One of the most amazing things about this internet thing is that it allows for me to have spies like Joseph of Aramathea here, who is posted in Israel. He's a bit old, but his news isn't... WARNING, he does spoil a couple of things in ARMAGEDDON, but I hadn't heard that Digital Domain was working on that. He also addresses Avatar, Spiderman and some other work. So read on...
I interviewed, by phone, Mr. Steve Fredricks, the COO of Digital Domain, James Cameron's special-effects house (whose special effects on Titanic got them an Oscar, and a nomination for Apollo 13). Digital Domain are the second largest effects house in America, following George Lucas' I.L.M. Mr. Fredricks is coming to Israel next week, to give a lecture and perhaps scout for talents for his company.
Anyway, he had some REALLY interesting things to say. Here they are:
# The people at Digital Domain are working hard right now to complete two major scenes in "Armageddon". Yep, that's right. The premiere is less then three weeks away, and they're still putting up the effects!
# These are the scenes that DD are making: 1: A meteor splashes in the Shanghai bay and wrecks Shanghai ("We're destroying Shanghai right now", said Fredricks); 2: A smaller meteor smashes through the roof of New York's Grand Central Station, crashes through the floor and onto the railroad tracks underground.
# To the question whether they organized a company field trip to see "Deep Impact" (whose effects were done by ILM) Mr. Fredricks replied that he hadn't seen the film yet but some of the guys did and they said "it was a pretty decent picture".
# Because he's working closely with James Cameron, I figured Mr. Fredricks would know more about which project will be Cameron's next. His answer was fascinating: According to Fredricks, Cameron's (and therefore, Digital Domain's) next big ground-breaking challenge would be to make a live-action film whose star is digitally produced. Yikes! I asked whether that means that "Avatar" WILL be Cameron's next picture and the answer was a hesitant "no". To make "Avatar" the company needs the technology to create an entire person digitally, but the current software still makes a digital person look fake (although breakthroughs are constantly made: a recent software developed by DD enables them to make digital hair and fur that are completely natural. This software was used in creating an upcoming commercial whose stars are digitally-rendered Koala bears -- or was it pandas?). So, Avatar it ain't. What about Spiderman. Oh. Maybe. Spiderman WAS considered to be that breakthru film (I guess they want to make the Spiderman character digitally because the suit makes it much easier, you don't have to create artificial skin. By The Way, as an ex-Spiderman fan, the idea to make Spiderman digital is absolutely brilliant. Way to go, Jim!). The problem with Spiderman, as you may have read, is that the rights are jammed in a messy legal tangle that is no-where near resolution.
# Digital Domain's upcoming features projects are Walter Hill's sci-fi "Super Nova" (coming early 1999) and Vincent Ward's "What Dreams May Come" (starring Robin Williams. coming late 98).
