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Article
by Mark Simon
Frank
Castle -- also known as the Punisher -- has been a popular Marvel
Comics character for more than 30 years. Driven by the murder
of his wife and child, the Punisher has no superpowers -- only
a fierce intelligence, years of combat experience and an iron
determination to avenge victims of society's villains.
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Making
his directorial debut with The Punisher, screenwriter
Jonathan Hensleigh had to produce a very big action picture
on a relatively small budget. "We were attempting to
make a full-blown action picture with all of the Hollywood
trappings for less money than a picture like this has ever
been executed for," Hensleigh said. "That's a
bold claim -- but I stand by it."
Part
of Hensleigh's gameplan for bringing in the film on budget
was to avoid expensive computer generated effects -- to
shoot as much as possible live, in camera, or compositing
in miniature elements. A sequence that would surely have
been turned over to a CG team in another film is one in
which the misnamed villain Howard Saint (John Travolta)
throws his wife off a bridge and onto railroad tracks, where
she is run over by a train. Hensleigh accomplished the scene
using a combination of on-set illusions by production designer
Michael Hannon and miniature effects by Fantasy II. For
shots of the oncoming train, Hannon built the front-end
of the train as a dimensional cutout and mounted it to a
pickup truck that could be driven on rails. Shot with a
long lens, which flattened the screen image, the train cutout
appeared to be much closer to the actress than it really
was.
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Subsequent views made use of a 1/6-scale train shot by Fantasy
II. "The train is coming," said Fantasy II effects supervisor
Gene Warren, "and we tilt down to the woman on the tracks,
trying to crawl away. Then, whoomp, the train wipes across her.
We shot our model train and matted it into the shot." In
shooting the train model, Fantasy II had to match the camera tilt-down
in the live-action plate. "They didn't use a motion control
camera on location, because that would have meant big, big bucks.
But we tracked it with our motion control camera when we shot
our model train. We matched their camera tilt and shot it high-speed
-- which we were able to do with a motion control camera because
it wasn't a very big move." Using the live-action footage
as reference, Warren matched the perspective of the shot by eye.
Adjustments were made in postproduction, when the elements were
composited together by Laurel Klick, digital supervisor at Fantasy
II Effects. Klick also oversaw wire and rig removals, abundant
in a film featuring so much stunt and practical effects work.
(continued
below)
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(continued
from above)
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Near
the end of the film, the Punisher (Tom Jane) avenges the
deaths of his wife and child by tying Saint to a limousine
and releasing the brake to roll it into a car lot that he
has rigged with bombs. Physical effects supervisor Kevin
Harris and his crew rigged pyrotechnics on cars for the
explosions that follow. Fantasy II increased the size and
intensity of the sequence by compositing in 1/6-scale cars
shot against black. "We did the same types of things
that the physical effects pyro guys did live," said
Warren, "so that our miniature elements would match.
We used air cannons to launch burning car models into the
air. For cars that just explode from the inside, blowing
out the windows, we used gasoline with a little diesel oil
to create the pyro." Fantasy II also composited in
a Tampa skyline, shooting background plates of downtown
Tampa -- which couldn't be seen from the car lot location
-- and blending them into the backgrounds.
Close
and medium shots of Saint catching fire as he is dragged
through the explosions required Fantasy II to add fire elements
to Travolta or his stuntman in the live-action plates --
a type of effect Warren has been executing for 20 years.
"I shoot real fire elements against black on shapes
that are sculpted to look very close to the shape of the
live-action subject," Warren explained. In this case,
Fantasy II built shapes that matched different areas of
Travolta's body, sculpting them out of black wrap -- aluminum
foil with a heat-resistant black surface on both sides.
The black wrap was then covered in duvatyne, a tough black
cloth, treated with Stunt Gel -- a heat-shielding compound
-- and flammable rubber cement. Fantasy II crews set fire
to the shapes, manipulating them with cables to match, as
closely as possible, the character's movements in the live-action
plate. "We also matched the live-action camera as closely
as we could. Then we tracked the flames to Travolta's body
in the composite, adjusting them as needed."
In
a final aerial view of the burning car lot, all of the explosions
form the Punisher's skull-shaped symbol. Fantasy II added
approximately 60 burning cars to the shot, shooting smaller
groups of car models separately for purposes of control
and arranging the miniature photography elements in the
final composite to form the skull shape.
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The
Punisher was a throwback to an old-style, physical approach to
filmmaking -- an approach mandated both by the limited budget
and Hensleigh's vision for the film. "I wanted to replicate
the tone of urban action pictures of the Sixties and Seventies,"
Hensleigh commented. "I grew up on films like Dirty Harry
and Bullitt -- movies that were made before the advent
of computer generated effects."
"The
film industry needs to rely more on how we used to do effects,"
Michael Hannon added. "I liked working on this picture because
it was an opportunity to do practical special effects, rather
than hundreds of visual effects shots. The Punisher is
real. Very real."
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Serenity:
The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Zoic
Studios, the team that created the visual effects for
Fox Network's short-lived, but impressive, Firefly
science fiction series, will be providing effects for
a feature film based on the show. Series creator Joss
Whedon will direct this Universal release from his own
script, with Zoic creative director Loni Peristere serving
as visual effects supervisor -- continuing a long partnership
with Whedon, established with the TV series Buffy the
Vampire Slayer in 1997. Serenity takes its
name from the spaceship piloted by a group of misfit space
travelers on the frontiers of galactic civilization, 500
years in the future. The Internet Movie Database indicates
this will be a 2005 release.
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King
Arthur: Click
here for 15 images of Dark Ages action from Touchstone
Pictures' and Jerry Bruckheimer's upcoming Arthurian epic,
written by David Franzoni and directed by Antoine Fuqua,
and here
to sample a new two-minute TV trailer on the film, promising
the 'true story behind the legend' -- a smoky, revisionist
take on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur,
with Guinevere as a sexy Amazonian warrior and Arthur
as a beleaguered folk hero in need of a bath. Opening
July 7.
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Open
Water: Click
here to sample a trailer at Yahoo Movies (in Windows
Media Player and Real Player only) for a low-budget shark
thriller, written and directed by Chris Kentis, described
as a visceral, aquatic version of The Blair Witch Project.
'Based on true events,' the story concerns two scuba divers
who stray from their party and are menaced by underwater
predators. The film will open in limited release from
Lions Gate Films on August 6, then appear wider August
20.
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Tron:
VFXWorld reports that director Steven Lisberger's 1982
Disney film -- which zapped Jeff Bridges into a pulsating,
colorful world inside a megalomaniac computer -- will
be making a return engagement in a 70mm print at Disney's
El Capitan Theater in Hollywood for ten days, starting
May 6. Opening night will feature a live "Tron 2.0
Tournament" video game played on the big movie screen,
and visual effects artist Harrison Ellenshaw will lead
a discussion with Lisberger, visual effects supervisor
Richard Taylor and production designer Syd Mead. Original
costumes and memorabilia will be on display through the
run. Click
here to purchase tickets.
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The
Black Widow: The Hollywood Reporter states
that screenwriter David Hayter will be making his directorial
debut with this Marvel Comics adaptation for Lions Gate
Entertainment, produced by Avi Arad. The character will
be based on Natasha Romanova, a Russian spy who made her
debut in The Invincible Iron Man, was part of The
Champions and The Avengers superhero teams,
and then became a love interest to the blind superhero
Daredevil. Hayter's film will reportedly depict
Romanova as an ex-KGB agent who travels to New York after
her own government tries to kill her, following the dissolution
of the USSR. The girl gets around.
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Batman
Begins: Warner Brothers has posted the first official
pictures of Christian Bale in Batsuit, as seen in director
Christopher Nolan's upcoming fifth installment of their
franchise. Click
here to view the Dark Knight, with his familiar cowl
and cape intact, and no visible nipples.
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Jinx:
The Hollywood Reporter states that another
female comic book superhero is about to make the jump
to the big screen, with Charlize Theron playing the leading
lady from Brian Michael Bendis' comic book. Circle of
Confusion is producing for Universal Pictures. Bendis'
Jinx is a bounty hunter who enlists the assistance of
a criminal to locate a hidden cache of mob money. Click
here to browse Jinxworld, the official Bendis/Jinx
website.
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Warrior:
Variety reports Mel Gibson and his producing
partner Bruce Davey have joined Gavin and Greg O'Connor
in the production of this historical drama about Boudica,
the female warrior with big pointy knives on her chariot
wheels, who led the Celtic Iceni tribe in revolt against
the invading Roman army in the first century AD. Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright David Auburn is writing this
historical epic for Paramount Pictures. An earlier Warner
Brothers production that dealt with the same subject matter
ended up as a 2002 TV movie.
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Visual
Effects Society: VES announced the appointment of
Eric Roth as its new executive director, following the
departure of VES founding executive director Tom Atkin.
Roth was formerly chief of staff at Los Angeles City Hall
and managed the Government Affairs Department for the
Southern California Association of Governments. In a press
release, Atkin stated: "In eight short years VES
has developed into a world class organization for visual
effects professionals. The foundation is in place and,
under Eric's leadership, the continued growth of VES is
in good hands. I know that he will perform with the honor
and integrity that is required to advance the visual effects
industry and the lives of the VES membership who comprise
it."
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Code
46: This imaginative, low-budget science fiction feature,
from BBC Films and Revolution Films, is due for limited
release in the U.S. by United Artists August 6, before
its UK release September 17. Directed by Michael Winterbottom,
from a screenplay by Frank Boyce, the film stars Tim Robbins
and Samantha Morton as lovers in a slightly futuristic
world where all citizens speak a single multicultural
language, and are monitored by their DNA. Smoke and Mirrors
supplied 196 visual effects, which are mixed in with gritty,
handheld location photography shot in Shanghai, Dubai
and Jaipur, India. Click
here for a Yahoo Movies' preview page.
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The
Fountain: SciFi Wire reports that Hugh Jackman is
stepping into the role vacated by Brad Pitt, for writer/director
Darren Aronofsky's upcoming science fiction drama. The
film is reportedly due to start shooting in Australia,
where preproduction was completed during its last incarnation.
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I,
Robot: Click
here to see a new on-line featurette with director
Alex Proyas discussing his Asimov adaptation. The video
includes some new glimpses of practical and digital positronic
robots, and scenes of Proyas shooting his 'documentary
of the future,' which he promises will steer away from
Hollywood theatrics in the design of its future world,
set 35 years hence. Coming from Fox, July 16.
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Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow: From The Hollywood
Reporter -- Paramount Pictures has moved the opening
of this film, originally slated for a June 25 release,
to Sept. 17. Paramount indicated that the move was made
to avoid the crowded field of summer competitors -- in
particular Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 2, now due
to open Wednesday, June 30.
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