Worth a mention - 08/11/11

Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic Exploring Opening Project-Based Facility in Vancouver

(hollywoodreporter.com) ILM, based in San Francisco, declined to comment because details are not yet finalized, but word of the new ILM outpost was spreading this week at the CG confab Siggraph, taking place in Vancouver, where favorable tax incentives have turned the city into one of the hottest destinations for the visual effects and animation community.

Should ILM head to Vancouver, it will be the latest in a string of leading companies that in recent years have set up shop in the production hub -- including Digital Domain, Pixar Animation Studios, MPC and Sony Picture Imageworks.

In addition to its San Francisco headquarters, ILM also operates out of Lucasfilm Singapore, which opened in 2005 and is already running out of space.

Lucasfilm Singapore plans to move into a new building -- which is currently under construction -- by 2013.

ILM’s recent work includes Rango, as well as VFX work on Super 8, Transformers: Dark of the Moonand Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Upcoming working includes the visual effects on Red Tails, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Battleshipand The Avengers.

In related news this week at Siggraph, Lucasfilm and Imageworks released Alembic, an open source system aimed at helping VFX companies easily store and share complex animated scenes across facilities, regardless of what software is being used.




New ‘Riddick’ Film Begins Casting

(latinoreview.com) It looks like “Riddick” is finally moving forward with a casting call. And, that’s a good sign.

Moviehole reported casting Anne McCarthy is bringing in actors to test for various supporting roles. She handled the casting for “Pitch Black” and “Chronicles of Riddick” in the past.

The announced roles include Boss Johns, Santana, the sexy female merc Dahl and the smug commander Krone.

David Twohy, who directed and written both previous films, will be back at the helm for the third film.




Why CGI is Now the Moral Choice

(whatculture.com) Ever since Jurassic Park almost twenty years ago – and reaching its zenith at the time of the effects reliant Star Wars prequels – Hollywood’s blanket use of CGI has engendered strong opinions and heated discussion. Many critics routinely choose to harp on about the evils of using computer graphics and wax lyrical about the good old days of practical effects. For instance, the quaint, seventies-inspired model-work of Duncan Jones’ Moon was enthusiastically received by reviewers, whilst many have already expressed doubts about whether the upcoming The Thing prequel will be anything like as unsettling as the original without the tangible prosthetics, gore and make-up.

But whilst pre-existing arguments have tended to focus mainly on aesthetics (through a lens of nostalgia) and the question of realism, the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes this week has brought a new aspect of the debate into play: the question of ethics.

Until now whether or not a film used CGI has never been a moral concern, at least not in the popular consciousness, yet animal activist organisation PETA have heralded 20th Century Fox’s franchise prequel – which takes the point of view of an intelligent ape (a motion captured Andy Serkis as Caesar) starting a revolution against humanity – for its lack of real primate actors. Indeed, every ape in Rupert Wyatt’s film is digitally created and based on human performances. Literally: no apes were harmed in the making of this picture – and it’s something of which the young British director (who saw off competition from Oliver Stone to land the gig) is justifiably proud:

“Certainly, from a moral point of view, the idea of using live apes was wrong. There’re many animals in entertainment that live happy, fulfilled lives: we had a dog on set that was a very happy dog. But I think the difference between that and an animal that is essentially alpha, is that to get an ape to do what you want it to do you have to dominate it and manipulate it basically. So, for example, what we think to be a chimpanzee’s smile is actually it showing fear. They’re such different creatures, so [morality] certainly played into our decision: we didn’t want to [use real apes].”

And there is a very real danger inherent in using live chimps, and also a potential risk of harming the animal, with Wyatt telling a sobering story about an incident on the set of an otherwise cheery family movie:

“I remember Andrew Lesnie, our DP who worked on Babe: Pig in the City, [said] there was an orangutan in the film and there was a moment where the orangutan essentially attacked his handler and they both rolled off the back of a chair and rolled down the stairs and the handler just starting beating him to get him to stop… basically just beating him into submission. Then one of the crew walked up and chucked some water in his face and said “how could you do that?” and the handler had to call everyone together and say “look, the only way there is safety on this set is to dominate this animal. I’m his alpha and if he thinks for a second that I’m not he will attack me and all our lives are in danger.” And you get that and it makes sense. But then the very idea of putting an animal in that situation… that’s the questionable thing about it.”

So could Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and the incredibly vocal backing it’s received from PETA (who held banners aloft at the US premier thanking the filmmakers), be enough to put an end to the use of real apes, at least in the American film industry? “I hope so. They’re an endangered species,” was Wyatt’s optimistic, no-nonsense reply. Though there are also practical reasons why the film’s demonstration of a viable alternative might lead to lasting change, as WETA effects supervisor Dan Lemmon explained, “there’s really no way to use a chimpanzee after the age of about four or five, they’re just too strong… so if you’re making a story about a large animal it’s just not practical to use a live animal.” A point Wyatt expanded upon:

“The things that we were doing would be very hard [with animal performers]. There’s a very limited gene pool in North America with performing apes: the majority are young, female chimps because they’re the least aggressive. They all look a bit alike and for us we wanted to personalise these apes, so the real challenge when I first started working on the film was “can performance capture actually achieve this?” But because of Dan, when he came on board – and WETA would say to us “we can do this and trust us because you won’t see anything for six months!” – that’s what set us on the road of performance capture.”

The decision to go the CGI route also allowed the team at WETA to subtly differ the film’s chimps from their real-world counterparts, giving them more human eyes by making the whites larger (a change accounted for in the film as a side-effect of James Franco’s intelligence increasing drug). This change was intended to make a human audience empathise better with Serkis’ Caesar in particular, a crucial aspect of the film as it is from the point of view of this chimpanzee that the story is told. It goes without saying that Gollum and King Kong motion capture specialist Serkis brings a range of expression and a degree of acting talent to the screen not found in real apes. Actors, Lemmon was keen to point out, still make the choices we see on the screen, even with digital characters:

“In terms of the performance we’re letting what happens on the set drive what we end up putting into our characters… and essentially working as a digital make-up company in a way, applying pixels on the top to give them the look of a chimpanzee. All the performances are being driven by the decisions [the actors] are making on set and the reaction they’re having with James Franco or Freida Pinto.”

Wyatt and Fox were also keenly aware of the grand act of hipocracy using real apes would have represented, bearing in mind the moral of the movie itself: basically that people should treat animals better, with irresponsible animal testing and Tom Felton’s cruel animal shelter worker the villains of the piece. Caesar’s wife, as they say, should be above reproach. Wyatt sees the film as very much about exploitation and oppression and, he agrees, “to use live apes to do that would have been a mistake.”

However, if technology is nature’s saviour in this instance, what are we to make of the film’s seemingly anti-science message, with Pinto’s character chastising Franco for his attempts to cure Alzheimer’s? Well apparently the movie’s moral position on science is not supposed to be taken as so clear cut:

“I don’t think it is anti-science. I hate stories and films that have that slightly moralistic tone – “be careful what you wish for” or “don’t open that box” – and I think the beauty of our civilization and our species is what we can invent and how we evolve. Look at the jet airplane and see that came about through the First World War and see that we’re a very complicated civilization and through conflict invariably we progress. So, medicine and modern science, in many ways, are one of the better aspects of who we are. I think we can very safely say it’d be wonderful to find cures for certain diseases and I think it’s more to do with the responsibility lying in the hands of the individual – Dr. Frankenstein is a great example of that pathology: the idea that mankind’s hubris can sometimes get the better of him.”

In any case, with the film’s terrific opening weekend performance in the US, no one could accuse Wyatt of hubris for already fielding questions on the probable sequels. He and Serkis are already attached to direct and star respectively, and revealed that they have discussed the future of the series over the past few days. And the director wasn’t shy about suggesting where he might take the franchise in the future as he bridges the gap between his film and the Charlton Heston original. “Any future stories, we’d be dealing with a level playing field in terms of the human population and these rising apes… There’s still opportunity in terms of a nuclear explosion in New York and we could go down that road certainly.”

In the meantime though, the director can enjoy his accession to a place among the Hollywood A-list safe in the knowledge that, even if he never makes another film as good as Rise, he’s possibly helped to make Hollywood a more ethical place in terms of its use of animals. And in bringing such realistic and compelling ape characters to life, Wyatt, Serkis and Lemmon at WETA have struck a major blow for the art of CGI in the face of the critics. CGI is now the moral option: just ask PETA.




Digital Special Effect Makeup vs Physical Makeup in Movies

(watchuwant.tv) The special effects work of John Knoll’s special effects team has certainly raised the bar in believability of a fictitious character. His Industrial Light and Magic team created Davy Jones for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest. In this sequel, Bill Nighy is the actor who portrays Davy Jones’ movements and voice. He wears a dark grey motion capture suit, and two motion capture cameras were used as opposed to the 16 needed in the past. The process of Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) then morphed the actor into a convincing depiction of a cursed pirated who because he lives underwater, he literally becomes a creature of the sea.

This special effects “makeup” of this film was fascinating to watch and it really does trick your eye into thinking Jones’ is “real”. But does this mean that special effects artists need to trade in their brushes for a computer mouse any time soon? The answer is thankfully…no!

There will always be a need for makeup artist to apply their special skills to film, television, or theatre. There is one “living” character on the Flying Dutchman, actor Stellan Skarsgård, who plays Bootstrap Bill…he had wonderful “live” barnacles protruding from his face.

By the other side of the coin Michael Chiklis was transformed into Fantastic Four super hero “The Thing” through a time consuming and detailed process.

“Sixty pounds (27 kg) of latex, it was hellish.” said Chiklis. But he did the project because of the potential the movie had to being a franchise. “It’s employment potentially for 10 years. It gets your name out there in an international context that puts you on all those lists that you must be on as an actor in order to get movies green lit. That’s why he was willing to go through the “hellish” process of being the hulking Thing for the film.

Then on the other hand, I understand that Bill Nighy was disappointed that he didn’t have to wear the pirate costume for any of the film shooting. Just the grey motion capture suit…so he didn’t have to endure the heavy makeup appliances or masks required in the past…but it didn’t let him “play” act in costume as if he were Davy Jones either. This is testament to Nighy’s acting abilities, because he gives a terrific performance as the character.

Although Industrial Light and Magic will always strive to “wow” audiences with the newest visual effects, the basic need for the “human” factor helps ground the movie experience. E.g. the whole last three Star Wars movies were visually incredible but fell far short of the first three films that had “real” characters, actors in suits and makeup interacting with each other. Otherwise we have a movie that is not much more than a video game, lacking our own ability to control the plot.

I think makeup special effects wizard Rick Baker put it best when he said “I still think a marriage between the two techniques is the best way to go. They each have their strong points.” Baker is absolutely right! It’s important to move forward and push techniques to new limits and respect the place that both technologies have in this field. So as with most professions the integration of computer knowledge creates advantages with a mixture of honing in on physical skills of makeup effects. Baker also says “…I do all my design work on the computer now. It’s like my favorite tool. I can do so much more and it frees me up so much more because I can save it anywhere down the line, so I’m not afraid to screw it up.” Perfecting bloods, latex appliances, and skin blends will have a place within the movie making world. Thank goodness there are many movie makers who simply can’t afford expensive visual effects in the first place.

That fact harkens makeup artists back to the days when makeup artists have to use their problem solving skills and creativity to create physically realistic effects. This is the fun in special effect making. Creating something that audiences say to themselves “wow!” or “gross!” or just smile.





Industrial Light & Magic, The Gathering

(blog.vfs.com) Vancouver- “If you do have interests they can expand in the industry. Your first job may not define you.”

Last night at the VFS Main Theatre, students were treated to a masterclass in finding work at the most recognized visual effects company in the world, Industrial Light & Magic. Senior Recruiter Sarah Alvarado and University Relations Manager Anita Stokes were joined by 3D Animation & Visual Effects grads Scott Jones and Simeon Bassett for an eye-opening look inside ILM and its hiring processes.

Anita described ILM’s internship programs — Jedi Academy for students, Jedi Masters for graduates — which are both paid positions with real work experience. Scott, who is currently a Creature TD Supervisor, stressed that while a keen aesthetic eye and personality fit are important, the key to finding employment at ILM is work ethic. “VFS, being a compressed program versus a four-year school, puts you in that production scenario. The best classes that come through VFS are the ones that are helping each other the most. You’re at work, now.”

Simeon, now a Lighting Supervisor, echoed Scott’s comments. “VFS excelled at instilling a brutal hardcore worth ethic. That, plus technical skills, allows you to get to the artistic part.” Sarah provided tips for application packages: have a working, online portfolio (no “in-progress” pages); explain what you did in the reel and the software you used; provide a traditional portfolio to show other interests and your sense of aesthetics; include personal projects, not just class assignments. All four agreed that being able to trouble-shoot rates high on managers’ lists of desirable skills. As Scott said, “If you’re a good trouble shooter, you’re going to crank our more stuff.”

Also joining us last night was Jun Watanabe from Rhythm & Hues, showing his recent work and discussing the soon-to-be in Vancouver effects studio.




Walt Disney Studio Celebrates Pixar At D23 EXPO

(latinoreview.com) Exclusively at Disney’s D23 Expo August 19-21 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Disney film fans will go behind the scenes to explore the exciting roster of projects on the horizon at The Walt Disney Studios, with a variety of panel discussions, sneak peeks and exhibits.

In celebration of 25 years of moviemaking magic, five sessions will be devoted to the artistry and technical wizardry of Pixar:

* A Conversation with the Pixar Creative Team – Enjoy a rare opportunity to spend some time with the key figures responsible for Pixar’s unprecedented success, including John Lasseter (chief creative officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios), Jim Morris (general manager, Pixar Animation Studios), Pete Docter (director, Monsters, Inc., Up), Andrew Stanton (director, Finding Nemo, WALL-E), Bob Peterson (co-director, Up), Lee Unkrich (director, Toy Story 3), Mark Andrews (director, Brave) and Dan Scanlon (director, Monsters University).

* The Characters of Monsters University – Director Dan Scanlon and Production Designer Ricky Nierva discuss how they combine hair, horns and a lot of heart to bring the wonderful Monsters University characters to life.

* Michael Giacchino’s Music of Pixar – In this musical presentation, award-winning composer Michael Giacchino explores his early influences through the creation of modern-day classic scores from Ratatouille, Up and Cars 2.

* The Art of Brave – Production Designer Steve Pilcher and Shading Art Director Tia Kratter show how they and their team put paint to canvas and fingers to computer keys to create the stunning visuals of Scotland for Disney•Pixar’s upcoming film Brave.

* Pixar Shorts – This retrospective screening of the animation studio’s legendary short films will be followed by a panel discussion with several of the filmmakers, including Ralph Eggleston (director, For the Birds), Andy Jimenez (director, One Man Band), Angus MacLane (director, BURN-E), Pete Sohn (director, Partly Cloudy), Teddy Newton (director, Day & Night), and Enrico Casarosa (director, La Luna).

Expo attendees will also have access to advance screenings of an all-new 3D version of The Lion King, presented by RealD 3D, coming to theaters and homes this fall, and the upcoming ABC holiday special Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Out on the Expo floor, fans can explore the world of The Walt Disney Studios at their leisure with comprehensive exhibits, including:

* Walt Disney Studios Animation Pavilion – Experience the art, technology, culture and legacy of Walt Disney Animation Studios with filmmaker demonstrations, drawing classes, book signings, meet-and-greets and art exhibits.

* Walt Disney Studios In-Home Entertainment Pavilion – Dive into cutting-edge home entertainment technology and learn what the future holds for Disney movie fans, with sneak peeks of upcoming films in breathtaking high-definition Blu-ray 3D™ and more.
* Inside Tides: Pirates of the Caribbean Film Prop Collection – Get an up-close look at an exclusive collection of detailed set pieces, props and costumes from the billion-dollar blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.




Eddie Murphy to Voice Hong Kong Phooey

(Alcon Entertainment) Eddie Murphy will give voice to the animated lead character in Alcon Entertainment's live action/animated big screen adaptation of the of the 1970s Hanna-Barbera animated TV series Hong Kong Phooey, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-CEO's Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

In addition to voicing the character of Donkey in the box-office hit "Shrek" franchise, Murphy was also the voice of Mushu, the Dragon, in the successful animated epic Mulan. Murphy will next be seen in the comedies Tower Heist, co-starring Ben Stiller from Universal Studios and A Thousand Words, from DreamWorks.

Alex Zamm (Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, Tooth Fairy 2) will direct. Kosove and Johnson will produce with Jay Stern and Brett Ratner. Steven P. Wegner will executive produce.

Stated Johnson and Kosove: "We could not be happier that Eddie Murphy will star as Phooey. There is no overstating his contributions to cinema, and to such enduring stars of family entertainments such as 'Shrek' and 'Dr. Dolittle.' We look forward to watching him re-imagine yet another classic character."

Based on the 70's cult classic Hanna Barbera animated TV series, a mild-mannered dog named Penry (Murphy) stumbles into a mystic ceremony and is accidentally granted mystic powers, including the ability to walk, talk, and do kung fu. Under the tutelage of his kung fu master, Penry dons a costume and becomes Hong Kong Phooey, and with the help of his trusting sidekick Spot the cat cleans up a rogues gallery of wacky criminals.




ILM Builds Mars Behind Dress Factory (1977)

(heatlantic.com) News of possible liquid salt water on Mars this week has inspired renewed speculation about the Red Planet.

The creator of Star Wars' special effects at Industrial Light and Magic created this educational film about our solar system in 1977. It's an amazing work of modeling, mattes, and moving camerawork. Below, he describes the making of the film.

"I made that film in 1976 with Richard Basehard as narrator and a classical music score recorded in the Soviet Union... this was the film that turned my career toward visual effects. We shot it in a large rented space in the back of a West Los Angeles dress factory. We hung large black curtains to keep out light out from the factory but we could still hear the sewing machine whirring away behind the curtain. They were making bathrobes at the time, out of luffy material.

It took months of preparation before we could shoot our first frame of film. We laid down a forty foot stretch of track of parallel plumbing pipes and put down a camera support whose movements were on a geared guide so every increment of movement could be controlled with the turn of a wheel. Nearly all of the shots involved a moving camera. It was like animation with three dimensional model planets instead of cell images. We found the best material for the planets was hard wood. So we hired a Hollywood cabinet shop to make nine spheres for us, about 18 inches in diameter. These were sanded and painted to match images in astronomy books and observatory photos. Shooting one frame at a time meant we never got more than a few seconds of film shot in a day. One long shot involved the camera moving in on Mars. The first long day’s work was ruined. As the camera came in on the red planet, a large piece of fuzz came into frame, sitting on the planet. It had drifted down on the sphere from the dress factory."

VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/08/star-wars-sfx-take-on-mars-1977/243181/





Incredible CGI Demo from the Late 1980s Shows Earliest Efforts to Represent Animal Motion Realistically

(io9.com) Remember DARPA's Big Dog? Looks like this video could have inspired its design. The clip shows a composition of some animal motion studies (along with some killer dance moves) prepared for the 1989 CG short "Eurythmy" by Ohio State University's Computer Graphics Research Group.

We found this over at web TV station Network Awesome, and it's just one piece from their hours-long collection of vintage CG clips - we could watch these all day!

VIDEO - Take a look: http://io9.com/5829677/incredible-cgi-demo-from-the-late-1980s-shows-earliest-efforts-to-represent-animal-motion-realistically





Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, and Rhythm & Hues Studios To Get Academy Tech Interns

(blogs.indiewire.com) The Academy announced today that its Science and Technology Council had selected as its 2011 interns five students who will have the opportunity to participate in 10-12 week internships providing the opportunity to experience advanced movie-making technology.

The Council itself will host one intern, while the others, who come from universities across the country such as UC Berkeley and Rochester Institute of Technology, will be hosted by Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, and Rhythm & Hues Studios.

The Academy’s 2011 science and technology interns are:

Yunfei Bai, Georgia Institute of Technology – Rhythm & Hues Studios

Yunfeng Bai, Cornell University – Industrial Light & Magic
Yeon Jin Lee, University of California, Berkeley – Pixar Animation Studios
Alex Pagliaro, Rochester Institute of Technology – Science and Technology Council Xinxin Zhang, New York University – Pixar Animation Studios.




Anim Sup Hal Hickel Says 3-D Movies Reaching a 'Natural Place'

(Washingtonpost.com) -- Hal Hickel, Academy Award winning visual effects animator for Industrial Light & Magic, talks about the special effects technology behind blockbuster films, including the "Transformers" action films and "Cowboys & Aliens." Hickel speaks with Emily Chang on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West."

VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/hickel-says-3-d-movies-reaching-a-natural-place/2011/08/03/gIQA3VqysI_video.html




Paramount Opens "World War Z" Xmas 2012

Paramount Pictures have locked down a December 21st 2012 release date for "World War Z", the Brad Pitt-led film adaptation of Max Brooks' best-selling darkly comic satire about a zombie apocalypse and its political ramifications.

Many have been wondering how the studio would adapt the book which is essentially an anthology of different people's recollections about events of the war connected by the framing device of a UN researcher interviewing subjects.




Dear Indian Visual Effects Companies...

(drake.org.uk) .. stop bloody spamming.

I’ve received far too many unsolicited emails from Space Animation Studio and Digikore (of which a sample email is exhibited below) than I care to count. If you’re not able to bid amongst all the other visual effects studios without spamming, you don’t deserve the work in my opinion. Especially if I write a reply asking you not to contact me again. That doesn’t endear me to you – in fact, it enrages me even more.

I don’t get emails from ILM, Digital Domain, Baseblack, Blue Bolt or the many hundreds of other VFX studios (boutique or fecking mega-factories) spamming me.

So why the hell do Indian visual effects facilities think they can do so? I know the VFX industry tough, but this just isn’t the way to go about it. Not at all.

VFX Spam Sample: http://www.drake.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vfxspam.png





Visual Effects Community Needs Funding to Develop Open Standard

(hollywoodreporter.com) At annual VFX confab, participants say standardization will save time and money.

VANCOUVER -- The global visual effects industry needs a set of open standards, but developing standards will require both funding and a mechanism through which decisions can be made.

That was the message that Ray Feeney -- co-chair of AMPAS’ Science and Technology Council and one of the SciTech industry leaders who has earned the Academy’s Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette – brought to Siggraph, the CG confab on Monday.

“Those two things have to exist,” he warned. “It requires more than just volunteers.”

As Rob Bredow, chief technology officer at Sony Pictures Imageworks, explained, from its work on Green Lantern to The Smurfs, most every project that goes through Sony’s VFX studio involves collaboration with additional VFX houses.

While that sort of collaboration is common these days, so too is the problem that software, workflows and even naming conventions vary between facilities. That adds to both time and costs on a project.

During the panel session devoted to the need for standardization, Feeney provided an overview of the Image Interchange Framework (IIF), a SciTech Council open source initiative aimed at improving color management within pipelines and between facilities. The IIF effort is led by the SciTech Council and is supported by funding from AMPAS’ Board of Governors.

Also discussed during the panel was an open source initiative, dubbed Alembic, which aims to help VFX companies easily share complex animated scenes regardless of what software is being used. Imageworks and ILM co-developed and launched that initiative in 2010.

Both projects aim to break down barriers and in turn direct more production dollars toward the creative work itself.

“But these (open source development) projects always take longer than you think,” warned Feeney, admitting that the IIF initiative is approaching its seventh year.

IIF is currently going through the standardization process through global standards setting body Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).

To take off “it will require studios deciding this is the way they want their shows done,” Feeney said. “We are working with the studios and talking to their suppliers.”

For example, the last season of the series Justified used an IIF workflow. Feeney reported that 16 pilots have been made using IIF, and a couple of movie projects are underway that incorporate the Framework.

SPI and ILM are scheduled to discuss Alembic—which they are already using on projects at their facilities—at a joint press conference Tuesday at Siggraph, which runs through Thursday.




Could Andy Serkis Really Win an Oscar for Playing a CGI Ape?

(nymag.com) Over at Rotten Tomatoes, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is riding high with a score of 81 percent, a surprisingly generous rating for a film that, before this week, seemed like it might be little more than a B-movie starring James Franco. (You can read David Edelstein's rave here.) But it's not Franco who's scoring the film all the positive press, it's the excellence of those apes and particularly motion-capture master Andy Serkis, who, as Caesar, the sentient ape with a revolutionary streak, is winning more praise than Jesus on a Sunday morning. You know what that means, right? Time to talk about Serkis's chance of winning an Oscar! (Come on, you had almost six months off from Oscar talk! Time to climb back onto that shiny gold eunuch!)

At the beginning of last month, The Hollywood Reporter first wondered if Serkis could break through the Academy's computer-generated glass ceiling; then Jeff Wells at HollywoodElsewhere declared the Oscar buzz "totally valid"; and then Grantland argued that Serkis's Oscar bona fides are the "sole focus of the movie's publicity push." And now, here come the reviews, many of which explicitly call for Serkis to be nominated. We've gathered the praise-ridden highlights below. If the academy is even half as smitten with the Serkis's mo-cap ape as these guys are, he should start preparing to at least be nominated for his precious.

"Serkis is playing a motion-capture monkey — the prime primate, Caesar — and gives a performance so nuanced and powerful it may challenge the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to give an Oscar to an actor who is never seen in the film." —Time

"To watch what actor Andy Serkis does as Caesar, the lead ape in this movie, is to witness a kind of miracle. ... Serkis gives by far the best performance in the movie, deserving an Oscar nod from an Academy long suspicious of this "hybrid" performance art." —Rolling Stone

"That a movie starring a CGI chimp could attain this (or any) degree of emotional resonance is largely a gift of the performance of Andy Serkis, who's been called 'the Charlie Chaplin of motion capture.' ... There's a debate brewing about whether motion-capture performances like Serkis' should be eligible for the Oscar. It's easy to see why flesh-and-blood actors might be wary about technological invasion of their turf, but Serkis' incarnation of the bitter, conflicted Caesar is nothing if not fleshly." —Slate

"Serkis commands the screen, combining his malleable features with the motion-capture technology he excels at. His Caesar conveys more intelligence and emotion than any of the human characters. He’s the reason for seeing the movie, even if you’re not ape-obsessed. ... Advantage to the apes, but they have Andy Serkis on their team — and so should Oscar, when the season of gold arrives. —Toronto Star

" ... the hero's nuanced characterization couldn't have been achieved without a motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis, who manages wordlessly—well, almost—to render unto Caesar almost as wide a range of feelings as he revealed, with the help of words, when he played the madly malign little Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings.'" —Wall Street Journal

"As Caesar, a chimp whose enhanced intelligence leads him to challenge the human power structure, Serkis makes the film his own. The ape grows from exuberant childhood to rueful, rebellious maturity in a performance of remarkable -- there is no other word for it — humanity." —Star Tribune

" ... Andy Serkis (best known as King Kong and Gollum) is like a CGI Streep, bringing humanity and a fun, primal flourish to Caesar, first played by Roddy McDowall in 1972 and now fleshed out by seamless special effects. What Serkis does with his bright eyes is a revelation." —New York Daily News

"One never knows exactly where the human ends and the effects begin, but Serkis and/or Caesar gives the best performance in the movie." —Roger Ebert

"That would be Andy Serkis of Gollum fame, midway through one of the strangest Hollywood acting careers since Peter Lorre's, who damn well steals the whole movie as the charismatic ape genius." —Salon

"All this technology wouldn't be as dazzling as it is without the work of the actors (some from Cirque du Soleil) who wear the motion capture suits, especially the redoubtable Andy Serkis, Gollum in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. He plays Caesar, who goes from being a cuddly 'Project Nim' type chimpanzee to He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed." —L.A. Times





Sony's Making 'Smurfs 2' Whether Critics and Moviegoers Like it or Not

(thecelebritycafe.com) Although the color green is usually associated with the motion, Hollywood is convinced that blue means go.

Deadline reports that Sony Pictures has given the thumbs up to a Smurfs sequel, having seen the success of the family-friendly live-action and CGI combo.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the kiddie comedy, which stars Neil Patrick Harris and Glee's Jayma Mays in the "live-action" part and credits the likes of pop star Katy Perry for the CGI portion, has proven to be a smash with family audiences and has brought in $135 million worldwide.

Variety says that the project doesn't have much to its name yet, except for Jordan Kerner as producer and an August 2013 release date.

It's not a terribly surprising move, as Sony seems keen on carving out dates for their sequels way in advance -- the production company already has plans for a sequel to the superheroic The Amazing Spider-Man, even though that won't even open until next summer.

Smurfs is a hot property, though, despite generally negative reviews. The reboot boasts a weak 22 percent rating with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it a barely-better-than-awful 59 percent.

Still, the movie managed to beat both raunchy comedy The Change-Up and sci-fi action flick Cowboys & Aliens at last weekend's box office race.





Autodesk Gets Exclusive Licence for Disney’s XGen Technology

(3dworldmag.com) Autodesk has obtained a license with a five-year exclusivity period for the XGen Arbitrary Primitive Generator technology (XGen), used by Walt Disney Animation Studios on the film Tangled

Tangled. Image © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

XGen technology was first presented by Disney in a research paper at SIGGRAPH in 2003 for the creation of computer-generated fur, feathers, and foliage.

Since then, it has most recently been used on Tangled. It has also been used to create the fur, hair, feathers, trees, leaves and rocks in Bolt, the trees and bushes in UP, the dust bunnies, debris, trees, bushes, clover and flowers in Toy Story 3, and the grass and trees in Cars 2.

Autodesk is now hoping to provide the digital entertainment creation community with the power to create similar effects and animation.

XGen is a comprehensive system for generating arbitrary primitives on a surface. A collaboration between the WDAS production and software teams, artists were provided with intuitive, creative tools for 3D animation — such as “grooming” tools for fur and hair — so that they can develop the look and feel of their characters and environments more quickly and easily.

“Twenty years ago, visual effects artists creating computer graphics were mostly mathematicians and scientists using highly technical and complex software tools that required significant amounts of custom programming,” explains chief technology officer Andy Hendrickson, Walt Disney Animation Studios.

“Back then, off-the-shelf software could not create the required details of nuance and emotion. Today, we were able to create XGen as an effective artistic tool because Autodesk provides studios like ours with comprehensive tools and a flexible, extensible platform to develop on.

“The Autodesk customisable toolset helps visual effects artists do their best work.”

Director of Studio Technology at Disney Animation, Dan Candela adds: “With Autodesk’s Maya as a core piece of our toolset, we’ve developed over 100 plug-ins and extensions for the platform to enable our artists to create a movie of the quality of ‘Tangled’ within necessary time and budgetary limits.

“Sharing our technology with the VFX and CG animation community raises the creative bar for the entire industry.”




The Avengers Production Setting Up in Cleveland

(comingsoon.net) WEWS5 has posted a look at The Avengers production setting up in Cleveland and the locals' reactions. The set is being constructed in the city at East 9th Street between Euclid and Prospect Avenues. Filming is scheduled to take place from August 15 until August 24 there.

The highly-anticipated Joss Whedon-directed film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Amanda Righetti. It opens in theaters on May 4, 2012.

VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=80940




Lucasfilm, Sony Pictures Imageworks Launch VFX Development

(hollywoodreporter.com) VANCOUVER -- Lucasfilm and Sony Pictures Imageworks released an open source system aimed at helping VFX companies easily store and share complex animated scenes across facilities, regardless of what software is being used. The launch occurred Tuesday at annual CG confab Siggraph.
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Siggraph: Visual Effects Community Needs Funding to Develop Open Standards, SciTech Exec Says

Development of Alembic, a computer graphics interchange format, was first announced a year ago at Siggraph. The version 1.0 software-now available for download--includes newly announced features aimed at efficiencies, including automatic data de-duplication, which the companies said can result in the use of less disk space.

"If you compare Alembic performance to the best performance we had available to us at Sony Pictures Imageworks, we are seeing a 48 percent saving-48 percent faster and less disc space-and just a 48 percent faster experience for our artists. If you compare it to the best the rest of the industry had as a standard … we are actually 99.8 percent faster," Rob Bredow, chief technology officer at Imageworks, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Imageworks used Alembic on recent projects including The Smurfs, and is using it on currently projects Men in Black 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man. "The most compelling part of the Alembic story is you can get more done in a day of work. [Artists] can get right to the artistic part." Bredow said, adding that the use of Alembic would be incorporated into upcoming projects. "That changes what you can put on the screen."

Lucasfilm's Industrial Light + Magic is currently using Alembic for their work on The Avengers. "There’s a lot of shots. There's lots of characters, and we really needed something like this to make it feasible -- not just in San Francisco, but the Lucasfilm Singapore studio is doing a sizable portion of the work as well," Tommy Burnette, head of global pipeline at Lucasfilm, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Leading software suppliers have started to work on Alembic support. This week at Siggraph, Autodesk is showing Alembic support in its Maya software and intends to include support in its 2012 Subscription Advantage Pack; Luxology is offering a technical preview of support in its Modo; The Foundry is planning native support in its Katana, which enters its beta test stage in September; and Side Effects is releasing its Houdini 11.1 release this week with Alembic support.

Additional suppliers that have been talking with Imageworks and Lucasfilm about the Alembic initiative include NVIDIA and Pixar Animation Studio’s Renderman.




10 Computer-Animated or Motion-Captured Characters Who Actually Look Cool

(io9.com) Rise of the Planet of the Apes proved that a motion-capture performance can capture audiences' attention. And a mocap character doesn't need to be a lovable blue cat person to win people over.

Computer-created characters have arrived: People are even talking about an Oscar nomination for Andy Serkis. But it took a lot of innovation and brilliance to get us there, including years of small advancements and a number of unforgettable characters. Here are the 10 coolest-looking computer-animated or motion-captured characters.

Note: We're not including any characters from fully animated movies, or this list would be pretty much a celebration of all things Pixar.

10) The Owl, Labyrinth
According to IMDB, the owl in the movie's title sequence is the first attempt at a photo-realistic CG creature in a feature film. And Jim Henson, who helped make puppet characters such a huge part of live-action storytelling, managed to help spawn the computer-generated characters who replaced them.

9) Bit, Tron
One of the coolest characters in the original Tron is the guy who has the least dialogue. Bit is a binary "bit" who can just signify "Yes" or "No" by changing shape and making a noise — although Bit seems to be able to understand complex questions and situations. And Bit represented a huge leap forward in technical effects at the time, using vector graphics to create the character and the then-new morphing software to make him change shape. Even though he's only got two things to say, he's one of the characters who sticks in your mind the most.

8) The Dinosaurs, Jurassic Park
When this film came out, these creatures represented a revolutionary change from anything we'd seen before. And they launched a whole new era of creature design. More than anything else, because Spielberg and his team of effects wizards were using CG to create creatures we'd imagined but never seen on screen, they avoided the "uncanny valley" problem. Check out a featurette from ILM about how JP changed CGI, at left.

7) Dobby from the Harry Potter movies
The Potter films had so many CG characters that came to life, including Aragog, Buckbeak and the Hungarian Horntail. But Dobby is probably the one that most people remember. He was created by the British visual effects house Framestore — by the same designers who did the current Doctor Who title sequence. They created 300 different facial expressions for him by his final appearance in Deathly Hallows. Dobby had to be painted in digitally, to replace the much larger actor who played him in the actual scenes.

6) General Grievous, Star Wars
Okay, sure, the Star Wars prequels: Bleh. But General Grievous represents an amazing achievement. From his first conceptions by master concept artist Warren Fu, to the maquettes to the computer modeling, he's a striking character. And he's one of the most complex computer models ILM ever created, including a ton of different textures and types of stuff. During combat sequences, he's played by a greenscreen actor, but he's always expressive and weird. For our money, the CG Yoda never lives up to his puppet original, but Grievous is a fully realized evil character.

5) Dragons, Game of Thrones
So many insane things happen in the final episode of Game of Thrones season one, and it all leads up to one huge, Westeros-shaking revelation. Amazingly, when we meet the creatures who give their names to the latest book in George R.R. Martin's saga, it still stands out as the moment from the finale. Those creatures just look so alive, and so curious and full of personality, from the get-go. According to the producers, it took hours of discussions and pages of sketches and notes to get them right. (Warning: Video is NSFW.)

4) The Wolf Pack, The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The wolves each had to have human eyes but wolf features, and six separate distinct personalities — not to mention fur that moved realistically. The animators at Tippett Studio went to a wolf sanctuary and spent time with the endangered wolves, getting to know them. They even created their own "Frankenwolf" out of pelts from already-dead wolves. The result was a set of digital creatures which arguably had more personality than any of the humans on the screen.

3) Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3:
The second and third Pirates movies are known for going way overboard in visual effects and storytelling elements, but Davy Jones still manages to stand out as a great character. The Cthulu-like Jones manages to avoid the uncanny valley nightmare of looking like a human gone wrong, and instead looks genuinely like a sea-creature. And the weird design actually helps Bill Nighy's excellent performance, because — let's face it — he has a great presence, but it doesn't scream "supernatural pirate."

2) Gollum, Lord of the Rings
This is the one that everybody always thinks of, the character that put Caesar actor Andy Serkis on the map and proved that mo-cap characters could be chilling and arresting. Both Gollum and Smeagol felt absolutely present in Serkis' amazing performance. Just watch this insane video showing Serkis in his mocap suit and the finished product.

1) Queen Moat, Avatar
James Cameron's motion-capture masterpiece laid the groundwork for the new Apes movie, as well as the upcoming Tintin and John Carter adaptations. And all of the Na'vi had tons of personality, including Zoe Saldana's Neytiri. But trust C.C.H. Pounder to bring an extra dignity and presence to Queen Moat, Neytiri's mother. As one-dimensional and cliched as the Na'vi society is, when Moat speaks for her people, you believe in it. And you believe in her. The technology took a huge leap forward with the Na'vi, but it worked best with Pounder's character.




Cameron's Lightstorm Hires Avatar Marketing Guru

(Lightstorm Entertainment) With the growing universe in Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment has hired Kathy Franklin as President of Franchise Development to expand the franchise and brand beyond the traditional licensing and merchandise. Here's the official announcement:

Kathy Franklin has been named President of Franchise Development at Lightstorm Entertainment. Announced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, the hire signifies Lightstorm's commitment, in collaboration with Twentieth Century Fox, to building the franchise and brand of AVATAR beyond the traditional licensing and merchandising avenues.

Cameron commented, "Anticipating the exponential growth of the Avatar universe, we looked for someone who could lead a team that will cement Avatar as a world class brand across all platforms and markets. Kathy's experience, coupled with her drive and vision for what Avatar can be, made her the right choice."




Walden Set To Adapt "Flat Stanley" As Live Action Feature

Walden Media has acquired film rights to Jeff Brown's children's book series "Flat Stanley" about a two-dimensional person stuck in a 3D world says Deadline.

The adventures follow Stanley Lambchop, a kid who is given a bulletin board by his father to put above his bed. One night it falls off and flattens him. He's fine other than the fact he's now two-dimensional.

He can now can slip under doors, pose as a kite, and solves an art heist by posing as a wall painting.

The film will be shot live action, with visual effects being employed to turn the lead character into a literally flat hero. John Carls will produce.





Motion Control Maven

(variety.com) Gravity's Vfx supervisor Jim Rider has always been as transfixed by the ways films get made as by the pics themselves.

"When I was a kid, I remember learning about how the effects in 'Star Wars' were done and the early days of ILM," Rider says. "The stories of them blowing up spaceships in a parking lot in Van Nuys were as fascinating to me as watching the whole movie."

It's no wonder then that Rider has spent his career in moviemaking -- starting out in motion-control camera operation and compositing, and working on TV series such as "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and films ranging from such blockbusters as "Titanic" to indie darlings like "I Love You Phillip Morris."

Rider likes artistic challenges. His motion-control skills were put to good use in "Crazy Stupid Love."

Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wanted to do a lengthy, continuous tracking shot showing the transformation of Steve Carell's character from a depressed divorced man into a skilled pickup artist. As the camera pans inside a bar, it finds Carell seated in various places, each time wearing a different outfit and picking up a different woman as it traces his growing confidence.

Rider tackled the challenge by doing a 3D pre-visualization of the points of view needed to get what the helmers wanted, worked out the camera moves, then loaded that information into the computer of the motion-control system.

"We used a Bulldog crane because it worked well in the bar set that was built for the movie," says Rider, who has known Ficarra and Requa for 20 years and worked on many student and professional projects with them.

"Even though CG has made a lot of motion-control work unnecessary, situations always come up where skills you learned a long time ago help you solve a new problem," adds Rider, who's now at work on Brett Ratner's "Tower Heist" for Gravity in New York.




'Avengers' & 'John Carter' At Disney's D23 Expo

(hollywoodreporter.com) In the Mouse House's answer to Comic-Con, stars of the upcoming "Muppets," "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Brave" are expected to be in attendance.

Disney will present sneak peeks at The Muppets, John Carter, Oz The Great and Powerful, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, Pixar's Brave and Marvel’s The Avengers at its studio-themed convention known as D23 Expo.

Disney will also trot out the stars of some of those movies, including Jason Segel, Kermit, and Miss Piggy (Muppets), Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, and Willem Dafoe (John Carter), Kelly Macdonald and Kevin McKidd (voicework for Brave), Jennifer Garner (The Odd Life of Timothy Green), Jack McBrayer and Sarah Silverman (Wreck-It Ralph), and Avengers cast members, whom have not been revealed.

The company, in making the announcement, also promised surprise guests, with some speculating cast members of the not-yet-in-production Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, could show up as well.

The convention, now in its second year, runs August 19 to 21, but it’s August 20 that promises to be the big day, with the sneak peaks and cast roll call. Also on hand for that day will be Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross, production president Sean Bailey, Disney Animation and Pixar chief John Lasseter and Marvel man Kevin Feige.

D23 Expo, held at the Anaheim Convention Center, is designed to be a Comic-Con-style celebration of things Disney and D23’s nascent arrival has affected how Disney (and Marvel) now approach Comic-Con; the studio, for example, didn’t bring Avengers to the San Diego-based pop culture mega-event, waiting to hold it for its own event.

A large amount of time will be devoted to Pixar, which is celebrated its 25th anniversary, including a look at the key members of the Pixar creative team (in a panel including Lasseter, Jim Morris, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, Lee Unkrich, Mark Andrews and Dan Scanlon), a look at the characters of Pixar’s new movie Monsters University, a focus on composer Michael Giacchino, a look at the art of Brave, and a panel discussion with the filmmakers behind the Pixar shorts.

Also on the schedule, an advance screening of the 3D version of The Lion King and and the upcoming ABC holiday special Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nicefrom Walt Disney Animation Studios.

On the convention centre floor, fans will be able to see a collection of props from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, engage in drawing classes, meet-and-greets, book signings, among other activities.




Will the UK Riots Delay RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Release?

(whatculture.com) In a week that has seen cities across England ransacked by gangs of rioting youths, what a coincidence it is that the big cinema release of the forthcoming weekend sees a major city being overrun by troops of wild apes in scenes reminiscent of those that have dominated the British news for the past 72 hours.

While the vast majority of audiences would enjoy the movie as a fantastic piece of storytelling, be marvelled by the amazing visual effects and appreciate the commentary on art imitating life (I gave the film 5 stars in my review and it deserves your attention), which now carries even greater resonance, there is the fear that some will be influenced and incited by the piece; thus leading to scenes that the press would no doubt dub as ‘life imitating art’.

In addition to this there will be question marks surrounding the suitability of a release that deals with such subject matter given the thousands of people who have been directly and seriously affected by the riots. So do not be surprised if pressure is put on 20th Century Fox to review the imminent release of their big summer blockbuster Rise of the Planet of the Apes. And then a deeper question is… should it?

The question then becomes when will it be appropriate to release it? A week later? A month? Not considering the issue of timing for Fox, who have negotiated this weekend to capitalise on audiences by avoiding competition from the likes of Harry Potter, Captain America, Conan and Final Destination 5, but focusing on when it will be considered appropriate to release this film on moral grounds. How long will have to pass before it is thought safe to release it without any actions of individuals being attributed to it? Which then brings us to the question of to what extent does Hollywood and the arts in general have responsibility over the behaviour of it’s consumers?

Video games like Grand Theft Auto have already come under attack and blamed for the riots; they have been in England for years and this is the first instance of riots on this scale. Ben Affleck saw the theatrical release of his sublime directorial debut ‘Gone Baby Gone’ shelved for months because of the parallels with the Madeleine McCann kidnapping. Then when eventually released months later hampered by the media storm that surrounded it and the film suffered.

So while I will completely understand if Fox decides to delay the release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes amidst concerns of inciting further trouble or a media backlash on the grounds of insensitivity, I shall see it as a great shame if a film that is so deserving of attention and praise becomes another victim of the insanity that has swept across this country, caused by a minority of cretins who aren’t worthy of being mauled to death by a shrewdness of apes!




Transformers 4 - Will There Be One?

(movie-moron.com) It’s been a momentous week for the Transformers franchise. So is there going to be a Transformers 4 or a reboot? And what can we expect from it?

A couple of days ago Transformers: Dark of the Moon reached $1 billion worldwide gross. That’s $338 million in the US and $663 million internationally. Incredibly it’s the first billion dollar grossing movie in Paramount’s 99 year history. And it’s one of the 10 highest grossing films worldwide of all time. This was no doubt helped by the inflated ticket price of 3D, but still it’s a great achievement, especially coming off the back of a generally disliked second movie.

So what happens now? Shia LaBeouf and Michael Bay have had enough. Shia told MTV “I’m not coming back to do another one. I don’t think Mike [Bay] will either,” the actor continued. “It is still a hot property I think, especially coming out of the third one. So I imagine they’ll reboot it at some point with someone else.” Bay wrote on his site, “I’m kind of sad to leave the franchise.”

It’s a common Hollywood tactic to pretend you want to leave a successful franchise just to boost your next payday. But after five years of Transformers blue-screen filmmaking and more money than they could ever spend, it could well be genuine.

If they do go, will it mean a reboot like Shia suggests? No. The producer has stated “Certainly not a reboot. We haven’t lost the Transformers. They didn’t grow up or become expensive like Tobey Maguire. I’m pretty sure there will be a second trilogy. I am pretty sure it will kick ass. And I am pretty sure some of you will hate it because it wasn’t all bots.”

There have been rumours that Spielberg might direct or that Jason Statham might be the new leading man (he’s dating Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in real life), but trust me those will prove to be nonsense. Bay himself has said the Statham thing is untrue.

TRANSFORMERS 3 SPOILERS: One problem Transformers 4 will have is how to deal with the bridges burnt by Bay at the end of Dark of the Moon. Killing Starscream and Megatron in such a final way means there’s going to be a huge gap in future movies. Then again, could Megatron somehow be recovered enough to become Galvatron (the ‘re-born’ form of a destroyed Megatron)? And were they both fairly minor players in Dark of the Moon anyway?

Bay said he wasn’t keen on the Dinobots, but if he’s exiting then this would seem the time. They’re great characters, would present a fresh new spectacle on screen (giant metal dinosaurs trashing a city), and their prehistoric-form would offer some obvious plot opportunies if it meant prehistoric-origins too. The series sure does love to show the Transformers dropping in on earth’s history.

Unicron (the planet-sized Transformer from the original animated movie) is the villain most fans want to see. While this would be jaw-droppingly spectacular, it does present a huge logistical problem – how is Shia LaBeouf’s human replacement going to battle something the size of a planet?




Catwoman Stunt Double Barrels Through IMAX Camera

(latinoreview.com) Catwoman Stunt Double Barrels Through IMAX Camera This past Friday, we got our first look at Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in 'The Dark Knight Rises,' as well as the lovely side-profile of her stunt double riding one of Batman's motorcycle-like vehicles, the Batpod. During filming that day, the stunt double did a lot more than just look good -- she barreled through one of the IMAX cameras during one of the takes. You can watch the video of the minor accident below thanks to TMZ. A source told them that nobody was injured, and even the camera came out of the traumatic event just fine.

VIDEO - Take a look: http://www.latinoreview.com/news/catwoman-stunt-double-barrels-through-imax-camera-14411