By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Contemporary moviegoers have marveled at everything from the
spectacular resurrection of monsters, robots and dinosaurs to the
catastrophic destruction caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, and
storms.
In the latest summer thriller, however, the visual phenomenon is
not the recreation of the Jurassic Age or the perfect storm, but
instead what audiences cannot see.
Director Paul Verhoeven’s vision for “Hollow
Man” combines extraordinary special effects with a compelling
story line.
“I think we went where nobody has gone,” Verhoeven
said in an interview at a recent Los Angeles press junket.
“The special effects are extremely well done and nicely
integrated into the story.”
In the film, a team of scientists working on a top-secret
government research project unlock the secret of invisibility.
After their serum is successfully tested on animals, their fearless
leader decides to test the serum on himself.
As a result, Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) discovers an
omnipotence associated with being unseen. Realizing he can get away
with anything, Sebastian feels free from the constraints of
morality.
“I like the way (Sebastian) starts out with this kind of
enthusiasm and brilliance and off-kilter sexuality, and makes this
descent and basically becomes a monster,” Bacon said.
“I’d like the part even if there was no invisibility in
the movie.”
Bacon also said that “Hollow Man” was the hardest
movie that he has worked on, both in terms of the challenges posed
by the character as well as the physical difficulties involved with
creating the special effects of the “hollow man.”
In order for the visual effects technicians to either totally or
partially remove him from view, Bacon spent much of the shooting
covered in paint, with matching contact lenses, wig, teeth covering
and skin-tight leotard.
“He went through hell on this film,” said co-star
Elisabeth Shue. “He was painted black, blue and green, and he
never complained.”
The transformation of Sebastian into the “hollow
man” also involved the innovative work of a team of artists,
technicians and designers who used special computer software to
create a digitally animated version of Bacon.
In the complex transformation scene, Bacon’s character
disappears in intricate layers, revealing his muscular system,
blood vessels, organs and skeleton. To recreate the human body, the
visual effects team made lengthy visits to medical facilities to
examine human bodies, participate in anatomical courses, and
observe autopsies.
Through the process of volume rendering, not only the surface
but the entire volume of the body, inside and out, is calculated
and produced on screen.
Senior visual effects supervisor Scott E. Anderson wanted to not
only animate the human body, but to also recapture Bacon’s
performance in their digital version of Sebastian.
“The performance by Kevin of Sebastian is believable
throughout, whether or not its Kevin doing Sebastian or us
interpreting Kevin doing Sebastian,” Anderson said.
“I’ve done very little in the effects genre”
Bacon said. “And while I don’t make decisions (to take
roles) based on genre, if I am to do an effects movie, it’s
fun to be the effect.”
Bacon continued to say that in most special effects movies that
create imposing monsters and natural disasters, the actor is
basically there to support the telling of that story.
“I think a lot of the times the characters that they give
you in an effects movie are not as well defined because really, the
effect is the thing that is the most important,” Bacon
said.
According to Anderson, while the film often features a digital
version of Sebastian, the animated character is still essentially a
creation of the actor.
“We kept Kevin’s performance,” Anderson said.
“Our character still has Kevin’s soul in it.”
Shue, who plays chief lieutenant Linda McKay, was drawn to the
science fiction thriller because it presented itself as a film in
which the visual effects would be integral to the drama.
“I trusted that Paul’s vision would be more
complicated than most director’s vision of a film like
this,” Shue said. “He wanted it to be dark “¦ he
wanted that slow descent into evil to be seductive.”
Linda’s romantic history with Sebastian poses a
complicated relationship that is sometimes just as volatile as the
special effects.
“I thought that my character could be interested and
fascinated with (Sebastian’s) descent enough so that I would
have a part of my character that would be interesting to me to play
along with all the action,” Shue said.
Shue also said that Bacon gave an exceptional performance in the
film. For an actor who is invisible for half the movie, his
presence is nevertheless still strong.
“I love that he brought to this character a sense of
child-like joy and the audience is really behind him,” Shue
said. “The greatest evil characters are characters that you
almost secretly want to be like.”
Though “Hollow Man” features complex character
studies, it is not just a film about the ramifications of the power
of invisibility.
Anderson envisions the film as a marriage of story and
technology.
“The only thing that has maintained consistency through
the history of filmmaking is story,” he said, commenting on
cinematic transitions from one technology to another. “And as
long as somebody has a good story to tell, people will go see that
film.”
FILM: “Hollow Man” is now playing in theaters
nationwide.