloaf, so in the winter we go there, skiing and snowboarding. In the summer, we generally rent a house and stay at the beach, at Pine Point or Higgins Beach.

“I talk about Maine all the time—it’s such a special place. This year, I’ve invited some folks out to stay at the beach, which will be great!

“I like to go out to the Old Port to eat,” she says. “I especially like Fore Street restaurant. We go for the food and the wine. And anyplace with lobster! It’s my favorite food. Lobster and fried clams. Also, pretty much the first thing I get when I get off the plane is an Amato’s Italian. We don’t have them on the West Coast.”

Up next for Libby and her team at ILM are multiple projects, including Star Trek XI, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Transformers 2, and Confessions of a Shopaholic.

“We’ve been a part of all the Harry Potter movies so far,” Libby says. “For example, in the last movie, we did the Dementors and the Thestrals. We’re looking forward to continuing that tradition in the sixth installment and bringing magic to the screen.

“I work in a very creative business, and at one of the longest-running, most-successful companies in that business,” she says. “I’m really fortunate.”