John Lechago
- Director
- Visual Effects
- Writer
John Lechago was born in Kingston Ontario, Canada to an
Argentinean mother and a Spanish father. At age four the family moved
to Los Angeles California. From an early childhood Lechago was
fascinated by drawing, and would spend hours creating monsters and
reproducing what he saw around him. The rest of the time John would
spend playing with his fraternal twin brother. At age nine Lechago was
enrolled in traditional oil painting classes and thrived, winning
awards every year he was with the school. This strong base in
traditional painting would be very influential in Lechago's approach to
his filmmaking later in life.
John was also enrolled at an early age in self defense classes.
Coincidentally the school that his father chose for his young sons was
one owned by Chuck Norris. On the second
day of karate class the teachers showed a 16mm film print of Chuck
Norris's first film
Breaker! Breaker! (1977).
Lechago looked around the class realizing that most of the adults were
also getting beaten up by the head teacher in the film! Three and a
half years later at age ten, Lechago and his brother James were part of
a children's class in Chuck Norris's
A Force of One (1979). Being on
set and seeing how scenes are actually set up and shot was a major
motivator. It was at that point that Lechago decided that he would be
involved in the movies.
As a teenager John began studying screen writing and shooting scenes
with the video cameras of the day. He went so far as to found the
"Cinema Productions" club at his high school. After high school Lechago
attended the prestigious art school S.A.I.C. in Chicago, concentrating
in film, and then finished his degree in film at the Columbia College
Chicago.
When Lechago returned to Los Angeles he tried to get work on a movie
set, but as luck would have it there was an actor's strike at the time.
John had to get work with a corporate video company. A few months later
the owner of the company (out of curiosity) gave John $5,000 and
allowed him to use the cameras and office space to make a film. Lechago
teamed up with Vincent Bilancio and made his first feature
_Blood Gnome (Video 2004)_.
Despite being a very low budget movie and being shot in only 12 days,
it was distributed in Europe, Asia and North America.
Lechago would make one more film with Turning Point Productions
Magus (2008), before making his first self
produced feature Contagion (2010) formerly known as Bio Slime.
Lechago would follow up with writing and directing
_Killjoy 3 (Video 2010)_ For
Charles Band and Full Moon Features.
Argentinean mother and a Spanish father. At age four the family moved
to Los Angeles California. From an early childhood Lechago was
fascinated by drawing, and would spend hours creating monsters and
reproducing what he saw around him. The rest of the time John would
spend playing with his fraternal twin brother. At age nine Lechago was
enrolled in traditional oil painting classes and thrived, winning
awards every year he was with the school. This strong base in
traditional painting would be very influential in Lechago's approach to
his filmmaking later in life.
John was also enrolled at an early age in self defense classes.
Coincidentally the school that his father chose for his young sons was
one owned by Chuck Norris. On the second
day of karate class the teachers showed a 16mm film print of Chuck
Norris's first film
Breaker! Breaker! (1977).
Lechago looked around the class realizing that most of the adults were
also getting beaten up by the head teacher in the film! Three and a
half years later at age ten, Lechago and his brother James were part of
a children's class in Chuck Norris's
A Force of One (1979). Being on
set and seeing how scenes are actually set up and shot was a major
motivator. It was at that point that Lechago decided that he would be
involved in the movies.
As a teenager John began studying screen writing and shooting scenes
with the video cameras of the day. He went so far as to found the
"Cinema Productions" club at his high school. After high school Lechago
attended the prestigious art school S.A.I.C. in Chicago, concentrating
in film, and then finished his degree in film at the Columbia College
Chicago.
When Lechago returned to Los Angeles he tried to get work on a movie
set, but as luck would have it there was an actor's strike at the time.
John had to get work with a corporate video company. A few months later
the owner of the company (out of curiosity) gave John $5,000 and
allowed him to use the cameras and office space to make a film. Lechago
teamed up with Vincent Bilancio and made his first feature
_Blood Gnome (Video 2004)_.
Despite being a very low budget movie and being shot in only 12 days,
it was distributed in Europe, Asia and North America.
Lechago would make one more film with Turning Point Productions
Magus (2008), before making his first self
produced feature Contagion (2010) formerly known as Bio Slime.
Lechago would follow up with writing and directing
_Killjoy 3 (Video 2010)_ For
Charles Band and Full Moon Features.