CAUGHT STEALING PRODUCTION
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT While some driving scenes were shot in a volume, the stunt team also took to the streets of New York to film some of the action on location using car-mounted camera rigs
For the action sequences, a CG cat was also required. “You obviously can’t have a real cat inside a moving vehicle, so we’d put a CG cat in for parts where it was a dangerous situation,” adds Libatique. “It was a sneaky movie for VFX in that sense. I worked very closely with Dan Schrecker of Powerhouse VFX. We’ve worked together before. The nice thing about working with Darren is that he comes with his own ecosystem of people that have all worked together before, which makes it very comfortable.” Initially, Libatique was nervous about shooting with a cat, due to their unpredictability. “Dogs are much easier to work with, but this cat was incredible,” he admits. “The cat was a superstar, that understood the camera like no other animal I’ve ever worked with. He’s called Tonic, but in the film his name is Bud. His trainer was wonderful, and I couldn’t be more impressed by how Tonic performed. We had doubles for him too, and each one had a unique talent. For instance, we had a cat that could snarl on cue, which was his one skill. We had another that really liked being held, because Tonic didn’t love that. We also needed some very specific actions – for example, there’s a shot where he meets
Colorado (Bad Bunny); shots like these were done by a splinter unit, because you need time to get something real.” Having collaborated on eight feature films together, Libatique is very understanding of Aronofsky’s creative process. “Darren is a really purposeful filmmaker,” he says. “Even when he’s seemingly improvising, he’s already worked everything out in his mind. He’s very orderly in that sense. There are walls he places on all of us as collaborators, but within the confines of this structure, there’s still a lot of freedom. He’s always been very daring.” “I love creating the cocktail that eventually becomes the look of the film, and just building a world,” concludes Libatique. “Period films are extremely challenging, but gratifying to do when you accomplish them. Being able to use cinematography to convey a particular time and place is fun. As a craftsperson, you can’t ask for much more, because you’re putting your skills to the challenge and exercising every creative muscle. On any film with Darren, he can be a challenging collaborator because he’s so demanding, but he’s also brilliant. He expects and welcomes a creative energy that measures up with his.”
he drove at speed around the circle,” he recalls. “We also used a method that involved attaching a driving pod on top of Roman’s SUV when she was driving. There was a guy on top actually driving it so she didn’t have to and could focus on acting. It was super exciting to take these toys into this iconic place in Flushing Meadows and put them on display.” A lot of the driving was actually done in a volume, except for most of the stunt sequences. “Portions of those sequences were shot in a volume with LED screens for the backgrounds. Shooting the plates in modern-day New York, it’s impossible to avoid every Tesla and Rivian, so each shot had to be doctored to remove modern vehicles, signs and LEDs.”
13
DEFINITIONMAGS
Powered by FlippingBook