New Interview/Info from Doug Jones 12/20/06

[Advanced Dark]

Doug Jones Exposes Silver Surfer: No CGI?

Posted by Scott Weinberg on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006, 02:17 AM


Ftopel writes: "Exhausted from doing a day of "Pan's Labyrinth" press immediately following his last night shoot for "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," Doug Jones was giddy to talk about his latest costumed character. Some thought Silver Surfer would be a CGI motion capture gig, but it is not.

"Well, to this day, I've never done CGI dots for motion capture," said Jones. "I just finished a job where everyone thought that's what I did and that is not exactly the case."

Luckily, Jones can go on the record about the costume, since another major news outlet already spilled the beans. "The good thing is that somebody from MTV put a story out, they were doing a set visit and they told something they probably shouldn't have and that's when I walked on set, they said, 'And then Silver Surfer walked in the studio door. The hush fell over the crowd' or whatever he said. But he reported that the Silver Surfer was dressed in dark grey muscle and shrouded in a black hooded cape to keep him from the public or something like that. So that's out there now so I'm not telling any tales out of school by reporting what he said, am I? You didn't hear that from me, you heard it from MTV, okay?"

However, just like The Thing, the Silver Surfer won't just be the muscle suit. "I would be remiss if I said it's just that. 20th Century Fox really is spending a lot of money putting together the very best visual effects done by Weta with the very best practical effects done by Spectral Motion to create a look that is really going to stun you on film. He is absolutely, I'm not kidding. He's stunningly gorgeous."

Jones has seen footage, and he makes a bold claim. "I saw a test at the early stage and it was like drop dead oh my gosh, this is going to make the fans wet themselves. Yeah, you are."

So if it's so cool, shouldn't he just get his own movie? "If all goes well with this one, that could be in the works, coming down the pipe, let's hope.""

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=387650

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

"However, just like The Thing, the Silver Surfer won't just be the muscle suit."

That's an interesting tidbit if true. Last movie, the Thing (unfortunately) was pretty much a muscle suit except for the one scene with the fire-truck in which they CGI'd his back.

Was that just a sloppy statement by the author, or is Weta really going to be involved with the Thing also?

I really hope so, but maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Thanks AD!

 

[Lightning Strykez!]

Groovy!

 

[Darknightnomis]

Nice interview.

I hope the surfer looks as good as he claim he will becasue I'm not expecting much in line of the stroy for this movies (based on the first one) but I'm at least hoping for some good effects.

 

[Fantastic-Boy]

Thanks AD,Jones looks very excited!!!

 

[Advanced Dark]

I'm sure he is. Through this whole production he's seemed super excited to tell everyone about the whole thing but clearly he can't just do that for the sake of the whole production. Jones never said "NO" CGI though. There's gonna have to be CGI.

 

[bsquad]

edit

 

[MJB]

SS is going to be a muscle suit???? I liked the motion capture and practical fx rumor better. I'll have to see it first before i make a final judgment. I'm not happy with the article. I remember the quotes from the first movie saying that the Thing looked awesome and all that. If FOX doesn't top the Transformers trailer, then it may not bode well for FF2.

 

[Ulic Queldroma]

"However, just like The Thing, the Silver Surfer won't just be the muscle suit."

That's an interesting tidbit if true. Last movie, the Thing (unfortunately) was pretty much a muscle suit except for the one scene with the fire-truck in which they CGI'd his back.

Was that just a sloppy statement by the author, or is Weta really going to be involved with the Thing also?

I really hope so, but maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Thanks AD!

I think they are involved with working on Thing because if you noticed the last photo of the FF walking together, Thing looks taller than Johnny. I hope it is true because WETA did some awesome stuff with forced persective and CGI in LOTR and that was around 5-6 years ago.

 

[Kanon]

I don't want a surfer suit

 

[Advanced Dark]

Surfer Suit is fine and easily enhanced via computer. If done right it would look more realistic than pure CGI cause the Surfer has such simple features. I think CGI would have been better on The Thing though for all scenes except close up's and non-action sequences.

 

[Kanon]

Yeah, I'm not really worried about the final product, it's just that I liked the idea of having the CGI character, and the hi tech stuff

 

[Advanced Dark]

Plus I'm sure not every scene is gonna be done this way. There will certainly need to be some scenes where it's total CGI which could be done without Doug wearing a mocap suit. Everyone who's seen it says it's awesome so I"m not worried.

 

[Hellmistress]

All Doug has said is that he hasn't done mo-cap for The Surfer - motion capture isn't how it's being done. It isn't technically a muscle-suit as such either, but that's as far as I'm going to go on this one.

I have no doubt that some scenes will be CG work, that goes without saying. That may be done via cyber-scan etc., which feeds Doug's physical shape into a computer which then uses the scan to create the character, rather than motion capture or green-screen ref.

Hmmmm ... seems like I've been down this road before ...

HM

 

[Advanced Dark]

^ Exactly. Anyone who thinks were just gonna see Doug in a muscle suit is out of their mind.

 

[the a1ant]

Sounds like they're doing something similar to what they did with Colossus and Iceman in X3...only more advanced for the FF film. Colossus wore a metallic body suit and they enhanced that with CGI. Bobby (Shawn Ashmore) acted out his scene when he was Iced-up, and it was enhanced with CGI (the effect was done by WETA, as well).

 

[highguard]

^^ I think some people are not paying attention to what Doug said. Doug appears in some scenes with the other four, apparently depowered. Now obviously if the also have a muscle suit that cuts down tremendously on cost as it did with the thing.

He clearly is indicating that his performance and appearance is completely different from motion capture and what Weta is doing.

I would assume that either Weta will enhance the onscreen appearance of the muscle suit or that is what they are going for in the depowered state.

 

[Hellmistress]

^^ I think some people are not paying attention to what Doug said. Doug appears in some scenes with the other four, apparently depowered. Now obviously if the also have a muscle suit that cuts down tremendously on cost as it did with the thing.

He clearly is indicating that his performance and appearance is completely different from motion capture and what Weta is doing.

I would assume that either Weta will enhance the onscreen appearance of the muscle suit or that is what they are going for in the depowered state.

Doug has said - more than once - that the Surfer is the best of visual AND practical FX, and that he is not doing any mo-cap, ref cap or green-screen leotard work on this film.

He is working with both Spectral Motion and WETA as he portrays the Surfer in his entirety, and he is fully interacting with the cast at all times. It is not a muscle suit per se, and believe me, practical FX can be as expensive - if not more so - than CG, and Fox have spared no expense to get the Surfer as right as they can. This is a very special and spectacular design.

HM

 

[Noir]

...Wow.. if I know Story and his "suits" then the SS is gonna look like my couch coushin.

 

[TheShadowCat]

...Wow.. if I know Story and his "suits" then the SS is gonna look like my couch coushin.

Then you must have one hell of a couch since both Spetral Motion and WETA are working on SS.

>^^<

 

[Noir]

Then you must have one hell of a couch since both Spetral Motion and WETA are working on SS.

>^^<

Hell yeah I do.

Its got its own 1080p Flat screen.

 

[MJB]

Sounds like they're doing something similar to what they did with Colossus and Iceman in X3...only more advanced for the FF film. Colossus wore a metallic body suit and they enhanced that with CGI. Bobby (Shawn Ashmore) acted out his scene when he was Iced-up, and it was enhanced with CGI (the effect was done by WETA, as well).

Oh Jebus.

 

[MJB]

I don't want a surfer suit

Me to.

 

[HexualCirce]

"Make the fans wet themselves"

I'm excited...

I just hope it lives up to the expectations he's set.

 

[Hellmistress]

"Make the fans wet themselves"

I'm excited...

I just hope it lives up to the expectations he's set.

I tell ya, Doug was struck dumb (and that isn't a natural condition for him, lemmee tell ya) when he saw what Spectral and WETA had come up with - he says he's never looked so hot in his life! I kid you not - it's special.

HM