VFX Voice Magazine: At first glance, having Robbie Williams depicted as a primate in Better Man comes across as a novelty rather than inspired creative choice, but there was a method behind the madness of Michael Gracey, who was previously responsible for The Greatest Showman. The visual effects artist turned filmmaker wanted to show the British popstar as he sees himself rather than his public persona. Wētā FX was hired to produce a believable CG protagonist that causes the animal persona to quickly dissipate and allows audience members to get lost in his personal struggles with addiction, mental illness and fame.
1 comment:
What a weird movie, I think I saw a trailer for it a little while ago. I feel like the "Ape Man" trope is not something new but also not.. too overdone? All of the VFX to make that work is extremely impressive though. I love how this company was able to engineer and problem solve their way through this in order to bring life to the character. Their focus on the character itself and getting the audience swept up in the story and emotions and highs and lows, rather than the "ape-ness" of this guy is definitely admirable. It reminds me of what we are learning right now in basic design- the semiotics- what something means and what your intent is with putting it onstage, or in this case, on screen. It seems their intention from the very beginning was not the "spectacle," one could say but rather bringing the audience in closer to this character by creating a believable ape with VFX.
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