Well before the “Watchmen” film was green lit — and even in the time since — one of the elements of the original graphic novel that many believed impossible to recreate in live-action form was the near-omnipotent, atom-manipulating Doctor Manhattan. From what we’ve seen thus far of the “Watchmen” film, Zack Snyder and his crew have done an admirable job with the project, thanks to effects specialists like Alan McFarland, who managed the lighting effects for Doctor Manhattan.
In an interview with UGO, McFarland discussed the motion-capture suit he designed for Billy Crudup, the actor who portrays Dr. Manhattan, which included head-to-toe blue LEDs.
“The purpose of the blue LEDs actually had nothing to do with capturing Billy’s performance– they were there to supply the blue glow on Dr. Manhattan’s surroundings,” explained McFarland. “That creates a much better look for Dr. Manhattan’s blue halo that had it been done entirely in post with CG. Under software control, the brightness of the LEDs could be set to DP Larry Fong’s exact specifications and it would self-monitor to maintain those levels.”
Previously, Crudup spoke to Splash Page about his experience playing Doctor Manhattan and donning the aforementioned mo-cap suit.
McFarland also mentions that one of the most difficult scenes to recreate — from an effects perspective — was one that will certainly be familiar to fans of the graphic novel: when Doctor Manhattan creates duplicates of himself to work in the laboratory.
“You see a glimpse of that in the trailer,” said McFarland. “We had to have Billy plus three other body doubles in identical mo-cap suits to pull that off, and it was very early in shooting Dr. Manhattan, so we were new to the process. It was a real trial-by-fire on that day.”
And because no “Watchmen” interview is complete with some talk of Alan Moore’s right-wing hero Rorschach, McFarland offered up an assessment of actor Jackie Earle Haley’s vocal interpretations of the character’s signature gruff tone.
“Jackie’s amazing, and he’s such a polite and friendly guy,” said McFarland. “You’d never imagine such a scary voice could come out of him as when he was in character as Rorschach.”
Do you think the “Watchmen” crew can pull off Doctor Manhattan? What other elements from “Watchmen” do you think will be difficult to recreate in a live-action feature?
