It’s a very competitive group of films vying for a visual effect nomination this year, but one movie that is almost certain to land in the final five is the already shortlisted “Avengers: Infinity War.” With so many characters from so many different Marvel Cinematic Universe films, it was a huge challenge for the massive VFX team under Visual Effects Supervisors Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Special Effects Supervisor Dan Sudick. It took a village to make “Infinity War,” almost every major effects house in town worked on the film, and it shows.
A few weeks ago DeLeeuw and Port jumped on the phone to reflect on their work for “Infinity War” and avoid any potential spoilers whatsoever about its highly anticipated sequel, “Avengers: Endgame.” And, breathe easy Marvel Studios, they succeeded.
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The Playlist: How many years ago did you actually start working on “Infinity War”?
Dan DeLeeuw: I think it’s three years ago, now? We got a crew t-shirt and you kind of put the year on it. It’s like four years that I think I’ll be on this film total.
The Playlist: And when you got the script or the outline, was there one particular scene or sequence you knew would take the longest or need the most care?
Dan DeLeeuw: Yeah, we definitely had to get working on Thanos early to make sure we got him right because if we didn’t get Thanos right then the film wouldn’t work. The final battles, [too]. It’s interesting, our first battle in New York is kind of other movies finale [battle] and our movie actually had two finales. We had a final battle in Wakanda and we had the final battle in Titan so it was like, getting as many of the 2600 shots going as we possibly could, as early as we could to get the movie done.
The Playlist: Was there anything else, in particular, that really needed attention?
Dan DeLeeuw: The whole movie was [divided by] kind of Thanos’ trip and the Guardians’ trip and the Avenger’s trip throughout the universe. Each location required its own build we had a really great production designer, Charlie Wood, that helps us design the different sets and locations. For Titan, you had to basically design that from the ground up. We were on a horse farm in Atlanta for the Wakanda battle that we were hoping to preserve more of it than we actually could. A lot of it became mostly digital in terms of the terrain and the fighting and then the big features. Nidavellir was where they go to get the Stormbreaker forged, that set I think was like 30×30 and then we extended the rest of that. Basically, every new fantastic place they went that we couldn’t actually shoot on earth was something we built from the ground up.
Kelly Port: They’re all challenging sequences that kind of all has to get started right away. So, I think that’s partly why there are 14 different companies coming to work on it, 2600 people.
The Playlist: There are so many characters in this film that were in other films that already have powers or effects that are associated with them that you’re trying to merge into one film. It’s not even like a regular “Avengers” film in that respect, which no doubt was complicated in and of itself. How many people were responsible for just coordinating everything? It just seems like a logistical nightmare in some respects.
Kelly Port: Yeah pretty much. There were all the other departments that you normally would see in a movie in our department. While [filming] you’ll typically have your supervisors and producers. We had two additional supervisors that would be on set full-time. You had [vfx] teams for the first unit and second unit. At various points, we started shooting splinter units. Then we had to have three teams for that, that typically was between three to five people. Normally, you can get by with probably about 10 people, I think we had close to 40 people on set at time and then when the bigger sequences came along, then we’d have the teams from ILM and Digital Domain and Method, that had a better support going and bring their people out as well to help us out.
The Playlist: Was there any effect or sequence that you guys are most proud of in terms of how it all came together?
Kelly Port: I think for me there are a few pieces of the film. One, we’re very proud of Thanos in terms of what we were able to accomplish with him and kind of how much he drove the movie forward and then all the fans reactions to Thanos and the audience’s reaction to Thanos. Him really carrying the movie as the protagonist. He had over an hour of screen time and you look at “Infinity War” and all of the grand scale and all of the battles you kind of boil it down and it’s about a father and his daughter. It’s kind of what’s driving the entire movie and even with that over the classic scale so Thanos is pretty brilliant. Look at pieces of Wakanda like when Hulkbuster battles Cull Obsidian, the original plan for that is that we’re gonna try to shoot on location in Georgia and we actually went out and shot them. But then the fight choreography completely changed so we ended up replacing quite a bit of that location. So, you look at it and you don’t really know what actually had to go through to get that sequence done.
The Playlist: The effect that I think is the most iconic from the film, you see it on social media everywhere ever since the movie came out, is the disintegrating effect of Thanos’ winning at the end of the movie. Can you talk about that from an artistic aspect? Where that idea came from? How did that sort of evolve?
Kelly Port: There was a kind of checklist at the beginning of the movie that we had to figure out. We had to figure out Thanos, we had to figure out Wakanda, we had to figure out Titan and then for this specific effects with Tony’s new armor and then, probably highest on that list was figuring out how everyone’s going to disappear. It was something that, throughout the film, we would design the effects, make sure the Infinity stones each of them has their own personality and how they work. Then, Thanos would start combining the stones and then he could start doing more complex feats and summoning black holes and things like that. We’re working towards a conclusion to when he uses all six stones that we would do this kind of big effect for it. It was something that no matter what we tried, it was too big, it would just overshadow what the actor’s performances. Where we started is definitely not where we [began] and we ended up kind of dialing it all back and kind of played off of the “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” kind of notion of passing from this world, your corporeal form disappearing and then just simplifying the shot. Having the gravitas of the effect be more about how it moved and how they disintegrated and then the speed in which they disintegrated kind of making it unique for each of the actors and based on their performance. Coming off of the high of what was happening in the battles where you kind of think they almost have a chance [to win]. Thor shows up, they think they have a chance, Cap shows up to save Vision they think he has a chance, Vision, Wanda destroys the stone, they think they have a chance and then it just kind of pulling the rug out from everybody at the end and just showing that they were really never going to win. Just kind of playing to that.
The Playlist: But the actors went into it without knowing what you were thinking at all?
Kelly Port: The final look came in post. We had a general idea of what it was going to be. What I think they did a great job of is they kind of made it intrinsic to their characters. It’s what I think is great about the entire cast is them turning to dust now you get to say “O.K., you’re turning to dust and you’re falling on the ground,” and you get one performance. Everybody kind of made it their own, Star-Lord, Chris Pratt, did his own feel on it and Dave [Bautista] did his pass on it when Drax went and then if you look at what [Elisabeth Olsen] did with Scarlet Witch for Wanda, she kind of lets herself go, she’s lost Vision, she’s lost her brother in Ultron. She’s just kind of decided to pass from the universe. There’s [some of them] kind of fighting it, for all it’s worth, just trying to hang on as long as you can and so, you’ve helped with the visual effects based on what the actors brought to it.
The Playlist: I’m assuming you guys are working on “Endgame” as well? Is it the same team?
Kelly Port: For this one we, they kind of made a decision to shoot both films at the same time so it was the same team. We ended up shooting sequentially and then, put “Endgame” on the shelf until we had finished “Infinity War.” I think we had a couple of days off between the two and then started on “Endgame”
The Playlist: First of all, how dare you guys take a day off where you must be working on “Endgame.” [Laughs.]. More importantly, I’m not assuming the effects in Endgame are easier, has going through the process on “Infinity War” made it easier in some way?
Kelly Port: I think it was, there was the complexity to these stones that is something that I think you have to experience or gain experience from. I started with the Russo’s on “Winter Soldier” and then went on to “Civil War” then “Infinity War” and then “Endgame.” I think each film is a trial or something you learn from. It just keeps building and getting bigger and bigger. It’s something I don’t think you just would want to walk into so in that sense, you’ve got experience to know what to expect and then not to pull back or be afraid of the sheer size and scope of what’s coming next.
The Playlist: I know you can’t spoil anything, and I’m not asking you to, but are there inherent challenges because of what the script of “Endgame” that are much different than what you had to deal with in terms of “Infinity War” or is it sort of the same bucket of things?
Kelly Port: It’s kind of, “Don’t spoil Christmas for me” so the same way as we were just talking about with “Infinity War” it’s like, “Let’s have the fans walk in cold.” That’s definitely what we’re trying to do for “Endgame” because it’s going to be really amazing. We want the fans to experience it [and are] trying to let no information out.
The Playoff: When the Visual Effects branch Bake-Off happens what is the number one thing you want the rest of your peers to recognize in the work that you guys did? Was it Thanos? Was it the two battles?
Kelly Port: I think you look at a few things when you’re judging a body of work for a film’s visual effects. Are the effect themselves of the very highest quality? Are they consistent across the shots? Are they pushing the envelope? Are they pushing the technology of the industry further ahead so that other films can step on the shoulders of this film and just keep things moving forward? And then of course if you can do all of these things across a huge volume of shots it makes it even more impressive. I think “Infinity War” hits all of those marks.
Dan DeLeeuw: You know with Thanos, he’s definitely a character that we all love even though we should hate him. I think we’re really proud of what we were able to accomplish with him.
“Avengers: Infinity War” is available on digital download and is now streaming on Netflix.