What kind of specific challenges does a film like Superman Returns bring?
Well, it was a very complex film to work on. One of the factors that made it very difficult was that a lot of shots were very packed, making even normally easier tasks like wire removal (erasing the wires that help Brandon Routh fly) difficult because there was lots going on in the background. Also, there were a lot of close-ups and mid-shots and that makes the compositing trickier. Are you a Superman fan? Also, having seen the movie, the visual influence of the classic 1978 Superman film is undeniable. Were you given reference shots from the original film to work with? Did you have to watch it a few million times? (Laughs) I’m a big, big fan of the Superman comics. But was never really into the films. Yes, Superman Returns takes a lot of cues from the first film, but that was mostly handled by the LA-section of Rhythm’n‘Hues. Those guys must have had to watch the film several times, yes! They had to do all that CG (computer generated) stuff using the Marlon Brando footage, etc. Seriou
