I have not seen I AM LEGEND yet (am I the only one?), but despite looking generally appealing, there was one element in the trailers that instantly turned me off: those damned CGI creatures bouncing around, looking every bit as unrealistic as those skipping, leaping robot hordes in I, ROBOT. Indeed, based on what I’ve been hearing, these absurdly terrible effects are holding an otherwise solid film back (not at the box office, obviously).
Well, if you look at Fangoria, it didn’t have to be this way. They’ve thrown up some very cool images of the original makeup designs, courtesy of FX artist Mike Marino. Yes, they look very freaky and convincing – but who needs them when there are computer pixels out there that need work…
Now I know you’re saying (or someone out there is saying), “Well, how are they supposed to do the scenes where there’s hundreds of those creatures chasing Will Smith’s car?!” Maybe you don’t need 800 of the silly bastards. You paint up a few dozen extras and make the damn thing look real – George Romero does it all the time. If you’re taking people out of the urgency of the movie by drawing attention to your awful CGI, is it worth it?
Anyway, take a look at all of Fango’s pics (including deer guts!) HERE.
LEGEND’S foxy Salli Richardson