FILM
BALANCING PHOTOREALISM AND ANIMAL PERSONALITY IN DOLITTLE By CHRIS MCGOWAN
All images copyright © 2020 Universal Studios and Perfect Universe Investment Inc. TOP: Gorilla Chee-Chee (voiced by Rami Malek) and Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.). Director Stephen Gaghan wanted to make Dolittle accessible for modern audiences using advanced VFX and SFX.
80 • VFXVOICE.COM SPRING 2020
Dolittle, the latest cinematic adaptation of Hugh Lofting’s children’s books about an English doctor and veterinarian who can talk to animals, launches at an auspicious time – when visual effects have reached new heights in creating photorealistic CG fauna. “Technology-wise we’re obviously more advanced. In the last three or four years, there’s been a jump in technology that we use to create animals, especially the fur,” says Nicolas Aithadi, MPC’s Visual Effects Supervisor on Dolittle. Once an impressive photoreal look is achieved, he explains, “That’s when you start thinking of other things, not just making an animal – it’s about its character.” All the many creatures in Dolittle are CG, with the exceptions of some horses, according to Aithadi. By contrast, the original Doctor Dolittle (1967) featured hundreds of live animals (around 1,200), including giraffes, and practical effects like a giant snail. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the movie was produced in 70mm Todd-AO with a lavish budget for the time of $17 million. There is also a history of high achievement attached to the looming franchise. L.B. Abbott, a multiple Academy Award winner, won an Oscar for Special Visual Effects on Doctor Dolittle. Art Cruickshank (Tron, Planet of the Apes), who had won an Oscar for Special Visual Effects for Fantastic Voyage a year earlier, was credited on the film with Special Photographic Effects.
Subsequently, taking a different tack, a 1998 remake of Doctor Dolittle starred Eddie Murphy, and another Dolittle film with Murphy followed, along with three more sequels without him. The 2020 Dolittle is directed by Stephen Gaghan and stars Robert Downey Jr. as the doctor, and Antonio Banderas and Michael Sheen in live-action roles. The voice cast includes Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Kumail Nanjiani, Tom Holland, Selena Gomez, Ralph Fiennes and Octavia Spencer. “We had something like 20 speaking characters,” says Aithadi. MPC led the visual effects charge and brought its considerable expertise with CG animals in The Jungle Book and The Lion King to bear on Dolittle. MPC started its CG animal work by visiting Amazing Animals, a company in Oxfordshire, England that supplies wild animals for films, TV and other media. 4DMax handled the capture. “We spent a couple of days there,” says Aithadi. A “whole bunch of animals” were present, including an ostrich, a squirrel, a lioness, a lion and a tiger. “We had access to the animals, and we scanned, photographed and filmed them to use as reference. They were our best references.” Two trainers were inside a cage, and photogrammetry gear was ready to handle the scans. “It was scary to watch when we got the lioness, who wasn’t the most peaceful one. It was really scary to see two guys in there with her.” The animals set the pace for the scans. “It was the
TOP: There is rarely a scene in Dolittle in which CG animals and live humans aren’t interacting. Clockwise from bottom left: Ostrich Plimpton (Kumail Nanjiani), monkeys Elliot and Elsie, parrot Polynesia (Emma Thompson), polar bear Yoshi (John Cena), Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) and sugar glider Mini (Nick A. Fisher). BOTTOM: From left: Ostrich Plimpton, duck Dab-Dab (Octavia Spencer), Dr. Dolittle, Tommy Stubbins, polar bear Yoshi, gorilla Chee-Chee and parrot Polynesia.
SPRING 2020 VFXVOICE.COM • 81
