Interview: Chatting About the Unique Look of ‘The Creator’ with Gareth Edwards and the Visual Effects Team

Nothing else quite looks like The Creator. I’d previously spoken to filmmaker Gareth Edwards (here), but today he’s joining Jay Cooper (Visual Effects Supervisor), Ian Comely (Visual Effects Supervisor), and Andrew Roberts (VFX: On-Set VFX Supervisor) to discuss the movie’s singular look. Around the time of theatrical release, I had interviewed cinematographers Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer (here), so this should pair very well. Yesterday, I had a chat with the film’s sound team (here). Today, it’s the visual effects team’s turn to talk, in the aftermath of their Academy Award nomination.

My review of The Creator (here), has the following to say about the technical filmmaking on display:

Filmmaker Gareth Edwards, co-writing here with Chris Weitz, treats this closer to his work with Monsters than with Godzilla or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I mean that in terms of the guerrilla style nature of the work. Edwards has some incredible talent behind the camera, with Greig Fraser sharing co-cinematographer duties with Oren Soffer, while the editing triumvirate is Hank Corwin, Scott Morris, and Joe Walker. Throw in a score by Hans Zimmer and everyone below the line is doing terrific work. Fraser and Soffer especially help Edwards to take your breath away. His direction is vibrant and mostly well paced. If there’s a flaw, it’s in the final act, which feels a bit rushed, compared to everything else. For a film that feels so unique up until that, Edwards and Weitz get a little bit standard issue as things wrap up. It’s not a huge issue, but it felt noticeable.

Below, you can hear my conversation with Comely, Cooper, Edwards, and Roberts. You’ll also be able to see some Industrial Light & Magic videos that showcases the VFX work. Yes, we’ve got some ILM goodies to share! Talking to these guys, you really get a sense of how they were perfectly in synch in executing Edwards’ vision. Arguably the frontrunners for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, so it’s really interesting to learn a bit more about how it all works. The Creator really stands out among recent sci-fi efforts and has the makings of a cult classic, so going under the hood for a bit was a very cool experience. Check out the videos to see a bit about how the sausage is made, then listen to us chat about it…

Here now is my interview with the visual effects team and filmmaker behind The Creator. Enjoy:

The Creator is available to watch right now!