Cinefex Weekly Update | Issue 26

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Article by Alain Bielik

Since winning the 1977 Best Foreign Language Film for Noirs et blancs en couleur (Black and White in Color), his directing debut, French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud has challenged his crews with some of the most complex productions ever undertaken in France -- Quest for Fire, Seven Years in Tibet and Enemy at the Gates. For Universal Pictures' Two Brothers, the story of two orphaned tiger cubs reared by human captors, Annaud shot in one of the most hostile environments possible -- the jungles of Cambodia -- with two very dangerous animals in the lead roles.

As he had for The Bear, Annaud intended to keep visual effects to a minimum, relying on the exceptional skills of animal trainer Thierry Le Portier. However, he quickly learned that tigers are no teddy bears. During principal photography, none but Le Portier and his team were allowed in the immediate area occupied by the tigers, and crew members shot from the safety of locked cages, using remote-controlled cameras to capture closeups.

Plate photography of the tigers was carefully monitored by visual effects supervisor Frederic Moreau of Éclair Numerique in Paris. "After several weeks of work," Moreau recalled, "our perception of the tigers changed a little bit. One day, we shot a scene in which one of the animals tears off his trainer's arm through cage bars. We first shot a plate in which a silicone arm was held through the bars by the crew. The tiger came in, walked around the cage and, without warning, jumped on the arm and tore it off! After witnessing this sudden burst of violence, we were all even more cautious." A second plate featured the actor behind the bars, reacting to Annaud pulling his arm. The two plates were combined via a complicated split-screen in which the fake arm under attack by the tiger was digitally attached to the real actor. "Interestingly enough, Universal requested that we paint out most of the blood for the American version."

Annaud employed a variety of techniques to combine actors and tigers that were never shot together. Scenes in which characters had to physically interact with the tigers were shot with the help of animatronics effects created by Pascal Molina, Jean-Christophe Spadaccini, Denis Gastou and a crew of 60 -- the largest ever assembled in France for a makeup effects project. "The attack scenes obviously required animatronics," Molina said. "It was either a real tiger attacking a silicone replica of the actor, or an animatronic tiger shot with the real actor. All together, we built ten tigers, plus a variety of body parts for specific closeups. We had a tail, several legs and a head, all used for direct interaction with the players. We also built a head-and-torso piece mounted on a Steadicam harness, which allowed the camera to literally run with the tiger through the jungle."

When body contact was not required, actors and tigers were combined via bluescreen composites. The animals were always shot first; the human players then adjusted their performance to what their four-legged partners had done in the first plate. In some shots, especially the ones featuring child actor Freddy Highmore, the plates were captured with an animatronic stand-in that was replaced by a real tiger in postproduction.

An unusual stand-in was used for the scene in which the two animals run away in a panic-stricken crowd. The plates were shot with two production assistants playing the part of the tigers among hundreds of extras. The assistants were then painted out of the scene and replaced by the tigers, which had been photographed alone in a separate pass.

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Face replacement was another technique used in some instances -- such as in a circus sequence featuring tiger performers. "One of Le Portier's assistants was photographed in the cage," explained Frederic Moreau, "playing the part of the animal trainer. He was made up and dressed to look like actor Vincent Scarito. The illusion worked fine for long shots, but for tighter shots, we had to replace his face with Vincent's, photographed under the same conditions while Jean-Jacques Annaud played the part of the tiger to guide his performance!"

Although the scenes featuring characters and tigers together were the 'money shots,' the bulk of the film's visual effects work focused on shots of the tigers alone. "Most of the time, when you see two tigers together on screen, it is a composite," Moreau noted. "Tigers don't socialize very much. As soon as we released them, they went their separate ways. As a result, a shot of two tigers simply walking from point A to point B required several passes -- one for each tiger and one with a clean background." Each setup also required 'bush passes.' "Tigers are very playful, and they just loved tearing bushes away -- which created obvious continuity problems. So we had to shoot the bushes as separate elements in order to digitally restore the sets."

The quickly-changing lighting conditions in the jungle often resulted in different ambiences from one pass to the next, requiring a lot of color correction to make the composites work. Visual effects crews often had to paint out an animal trainer, as well, or digitally retouch the tigers' performances -- sudden moves were slowed down, morphs were executed to enhance body language, light was added in the eye area, tigers were rotoscoped and repositioned elsewhere in the frame, and camera moves were digitally added or modified.

In the end, Two Brothers featured more than 550 visual effects shots -- 450 more than in Annaud's The Bear. Although the numbers are impressive by French standards, Frederic Moreau is more impressed by the end result. "This project was so complicated to shoot," Moreau commented, "I never would have thought that the result could look so fluid, so seamless. When you see the movie, it all looks 'easy!'"

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Compiled by Estelle Shay

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: As filming on this adaptation from author C.S. Lewis' Narnia series gets underway in New Zealand, Dean Wright, who served as visual effects producer on the last two Lord of the Rings movies, reports that he will be making the leap to visual effects supervisor on the project. Joining him will be Randy Starr as visual effects producer and Libby Hazell as visual effects co-producer. Wright also reports that two companies have been recruited to handle the film's considerable visual effects load, which includes complex battle shots and plenty of CG creature effects. Approximately 375 shots will go to Rhythm & Hues, under visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer, with the bulk of the remaining work -- some 440 shots -- assigned to Sony Pictures Imageworks, under visual effects supervisor Jim Berney.
Spider-Man 2: Hanging on as top boxoffice earner in North America for the second week in a row, Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 2 continues to break records as it approaches the $300 million mark. According to The Hollywood Reporter, viewers can also expect to see a large-screen remastering of the film as an Imax release, likely due out before the end of July.
The Naked Jungle: The Hollywood Reporter states director Jonathan Hensleigh has been signed by Paramount Pictures production company Alphaville to write and direct a contemporary version of this 1954 adventure film produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin, about a South American plantation owner (Charlton Heston) who faces off against one of nature's greatest onslaughts -- a periodic invasion of army ants that threaten to destroy everything in their path.
King Kong: THR reports that two new members are joining the cast of Peter Jackson's gorilla remake. Colin Hanks will portray a production assistant to Jack Black's Carl Denham, while Early Edition star Kyle Chandler will play a 1930s B-movie actor opposite Naomi Watts' Ann Darrow. Andy Serkis -- best known for his motion captured performance as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films -- has again been recruited to provide performance reference for Jackson's CGI Kong. This time, however, Serkis also will be seen on-screen as Lumpy the cook.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse: Click here to view a new trailer at Yahoo! Movies for this sequel to the 2002 film Resident Evil, based on the popular video game. Paul W. S. Anderson, who directed the original, wrote and produced the latest installment, in which action heroine Alice (Milla Jovovich) returns to do battle with an army of mutant zombies and a new creature, code-named Nemesis. Taking over directing duties from Anderson for the sequel, due out in September, is first-time director Alexander Witt.
Alien vs. Predator: Click here to access Sun Online's presentation of a new international trailer for this Twentieth Century Fox film, which pits two of filmdom's most fearsome aliens against each other in a battle to end all battles.
Serenity: Universal Studios' official Serenity website has been updated with new images, which can be viewed here. According to ComingSoon.net, location shooting for the film, an adaptation based on the Firefly series from writer/director Joss Whedon, has now wrapped and the production is currently ensconced in studio sound stages at Universal.
Superman 5: The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Warner Brothers' troubled Superman 5 project is once again in flux, with the departure of director McG. A statement issued by the studio attributed the parting of ways to an inability of the two parties to agree on a budget for the film, as well as differences of opinion regarding casting and the location for the shoot. According to IGN Filmforce, one possible replacement under consideration is Bryan Singer, who directed the X-Men films, and is slated to direct X-Men 3. Superman 5 was to begin filming in Australia this fall.
Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima: THR reports that Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood will join forces to bring the tide-turning battle of Iwo Jima -- subject of one of World War II's most enduring photographic images -- to the big screen. Directed by Eastwood and shepherded by Spielberg's DreamWorks, the film represents the second such collaboration between Spielberg and Eastwood, their first being the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County. Paul Haggis will write the screenplay, adapting it from a book by James Bradley, whose father was one of the six soldiers seen raising the American flag in the famous photo.
Fantastic Four: THR states that two new actors have joined the cast of this Twentieth Century Fox Marvel comic adaptation, to be directed by Tim Story. Chris Evans and Ioan Gruffudd will portray Johnny, aka the Human Torch and Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, respectively, joining actor Michael Chiklis who was previously cast as Benjamin Grimm, the Thing. Several actresses are reportedly still under consideration for the part of Susan Storm, the Invisible Girl, including Dark Angel star Jessica Alba, Felicity star Keri Russell, and Rachel MacAdams. In a Moviehole.com report, Fox production president Hutch Parker states: "We see Fantastic Four as the last great jewel in the comicbook crown. The casting has been extremely important in terms of fulfilling expectations of an audience that's been incredibly loyal to these characters for over 40 years." The studio plans to begin shooting in Vancouver in August or September, and hopes to secure a July 1, 2005 release date.
Indiana Jones IV: Apparently reports of this project's demise have been greatly exaggerated, according to Frank Marshall, producer of the Indy trilogy. Click here for the latest scoop from TheRaiders.net regarding this on-again, off-again sequel, which was said to be stalled due to George Lucas' rejection of the initial screenplay draft submitted by Frank Darabont.