By If a film script requires a ruddy great dragon or giant space station, then computer effects are obviously the best way to go.
Since CGI became possible and affordable for movie studios in the late 1980s though, it’s also been used for the most random and minor reasons.
From groin bulge reduction to making water more… watery, these are the special effects the world could have lived without.
[Related story: PETA demands Jackson CGI pledge]
[Related story: Spielberg's E.T. regret]
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Tobey Maguire's contract demanded
$15,000 to shave his head in this small role, so director Terry Gilliam
opted for a bald cap and CGI instead. In the end, it was more expensive.
(Picture credit: Filmweb)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The trailer
for the 2008 Indy reboot was deceptively decent; there were car chases,
exploding warehouses, angry Russians and lots of guns. Too many, in
fact. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) doesn’t allow
guns to be directly pointed at a person in its “green band” (i.e.
‘Suitable for all’) trailers. Rather than use a different clip, the
studio turned to computer boffins, who lowered all the weapons and gave
Ray Winstone a weird-looking new jacket.
(Picture credit: Lucasfilm)
Ghost Rider
As well as keeping his agent busy, one of Nicolas
Cage’s pastimes is staying in shape. Unfortunately the then 42-year-old
wasn’t shapely enough for this daft comic adaptation; producers made his
abs bigger in post-production.
(Picture credit: Deadcentral)
Waterworld
One thing 1995’s ‘Waterworld’ has lots of, apart
from script issues, is water. Apparently not enough though. CGI blue
stuff was bafflingly added to fill out backdrops and improve splashes.
(Picture credit: Rex)
Your Highness
Despite the medieval comedy featuring more than
its fair share of less-than-subtle innuendo, when marketing the R-rated
movie to audiences too young to see it anyway, Natalie Portman’s
derriere was deemed too cheeky for the “green band” trailer. Digitally
shape-shifting the star’s thong solved that problem.
(Picture credit: Universal)
Blood Diamond
When reviewing the heartbreaking phone-call
scene at the end of ‘Blood Diamond,’ it was decided Jennifer Connelly
just wasn’t distressed enough. The CGI team sliced up a few digital
onions and added tears to her face.
(Picture credit: Rex)
Superman Returns
The Man of Steel has it all: super strength,
ability to fly, x-ray vision… and a distracting bulge. Or at least
that’s what studio bosses decided whilst filming the 2006 series reboot.
Fearing it might affect younger audiences as well as toy sales, actor
Brandon Routh suffered some digital reduction surgery.
(Picture credit: Wenn)
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
If anyone loves
CGI, its George Lucas, who tinkered with his classic space yarn several
times. For the 2004 DVD re-release of the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy
nothing was sacred… even eyebrows. In the scene where Luke unmasks his
dying father at the end of ‘Return of The Jedi’, Darth Vader actor
Sebastian Shaw had his eyebrows removed to match Hayden Christensen’s
burns injuries in ‘Revenge of the Sith.’
(Picture credit: Lucasfilm)
When Edward and Bella first unleashed baby Renesmee into the world, not only was she a vampire-human hybrid (or dhampir), she wasn’t even real. Rather than accept that most babies change as they grow up, producers created an “uncanny-valley CGI moppet” - as the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it; an awful attempt at reproducing child actor Mackenzie Foy’s face.
(Picture credit: perfectemptation.blogspot)E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
When a 20th anniversary special edition of ‘E.T.’ was released in 2002, CGI was used to make alterations to the original that had bothered Steven Spielberg since 1982. These included the spaceship designs and E.T. himself, but more controversially he also removed shotguns from FBI agents chasing the escaping Elliot and replaced them with walkie-talkies. Apparently he did it at the behest of parent groups, but backtracked in time for the 30th anniversary Blu-ray release this year.
(Picture credit: Amblin)