One-Hour Zombies and the Man Who Killed Nicholson: The InFilm Experience (Part 2)

Tuesday

At our first of two stops today to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Building, our quickly bonding group wandered through the Grand Lobby and Fourth Floor Gallery for the "ANIME! High Art—Pop Culture" exhibition, featuring animation cels, sketches, figurines, video installations, and other vibrantly colored artifacts that are rarely seen outside of Japan. Animation may seem off-topic for an F/X program, but the outing was more for the church than its sermon, and really, nobody was about to complain after stepping behind the pink curtain which hid an adults-only room full of sexy anime (all mostly free of pubic hair, as J-censorship laws required until 1991) and on one monitor, a shokushu goukan hentai... classic?

We met physical-effects veteran Robert DeVine that afternoon at his Anatomorphex studio, this man who indeed killed Jack Nicholson—in Mars Attacks!, that is. ("He was a real gentleman, even though he was in his briefs from the waist down," said DeVine.) Having built stunt dummies and miniatures, robotics and prosthetic masks, and even the Jack in the Box head, our host generously played show-and-tell with his 25+ years' worth of creations and war stories. (Aww, look at the panda bears from Tropic Thunder!) As cinema falls further in lust with digital technology, the "practical effects" we learned about at what DeVine called his "mid-sized" effects house felt more impressive to me than the industrial-strength CGI we saw at Digital Domain. Not that he feels bitter, as he wasn't the first to discuss the importance of marrying tangible, analog magic to the computer-manufactured variety. My favorite factoid: whenever someone takes off a realistic-looking latex mask, Mission Impossible-style, watch as their arm reaches across and pulls it off from the bottom; the arm is then used as the guide to cut between the other actor and the actual prosthetic. DeVine was all too happy to give away his magician's playbook, as long as the questions kept coming.

Later that night, we headed back to the Academy building to witness Pixar mastermind John Lasseter host a conversation with legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki, whose new film Ponyo opens in the U.S. this weekend. (My own review is here.) Lasseter's a friend and drooling fan, and clearly not the most original interviewer, but with the help of a translator, Miyazaki-san gave some surprising answers about his hallowed career. He spoke of his academic background in economics and political science, his early efforts (an animated version of The 47 Ronin?!), and gems of artistic wisdom like "Don't do something you've seen before. Unless you've forgotten you've seen it before." No, he doesn't plan to retire as is rumored after every new feature he directs. Yes, he draws manga for model magazines as a hobby. He makes his villains strangely likeable because they work harder than the heroes, and his films often feature scrumptious feasts for a profoundly easy reason: "I like to eat."

Wednesday

Far different from what fannypack-wearing families experience on a Universal Studios tour, which probably changes very little from week to week, our specially requested tram ride through the Warner Bros. backlot and front was, as our guide/driver Dan admitted, the most comprehensively chatty tour he had ever given. Again, here's a pit stop that doesn't directly deal with effects minus a little moviemaking demystification, but learning about the original Warner brothers' plan for resourceful efficiency (sets double as production offices; every street, tree, sign and company parking lot can be used and repurposed) was inspiring. Sure, there were purposely no families or kids or foreigners to slow down for, and the trivia was collectible—oh look, we're driving past Chateau de Boss Hogg, directly across the street from Phoebe Cates' home in Fast Times at Ridgemont High—but it was the first time I felt hyper-conscious to being in a tourist group.

At Rhythm & Hues, a far more casual, open-house environment than fellow big-time effects studio Digital Domain, our liaison offered up a smart, in-depth history of both the company and CGI effects. We froze our butts off in the server room (can you even imagine the pressure of an equipment failure on a project that will ultimately cost hundreds of millions of dollars?), and were allowed to walk through the cubicle farm of headphones-wearing freelancers as they tweaked sequences from the Benicio Del Toro-led remake of The Wolf Man and the unfortunately-named Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (sorry, kids: no photos or spoilers were allowed). We saw clips of upcoming work, and again, got to ask any high-falutin' or totally inane questions that tickled our collective fancies. Maybe picking these insiders' brains was what justifies the price of admission.

As a treat that night (depending on your taste), we were invited to a pre-release screening of Funny People. Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells entered the auditorium after a majority of our group had assembled in the back row. "Why are you way back here?" pondered Wells. "It was the only place where the group could sit together," suggested one of us.

"What, are we going to hold hands?"

Thursday

For all its two-story toys (Avatar!), life-size figurines (The Terminator!) and in-progress head molds ([redacted due to confidentiality agreement]!) alone, the most Comic-Con-friendly workshop was Legacy Effects, formerly known as Stan Winston Studios before the F/X legend behind Jurassic Park and Aliens suddenly passed away last year. Like a bigger-scale Anatomorphex, Legacy might've been my favorite stop of the week, if mostly for two reasons: I'm still awed by the 3D printer, a machine that fabricates bonded resin molds, such as this one, which was "printed" while we watched; I had no idea such technology existed. The other memorable moment randomly arrived when we stumbled onto masks of Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr. from the upcoming Iron Man 2. Two of the Brazilian actresses in our group—one of whom even worked on the first Iron Man—took turns putting on Downey's face, this life-like visage on nubile female bodies. It's a damn creepy sight to behold, as agreed Robert Downey Sr. (if I may appropriately name-drop) upon seeing my cameraphone pictures a week later.

The afternoon became brutally hot, so it was a shame that so much of our trek around Full Scale Effects—a 30+ year "full service special effects company" (they all refer to themselves as "full service," I learned) that specializes in mechanical, elemental and pyrotechnic F/X—was outside or without the luxury of air conditioning. We sat in freshly fogged rooms, protected ourselves with goggles as crewmen shot off thirty-foot fireballs and blew up water buckets, held onto our hats in front of high-powered wind machines, and observed sizzling L.A. asphalt covered in fake snow. One of our team volunteered to be "shot" with a blood-bursting squib effect, but it was his impromptu reasoning of why his jilted lover shouldn't shoot him that fed us our recurring punchline of the day: "I'm just a film critic!" (video here.)

Friday

I couldn't attend the screening at our hotel of The Sci-Fi Boys, an almost self-explanatory documentary from director Paul Davids about the '70s and '80s effects revolution, featuring talking-head interviews from Peter Jackson, John Landis and Ray Harryhausen. However, I'm especially sorry I missed the post-screening Q&A with Davids, who reportedly spoke freely and sincerely about making supernatural contact with the late sci-fi writer and collector extraordinaire Forrest J. Ackerman.

Our last official stop of the week was Drac Studios, lovingly named for one of the company's first big assignments: Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula (for which they won their first Academy Award). The gang reconnected with Monday's guest Paul Salamoff, and I briefly did with creative director and makeup artist Greg Cannom, with whom I spoke earlier this year before he won his Oscar for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Besides their commercial and TV work, Drac has worked on The Passion of the Christ (there's a crucified Jesus hanging on their wall) and Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Mrs. Doubtfire (boom, another Oscar!). While we ambled around the spacious "showroom" for an hour, our outgoing fellow attendee Lu Brites was given a zombie makeover. "Professionally applied, professionally removed" being the makeup artist's motto, Lu unfortunately wasn't allowed to keep her undead countenance to go cruising that night.

Back at the hotel, the group met up at the rooftop pool and hot tub for a final night of socializing, and contact information was exchanged by all. Tourist attraction or not, I've made new friends, have been offered places to stay in Brazil the next time I'm there (or, you know, the eventual first time), and even met up with someone from the group when he made his way to New York this past week. The question remains: is five days of jam-packed educational fun worth nearly three grand? That's not for me to say, and I'm too biased in both directions to give a fair answer anyway. But considering InFilm president and noted entrepreneur Marcos Wettreich's first-day speech was about enabling connections between film fans and professionals, I'd say that final night of cavorting was the proof in his proverbial pudding... or should I say canjica?

Posted by ahillis at August 14, 2009 7:39 PM