David Fincher Says ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’ Likely To Be 70% CG
David Fincheris a forward-thinking kind of guy. In the ’90s, when digital effects were still relatively young, he put CGI to work inAlien 3, and heavily used digital images to journey through the brain (and the apartment) of Tyler Durden inFight Club. He has embraced digital cinematography and the various benefits it provides, and employed such extensive CGI work onThe Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonthat the skinny version of young Steve Rogers inCaptain Americais referred to by many as the Ben Button version of Chris Evans.
So it is no surprise to hear that he would be interested in performance capture, and thathis versionof20,000 Leagues Under the Seamight be primarily created in computer workstations. We’ve known of his attachment to the project for a few months, but other thanthe fact that it will be 3D, we haven’t heard much from the director at all about his Jules Verne adaptation/remake. But at a Q&A not long ago, he mentioned the project briefly, and those comments are after the break.
At an Actors Studio Q&A at the Swedish Film Institute, David Fincher was asked by /Film reader Viktor J (who sent us this clip) about his possible interest in doing a motion-capture or performance-capture film. The director said,
I would love to to something like that. I would love to do something probably more like Avatar than Tintin. I like the idea of something that is a little more… complicated. (chuckles) I love the idea of a ‘cartoon’, but I would like it to be sort of very, very dense. And, in fact, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be probably 70% CG. […] I love motion capture and think it’s only in its infancy, and eventually there won’t be a difference between motion capture and acting. because that’s all motion capture is, is being able to capture acting.
Here’s the clip. Fincher’s comments start about forty seconds in. Watch the whole thing for his account of meeting Daniel Craig on the set ofTintin, which Craig has already recounted as an embarrassing moment.
