Oscar-winning VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson explains how puppetry, prosthetics, stunts and in-camera tricks brought the film’s Cyclops, Scylla, Circe and Laestrygonian giants to life For Andrew Jackson, the key to making the monsters of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” convincing was often simple: put something real in front of the camera, whether that meant a giant Cyclops hung from cables or Samantha Morton reshaping silicone faces with her hands. In a pre-recorded conversation with VFX magazine Befores & Afters editor Ian Failes that screened at View Conference in Italy’s Turin, the film’s Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor described how the production blended puppetry, prosthetics, stunts, miniatures and digital effects to create creatures including the Cyclops and Scylla, as well as Circe’s transformations and the film’s giant Laestrygonians. Rather than treating practical effects and VFX as opposing approaches, Jackson explained the aim was to give Nolan and the actors something physical to work with whenever possible.
That philosophy was clearest with the Cyclops. What had been expected to shoot near the end of production suddenly had to be ready within months. It’s just not possible,’” Jackson recalled.
Instead, they built the main rigid sections of the body and suspended them with cables. Once they saw it move, Jackson realized they were onto something. In hindsight, he believes the rushed schedule actually improved the result.
But its loose, lightweight construction gave it a fluidity that a more elaborate mechanical version might have lost. The finished Cyclops became a hybrid. Animatronic hands were used for moments in which soldiers were grabbed, while CG filled in missing joints and augmented the full-size puppet.
Its face was created with another simple, though again not easy, solution. Jackson had filmed actor Bill Irwin experimenting with the character while the team was still considering extensive prosthetics. He took footage of one of Irwin’s real eyes, rotated it and repositioned it on the actor’s forehead.
Forget about all the prosthetics. Do that because that’s really good.’” For Jackson, the advantage was that the eye remained part of Irwin’s actual performance. Scylla required a different mixture of techniques.
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