Interview

Special/Visual Effects

De-Aging the Iconic Actors of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman

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 ended up having a conversation that ignited a technological advancement within the visual effects industry—one that will likely become a new standard in how images can be captured ...

By Daron James  |  December 6, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How Jojo Rabbit’s VFX Supervisor Helped Taika Waititi Create the Year’s Wildest Comedy

The most startling visuals in Jojo Rabbit (which opened last Friday) takes the shape of writer-director Taika Waititi dressed up as Adolph Hitler, the imaginary best friend conjured by a German boy (Roman Griffin Davis) during the waning days of World War II. But while “Hitler” commands the foreground, VFX supervisor Jason Chen worked a ...

By Hugh Hart  |  October 22, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How the VFX Team Behind Ad Astra Achieved Deep Space

How do you conceptualize a future that feels familiar yet doesn’t exist? For, visual effects supervisor Allen Maris and the entire crew detailing director James Gray’s vision behind Ad Astra, that question became a guiding theme. The 20th Century Fox sci-fi thriller puts Brad Pitt in a spacesuit and asks him to save mankind. Not ...

By Daron James  |  September 20, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

The Man in the High Castle‘s Emmy-Nominated VFX Supervisor on Taking Down Lady Liberty

The third season finale of The Man in the High Castle sees the show’s alternate fascist reality, based on the eponymous Philip K. Dick novel, take a giant leap forward for Nazism in America — surrounded by cheering crowds, the Statue of Liberty is brought down under fireworks, fighter jets, and Himmler’s watch. The episode ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  September 9, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How a Global VFX Effort Animated the Lovable, Lunatic Aliens in Men in Black: International

From Sony Pictures Imageworks headquarters in Culver City, California, visual effects supervisor Dan Kramer helped coordinate a worldwide array of CGI artists to produce some 2000 VFX shots for the aptly named Men In Black: International. Kramer, who previously animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Hotel Transylvania before switching to live action on ...

By Hugh Hart  |  June 27, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ VFX Supervisor on Giving Mythic Dimension to the Titans

Godzilla first came to life in 1954 when actor Haruo Nakajima put on a sweltering 220-pound suit and tromped around a Tokyo soundstage smashing miniature buildings. Orchestrated by special effects genius Eiji Tsuburaya, the black and white Godzilla, King of the Monsters terrified movie audiences and effectively birthed the Kaiju cinematic universe of radiation-mutated ogres. ...

By Hugh Hart  |  June 14, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

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

Spoiler alert for those of you who still haven’t seen Avengers: Endgame.  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 Avengers ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  May 15, 2019

Interview

Cinematographer Production Designer Special/Visual Effects

Meet the Creative Team That Helped Captain Marvel Soar

Captain Marvel‘s Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is a part human part alien superhero who can 100% kick-ass. Seriously. Watch out Thanos. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck propelled Marvel’s most potent superhero to the big screen this weekend and the results are a critical and commercial smash. Meet the creative team who helped Boden, Fleck ...

By Daron James  |  March 11, 2019

Interview

Animator Special/Visual Effects

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World‘s Creators on the Trilogy’s Epic Conclusion

Director Dean DeBlois always knew How to Train Your Dragon would be a three-part series where fans would see its main character Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) grow up and bond with a loveable dragon named Toothless. Now in its final chapter How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World illustrates how the animation has matured in ...

By Daron James  |  February 25, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Avengers: Infinity War‘s Oscar-Nominated VFX Supervisor Talks Thanos

*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees.  Avengers: Infinity War, one of the biggest movies in history, found its CGI footing through the collective efforts of 11 different VFX outfits. Visual effects supervisor Kelly Port succinctly sums up the focus for his team at the Los ...

By Hugh Hart  |  February 20, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

First Man‘s Oscar-Nominated VFX Supervisor on Building the Biggest LED Screen Ever

*In the run-up to this Sunday’s Oscars telecast, we’re sharing some of our favorite interviews with nominees.  Watching Damien Chazelle’s First Man offers the earthbound viewer the chance to realize they don’t have the right stuff finally. For folks of a certain age, becoming an astronaut used to be one of the coolest possible professions, the ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  February 19, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Bird Box‘s VFX Supervisor on the Monster You Can’t See

What happens when Marcus Taormina tells people that he was the visual effects supervisor on the wildly popular Netflix film Bird Box? “People have a ton of questions,” Taormina says, “but the central one is the creature question. I tell them that there is a lot on the editing room floor.” What Bird Box’s invisible malefactors ...

By David Thorpe  |  January 31, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How Aquaman‘s Colorist Battled Mera’s Red Hair—and Won

Aquaman made history over the weekend, becoming the highest-grossing film in DC Comics history. Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa)’s journey from high-seas crusader to King of Atlantis surpassed Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in his Batman trilogy. FotoKem colorist Mark Griffith was one of the many, many people who had a huge-but-invisible role in Aquaman’s success. The ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  January 29, 2019

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How Welcome to Marwen‘s VFX Supervisor Transformed Steve Carrell into a Plastic Action Figure

Kevin Baillie was barbecuing in the backyard of his San Francisco home one afternoon in 2013 when he got a call from Robert Zemeckis. “Bob said ‘I’ve got this crazy script I want to send you so you can tell me what you think,” Baillie recalls. Five years and 64 million computer-processing hours later, Baillie ...

By Hugh Hart  |  December 21, 2018

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Mary Poppins Returns‘ VFX Supervisor on Bad Weather, Mary’s Magical Entrance & More

English weather wreaked havoc on best-laid plans when it came to staging outdoor sequences for Mary Poppins Returns. Director Rob Marshall expected London’s usual overcast skies to accompany Mary Poppins’ descent from the heavens early in the movie. Instead, Mother Nature delivered a perfect sunny day. The UK-based visual effects supervisor Matt Johnson recalls, “It’s ...

By Hugh Hart  |  December 19, 2018

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

First Man‘s VFX Supervisor on Archival Footage, In-Camera Effects & the Biggest LED Screen Ever

Watching Damien Chazelle’s First Man offers the earthbound viewer the chance to finally realize they don’t have the right stuff. For folks of a certain age, becoming an astronaut used to be one of the coolest possible professions, the kind of thing you said you wanted to be when you were little and didn’t know what ...

By Bryan Abrams  |  October 18, 2018

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

VFX Artists Explain How They Made Venom Marvel’s Freakiest Character

For a superhero movie, Venom boasts an unusually strong cast of heavy hitters including Tom Hardy in the title role along with Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed. But in this Marvel Comics-based story, it’s the visual effects that drive the spectacle by transforming Hardy’s ordinary human reporter Eddie Brock into a tentacle-sprouting “symbiote” freak. To ...

By Hugh Hart  |  October 5, 2018

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How the VFX Team of The Looming Tower Recreated Pre-9/11 New York

Nearly every American over the age of 25 remembers the horrific day of the September 11 attacks. Images of that day are tragically familiar. The events were so meaningful and are so well known that VFX artists on Hulu’s The Looming Tower took deliberate care to vigilantly recreate pre-9/11 New York. The series, starring Peter ...

By Kelle Long  |  June 6, 2018

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

Black Mirror’s VFX Supervisor on the Haunting Episode “USS Callister”

Each episode of Black Mirror is designed to be memorable in its own way, but none so far have spun what appears at first to be a mere goofy period romp into an emotionally complex depiction of covert malevolence quite like the feature-length opener of the show’s fourth season, USS Callister. Brilliant but overlooked Robert ...

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  May 31, 2018

Interview

Special/Visual Effects

How Annihilation‘s Team Created That Insanely Gruesome Bear

Alex Garland makes sci-fi films for people who love the genre’s malleability, the way it can contain other genres within itself like a Russian nesting doll. He wrote the twitchy, truly terrifying zombie thriller 28 Days Later, the brilliant, pared down artificial intelligence “romance” Ex Machina, the gorgeous, heartbreaking Arrival, and last year’s trippy, terrifying Annihilation. Each one was singular. Each one was ...

By The Credits  |  May 22, 2018