>(Ciaran) Hinds described the performance, along with a few new details of this “old, tired” Steppenwolf while speaking on BBC’s Michael Ball Show (hat tip to Reddit for catching the interview). Apologizing for the fact that he showed up without the impressive Steppenwolf armor now revealed in toy sets, the actor revealed that no such costume ever existed:
>“I’m sorry I’m not in costume. I didn’t even have a costume when I was doing it. It’s all done in motion capture. So… they stick a helmet on your head, they put two cameras around, and they capture all your expressions, facial expressions. So basically, they’re going to concoct some kind of construction and they will use my facial expressions – eyes, mouth, voice – they’ll turn into this murderous, avenging Steppenwolf from the planet Apokolips, apparently. Who’s bent on Hell on Earth.”
>There will of course be some fans who had wished that Steppenwolf – no matter who played him – would be able to interact with the actual cast members for the sake of chemistry, gravitas, or an intangible sense of integrity, if nothing else. Modern CG-fueled blockbusters, even beyond superhero films have made that a less common luxury, and the results have varied from challenging to completely imperceptible. It’s also worth pointing out that at this point, the actual amount of scenes or screen time shared between Steppenwolf and the heroes of the Justice League is unknown. If Steppenwolf is going to be carrying out lengthy dialogues with the heroes, it’s a different issue than if his Parademon army does the legwork so he can appear for a final, mindblowing battle.
Ethan Bell
And...? He's doing voice work. The cast members doing voice work for animated features never really meet each other either and their parts are recorded separately.
Asher King
Not really. Lots of times actors doing motion capture work will act on the same set as their costars to get a real performance out of them.
Hunter White
>Not really. No, really.
Jason Lopez
There's a very salient example of CGI actors still showing up on set so the other actors can react to them but bringing it up is tantamount to company wars.
But also Davy Jones in Pirates
Brandon Ramirez
>There's a very salient example of CGI actors still showing up on set so the other actors can react to them And there's very salient examples where they're doing it solo because they don't need the other people around to get what they need for the shot. Like the pic you're quoting. I don't get what the big deal is with Hinds doing his part away from other cast members, which is common for actors who have a variety of schedueling demands, other than LOLOL JUSTICE LEAGUES GONNA SUX LOLOL
Benjamin Bennett
And look how that turned out. Compare that to the Avengers where Ruffalo was actually on set doing mo-cap work with his co-stars.
Robert Hall
He doesnt need to have chemistry, he needs to be alien to them. Nothing wrong with this. Gadot won't act better and Ben won't act worse Steppenwolf doesnt need to talk to them as equals, Evil new gods don't need to act as humans.
Kevin Nguyen
Nobody liked working on those movies, though.
Lincoln Wright
Fuck Steppenwolf, Starro should have been the Justice League villain
Hunter Collins
Go to bed Starro
Hunter Allen
...
Cameron Wilson
That was for one particularly complex scene where it would have been harder to paint out a dozen full-size actors and paint in a dozen CGI midgets, on top of all the other work that needed doing. Since they have to have the set be the correct dimensions to allow him to get his bends and movement right, there's no room for the other full-size actors anyway, and there aren't 12 famous midgets who could play those parts.
McKellan didn't even mind it that much, he's a fucking stage actor for christs sakes. They bitch all the time, including about the state of the set. The fact is, if you can't play pretend in a minimal set, you can't be a stage actor (or any other kind).
Ruffalo is a much better example of what's gone wrong on JL with Steppenwolf. These are actors playing larger bodies, not an actor in costume playing someone who looks the same size. JL should have had the principal actor on-set to act with the rest of the cast, but for some reason didn't. Maybe they didn't like the stand-in's voice; maybe it's Dave Prowse doing the body mocap. Who cares.
Point is, they've really fucked themselves giving the guy nothing to react to whatsoever. Even the Hobbit movies had all the actors in the same place; they could at least rehearse how they were going to go. But all this guy has is the director's word, and probably just a unit director at that.
Owen Baker
Reminds me of this
Hunter Cooper
Starro reccomended reading?
Dylan Hernandez
Joe Russo, explaining why it's absolutely vital to have Josh Brolin as Thanos on set to interact with the rest of the Avengers cast.
Sadly fuck all. There's his first appearance in Justice League, and a small story with him in Morrison's JLA.
Oh his appearance in Avengers/JLA is good too, but it isn't a major role.
Blake Green
This.
Wyatt Ortiz
Same.
Hunter Gonzalez
>they’ll turn into this murderous, avenging Steppenwolf from the planet Apokolips, apparently
The way he puts it is funny
Kayden Reed
It reminds me most of Hugo Weaving's description of his voice work in the Transformers movies.
>"It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it," the English actor said. "They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way. I did it."
>"But, my link to that and to Michael Bay is so minimal. I have never met him," he continued. "I was never on set. I’ve seen his face on Skype. I know nothing about him, really. I just went in and did it. I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don’t know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I’ve never done anything like that, in my life. It’s hard to say any more about it than that, really."
Leo Russell
What was his role? The only big star i remember was Nimoy as Other Prime
Adam Reed
He was Megatron.
Nicholas Moore
>Like the pic you're quoting.
so, in other words, shitty movies? k
If you want your live action actors to actually be able to act and respond to a CGI character, you bring him on set.
