Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Best of Summer: “Nope” VFX Supervisor Guillaume Rocheron on Creating That Spectacular Alien Creature

As we’ve done for the past few summers, we’ve compiled a few of our favorite interviews to highlight in this last week of August. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but a little taste of some of the great conversations we’ve had during these hot summer months. Bring on sweater season.  Jordan Peele’s ...

By Daron James  |  August 30, 2022

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How “Where the Crawdads Sing” VFX Team Elevated the Mystery and Wonder of the Marsh

Deep in the forgotten marsh of North Carolina, a magical world quietly flourishes for those who seek it. Where the Crawdads Sing has plenty of romance, but the true love story blooms between Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and the wildlife that shares her home. The untouched nature of Kya’s world is rarer now than in 1965, ...

By Kelle Long  |  August 26, 2022

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

“Nope” VFX Supervisor Guillaume Rocheron on Creating That Spectacular Alien Creature

Jordan Peele’s extraterrestrial spectacle Nope has a secret you may not know about: the sky itself is a digital recreation. And among the roughly 700 effects shots in the film, VFX supervisor Guillaume Rocheron (1917, Life of Pi) admits it’s one of the most rewarding as “most people don’t realize they’re looking at a giant ...

By Daron James  |  August 15, 2022

Interview

Producer Special/Visual Effects

Breaking Down the Astonishing Technology Behind Ava DuVernay’s “One Perfect Shot”

The cathedral wedding in John M. Chu’s Crazy Rich Asians. Diana Prince boldly crossing a World War I battlefield in Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman. Lisa stuck on a zip-line suspended above a raucous crowd in downtown New Orleans, in Malcolm D. Lee’s Girls’ Trip. Cathartic, lovely, or almost distressingly hilarious, these scenes are indelible. What ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  June 14, 2022

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How the “Moonfall” VFX Team Tapped Physics to Destroy the Earth

Don’t look up! The moon is on a collision course with Earth. Filmmaker Roland Emmerich, who brought us Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012, returns with another global disaster movie in Moonfall (premiering February 4) that has a colossal twist. This time it’s up to NASA executive Jo Fowler (Halle Berry), astronaut Brian ...

By Daron James  |  February 4, 2022

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

“The Matrix Resurrections” VFX Supervisor Dan Glass Takes The Red Pill

In The Matrix Resurrections, there is an action sequence where Neo and Trinity jump off a skyscraper together in order to evade agents closing in on them. They float in the air for a few seconds as the sun rises behind them and we’re left wondering if they’ll fly off together. While speaking with visual ...

By Daron James  |  January 3, 2022

Interview

Cinematographer Special/Visual Effects

“Nightmare Alley” Cinematographer & VFX Supervisor on Creating Guillermo del Toro’s Carnival Noir

Most of the films coming out now – whether award contenders, tent poles, or any combination thereof – share similar stories apart from whatever genre the movie itself belongs to: namely, the story of the Covid delay, and how it affected production. So it was for Guillermo del Toro’s version of Nightmare Alley, another rendering ...

By Mark London Williams  |  December 17, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

The Future of Immersive VFX Arrives With Dark Bay at Studio Babelsberg

The future of visual effects may be moving from post-production and right onto the set. At Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, Germany, a new stage recently started helping filmmakers make the switch. The 109-year-old studio complex’s new Dark Bay Visual Production Studio is an LED-enabled stage that allows VFX to become part of production while shooting ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  September 21, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How the Emmy-Nominated “WandaVision” VFX Team Made Magic

Laden with special effects, big-name stars, and an audacious high concept, WandaVision represented a big swing for Marvel Studios when it debuted in January on Disney+. The bet paid off. Creator Jac Schaeffer’s series quickly became one of the season’s most talked-about new shows and it’s now validated all that buzz with a whopping 23 ...

By Hugh Hart  |  August 11, 2021

Interview

Hair/Makeup Special/Visual Effects

How the Creative Team Behind “Army of the Dead” Built An Apocalyptic World

In Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, a ragtag group of mercenaries embarks on a life-changing $200 million dollar heist. The problem isn’t that the money is hidden in a vault underneath the Las Vegas strip—although that’s not an insignificant detail—but rather the tens of thousands of zombies lurking in their path as an outbreak ...

By Daron James  |  May 26, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

“Dickinson” Visual Effects Supervisor Lotta Forssman on a Sumptuous Season Two

Dickinson wrapped up its critically acclaimed second season this past February. The show’s premise, you might conclude from its title, is that we’re getting an up-close look at one of the most notoriously private American geniuses this country has ever produced. Only Dickinson, created by Alena Smith, takes the legendary poet Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) and dismantles the ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  May 3, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Industrial Light & Magic Senior Creature Artist Dane Larocque on Constructing Unforgettable Creatures

Dane Larocque hails from rural British Columbia and Alberta and grew up in what he calls a “hardcore western rodeo family.” A career in visual effects, at arguably the most prestigious VFX company on the planet, wasn’t something he grew up imagining as an option. Yet Larocque had an enduring passion for film and was ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  April 21, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How “The Unholy” Visual Effects Team Created Biblical Scares During Scary Times

“In the early innings, as the pandemic was ramping up, it was like looking out at the ocean and you see a storm coming, and you’re not sure you can get to shore before the storm gets there.” That’s an observation that might describe most of the past year; certainly, it’s politics, work and school ...

By Mark London Williams  |  April 15, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

“Godzilla vs. Kong” VFX Supervisor on Creating Titan Title Match of the Ages

John ‘D.J’. Des Jardin has been a go-to visual effects supervisor in Hollywood for decades, and he’s widely known as one of the best and nicest guys in the business. You can see his inventive, creative touch in The Matrix, X-Men, and Mission Impossible franchises. His work can be seen on Ang Lee’s achingly beautiful Crouching Tiger, ...

By Leslie Combemale  |  April 14, 2021

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

VFX Supervisor Laurent Spillemaecker on “The Umbrella Academy” Season 2

How were the superpowered siblings over at The Umbrella Academy going to top season 1’s armageddon-causing shenanigans? How about by dropping the whole family in Dallas, in the early 1960s, and setting their family squabbles in the context of the JFK assassination? The second season of Steve Blackman and Jeremy Slater’s Netflix’s show, based on the ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 15, 2020

Interview

Producer Special/Visual Effects

“Brave New World” VFX Supervisor & Producer Thomas Horton on Peacock’s Ambitious New Series

For visual effects supervisor Thomas Horton, Peacock’s new series Brave New World, which premiered on July 15, presented a serious challenge. Horton was tasked with overseeing the streaming channel’s ambitious adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s legendary sci-fi novel, which despite being published in 1932 still contains so many unkillable themes and foundational science fiction tropes it remains ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 1, 2020

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Oscar-Nominated Visual Effects Supervisor Pablo Helman on De-Aging the Iconic Actors of The Irishman

We’re looking back at some of our interviews with this year’s Oscar nominees in the lead-up to this Sunday’s telecast. This story was originally published on December 6. In 2015, visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman was working with Martin Scorsese on Silence, a stirring film about the Christian faith during 17th century Japan. The two ...

By Daron James  |  February 6, 2020

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

1917’s Oscar-Nominated VFX Supervisor on Creating Relentless Immersion

“I think what’s really kind of interesting is all the movies this year are using visual effects for widely different reasons,” notes 1917’s Oscar and VES-nominated visual effects supervisor, Guillaume Rocheron. And in an Academy FX slate that ranges from Avengers: Endgame to The Irishman, he has a point. For the Visual Effects Society’s awards, ...

By Mark London Williams  |  January 23, 2020

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Oscar Watch: The Lion King’s VFX Supervisor’s Groundbreaking New Techniques

Earlier this year, Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King landed as both a critical and box office hit. Pride Rock looked stunning. The animals appeared real. No creatures were harmed in the making of the film, and Beyoncé herself played Nala, protagonist Simba’s level-headed love interest and future queen. Alongside a star-studded cast, The ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  January 8, 2020

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Best of 2019: Avengers: Endgame Visual Effects Supervisor on Happy Hulk, Lebowski Thor & More

*We’re reposting some of our favorite interviews of 2019. Happy Holidays! The Marvel universe’s supersized super-villain Thanos (Josh Brolin, plus CG) last year dealt a heavy hand to overpopulation in Avengers: Infinity War, wiping out half of humanity with a snap of his fingers warmed by his Infinity Stone encrusted gauntlet. Five years onward the ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  December 20, 2019