r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/padfoony • 3h ago

Christopher Nolan avoided CGI and used 7ft stuntmen to portray Laestrygonians in The Odyssey. The giant leader, King Antiphates, is portrayed by actor Josh Stewart, while Matt Damon’s stunt double is Devyn Dalton, who is just under 5ft.

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199

u/_HIST 3h ago

Nolan and "avoid using cgi" tale as old as time and not nearly as true as people paint it

108

u/Neddiggis 2h ago

There is a great series on Youtube about "No CGI" is just invisible CGI and breaks down a lot of movies showing the extent of CGI regularly used and he's just released a "Nolan" cut, which is great.

https://youtu.be/AFLcP-t0-kI?is=PlmqHdINjcrRSVHe

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u/Duckady 2h ago

Watching this series should be a prerequisite for anyone online uttering the term “CGI”.

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u/Neddiggis 2h ago

I found it really interesting and loved seeing how the sauce was made.

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u/Adezar 1h ago

To be fair I don't think anyone really complains about CGI they can't notice.

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u/Neddiggis 1h ago

Yes, but they say things like "Nolan is the best because he doesn't use CGI" and that's just wrong.

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u/SomeRandomRealtor 40m ago

It’s really just an incomplete description. “ Nolan avoids CGI everywhere it’s possible to.” Is a much more accurate accounting.

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u/Timely_Temperature54 2h ago

You. 3 of his films have won Oscars for VFX. And the effects company that were used on those films was also used for the Odyssey

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u/bolanrox 2h ago

Alien used the crews kids in space suits to make the Space Jockey set look bigger.

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u/CommunicationEast972 2h ago

CGI and visual effects are literally not the same thing, go learn about film

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u/Honey-Badger 2h ago

Am a VFX artist at a major studio (thousands of people, multiple oscars etc etc).

CGI and VFX are used so interchangeably by most of the public now to the point that there's no point trying to difference between them. It may be technically wrong but you look like a total ass trying to correct people on the semantics of it.

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u/FlyingSkyWizard 1h ago

Genuinely curious, what's the line, is it that CGI is fully machine generated unique footage and VFX is enhanced filmed footage?

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u/CommunicationEast972 1h ago

But when Chris says he isn’t using CGI, he is making the distinction himself, thus it is relevant to the convo

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u/Honey-Badger 1h ago

He saying he isnt using CGI because he knows that the public will think 'oh my god its all in camera then?' when actually its totally not. Also he most likely is lying, I have worked on multiple films 'that didnt use CGI' when it fact theres was tons of CG.

VFX studios are totally bound to not talk about how much work we do and often we're not allowed to show before and afters of our work because directors dont want us breaking any illusions

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u/Flexhead 1h ago

They are to the people that work on film though.

Making a monster in a computer or visually touching up hundreds of minutes of film in the computer to paint out parts of the crew/rigging and recreating backgrounds are all the same thing.

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u/CommunicationEast972 2h ago

I know you’re trying to be like cool and edgy but in this particular film he went to insane lengths to avoid cgi

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u/Timely_Temperature54 2h ago

No he didn’t. He went to great lengths to get as much in camera as possible and then enhanced that with CGI

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u/CommunicationEast972 2h ago

CGI and visual effects are literally not the same thing, go learn about film

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u/Timely_Temperature54 1h ago

I did learn about film. In film school. But they can be used interchangeably in a casual discussion like this. CGI is the assets they are using to cover things up or add them, VFX is the blending process where they integrate it into the real footage. Not an important distinction in this kind of discussion.

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u/vasthumiliation 2h ago

Not enough public information about the production process has yet been released to say with The Odyssey, but all of Nolan's films have had numerous digital visual effects shots. He has definitely avoided the use of computer-generated 3D models and textures, but he makes generous use of other computer-aided visual effects techniques in post-production.

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u/CommunicationEast972 2h ago

CGI and visual effects are literally not the same thing, go learn about film

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u/RJ_Aadithyan 1h ago

Pretty much every modern day movie utilizing VFX involves Computer Generated assets ie CGI elements. You keep saying the same thing yet you seem to have no clue how movies are made. The 'No CGI' angle is just marketing fluff. Even when Nolan goes to great lengths to create animatronics and large set pieces to get shots in camera, CGI is very much involved in paint outs of rigs, harness, face swaps, set extensions, costume adjustments, additions of animals, blood, atmospheric effects the lot... You saying CGI and VFX are not the same sounds more like you have an arbitrary idea of what each is and trying to roll with it.

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u/Double_Water_97 2h ago

And it was notices

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u/scottrycroft 2h ago

What are some instances of Nolan using CGI when it was roughly as easy to use practical effects?

It should be pretty easy to give some examples, no?

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u/Timely_Temperature54 2h ago

Why would that be easy? Nolan is smart and doesn’t overuse it and goes for what’s cost effective. He’s great at using every trick in the book

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u/scottrycroft 2h ago

Not sure what you are referring to. The person I was responding to was clearly saying that Nolan *doesn't* avoid CGI. I was saying they should provide some evidence of that assertion, and that it should be easy to show since they were so confident in saying it.

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u/Timely_Temperature54 1h ago

They are right. He doesn’t avoid it unnecessarily. That doesn’t mean he uses it at every turn. It just means he’s not afraid to use it when it’s appropriate

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u/scottrycroft 1h ago

That's a different point, they didn't say "when it's appropriate". Everyone agrees Nolan does use CGI.

The claim is that he doesn't avoid using CGI, period. Even though he is fairly famous for doing things practically.

My question is how do you know he's using CGI for stuff that could be practical regularly? Where's this claim coming from?