STACK NZ Jan-Feb #59

15 / 60

the fans are coming from and what we want
to do with the movie. So the decision to go
photorealistic took us back to figuring out
what we were going to do – for instance,
about their eyes, mouths and noses, as that’s
where an important part of their performance
comes from, and we had to tell a story with
that. But we also realised that half of those
performances were going to be gone because
of the fact that they wear masks, which
meant we had to get their talking gestures
right, and for that we were going to need the
science and bring the artistry into the process
to actually make it all look real.”
Helman’s closest ally on this uncharted
technological challenge to set the highest
benchmark for photorealistic CGI to date
was director Jonathan Liebesman. “The
great thing about Jonathan is that he was
completely open to all that kind of stuff,”
Helman states. “He knew from the beginning
that he was committed to technology and
that if he couldn’t get the performance that
we needed, he would have to stop in the
middle of the shoot. And he did! That’s kind
of unheard of… I’ve never gone up to
a director before and told him that he
needed to cut a scene; but I did with
Jonathan, and it was fine. So he was very
collaborative and easy to work with because
he just gets it! He understood that if we
didn’t get the turtles right, we quite
simply didn’t have a movie.”
3D added an even greater
scope, realism and depth to
it all, bringing the audience
even more into the action
and the story. “While we
were shooting we were
already thinking about
designing things in 3D,”
Helman says. “And I
believe that in some
cases it can really bring you into the action
if it is designed the right way. Trust me, I’m
not into using 3D unless it makes
sense, but in this movie it
does. There is a scene
where Splinter brings a
slice of pizza to Mikey,
and I can tell you that
it’s right there in front
of you!”
If we didn’t get the
Turtles right, we
simply didn’t have a
movie.
15