Yahoo Movies James Gunn reveals he preferred practical effects to CGI for 'The Suicide Squad'
James Gunn has revealed he favoured the use of practical effects over CGI for his upcoming superhero team-up movie The Suicide Squad.
In a series of tweets, the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker said he used practical effects “wherever possible” on the new movie — a reboot of David Ayer’s widely panned 2016 film.
Recently, Gunn told a fan on Instagram that The Suicide Squad contains more practical sets and effects work than all of his other movies combined.
Read more: Gunn was offered Superman before The Suicide Squad
The director made extensive use of practical effects on his low-budget early work, including creature feature Slither and hard-edged superhero comedy Super.
He said on Twitter that CGI can be “beautiful and spectacular and necessary”, but that he was concerned about filmmakers “relying on post production to do the work that should be done in production”.
CGI’s important. But I used practical effects whenever possible with #TheSuicideSquad - including the biggest, most beautiful sets I’ve ever seen by Beth Mickle, real locations, real costumes by Judianna Makovsky, pyrotechnics by Dan Sudick, prosthetic effects by Legacy & more. https://t.co/yWampiXs0l
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 4, 2020
The cost difference depends partly on what you’re doing and how good the work is. Cheap practical is cheaper than cheap CGI but cheap CGI could be cheaper than high quality practical. And you just can’t do a full-size practical, say, Mothra. https://t.co/k0dgi8V7hZ
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 4, 2020
Me too. I hope to God I’m not coming off as negative about CG which can be beautiful & spectacular & necessary; I’m forever grateful to the VFX artists who have worked on my films. This is just about not relying on post production to do the work that should be done in production. https://t.co/rpLlJIjY3t
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) March 5, 2020
Gunn’s The Suicide Squad sees the director crossing the floor of the superhero studio divide to work with DC, before returning to the Marvel world for the third Guardians of the Galaxy adventure.
The 53-year-old signed on to direct the movie after he was sacked by Marvel in 2018 when bad taste jokes he had made on Twitter resurfaced and drew criticism.
After a campaign by the cast of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, as well as a fan petition, Gunn was re-hired in March 2019 to complete his trilogy.
Read more: David Ayer lends support to Gunn’s The Suicide Squad
His take on The Suicide Squad will share little narrative DNA with the previous film, but does see cast members including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis and Jai Courtney reprise their roles.
Robbie recently portrayed Quinn for the second time in Birds of Prey, which was an R-rated take on the character — the same rating as The Suicide Squad is intended to receive.
Other than these returning cast members, Gunn has assembled an A-list roster including Idris Elba, John Cena, Peter Capaldi, Taika Waititi and Storm Reid.
Gunn recently posted a group photo of the huge The Suicide Squad cast and crew to mark the end of principal photography on the movie.
Gunn is due to begin work on the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie shortly after he is finished with The Suicide Squad.
Read more: Karen Gillan praises Guardians 3 script
It was reported last year that Marvel hopes to have Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in front of cameras before the end of 2020.
The Suicide Squad is due in UK cinemas from 6 August, 2021.
