By Iain Blair
Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur has always been drawn to primal tales of man versus nature and the struggle to survive, whether they’re set on top of a frozen mountain (Everest) or at the bottom of the ocean (The Deep, Adrift). His latest harrowing survival story, Beast, swaps ice and water for the savannahs of Africa and pits man against an apex predator, a massive lion.
Director Baltasar Kormákur on the set of Beast
It stars Idris Elba as a recently widowed doctor who takes his daughters on safari only to find that they’re the prey when a rogue lion — a survivor of poachers who now sees all humans as the enemy — begins stalking and terrorizing them.
The film was shot by Oscar winner Philippe Rousselot, ASC, AFC, whose credits include A River Runs Through It. It was edited by Jay Rabinowitz, ACE (8 Mile). Visual effects supervisor Enrik Pavdeja (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) led a team of animators from Framestore, both on-set and in post, for close to a year as they created the all-VFX lion.
We spoke with Kormákur, whose credits also include 2 Guns and Contraband, about making the film, creating the lion and his love of post.
Having to create a believable VFX lion was clearly a huge challenge. Did you consider trying to mix some VFX with footage of a real lion?
Yes, we did, and that would have been easier in many ways, but it’s not enough to just make a lion. Lions are all different, like horses or people, so creating the character was very important to me. It would have been difficult to use a real lion in many of the scenes because you’d need to use different lions that are trained for different things. In the end, Universal felt it would just be better to create the lion with CGI.
I had a conversation with Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu about his survival film The Revenant and how he shot the big fight scene between Leo DiCaprio and the bear. He had a real bear on the set, but just as a reference. I thought that was a great solution, so I went back to the studio, and we agreed I could have a real lion on the set for reference. That way, we could instantly compare what we were doing with the real thing and study its movements and nature.
Can you talk about the importance of the CG lion?
If the CGI lion doesn’t look right and you don’t believe it, then the whole film doesn’t work. And for me, when I see VFX movies with animals, it’s all about the gravity of the creature, the weight of it and how it moves. It has to look and feel real, and that was the big challenge. How do we do that? We never wanted the lion doing anything you can’t see in nature. I didn’t want it to be a sort of superhero thing with the lion. So right from the start I worked very closely with my visual effects supervisor Enrik Pavdeja along with a big team of animators at Framestore, and we had a VFX team with us on the set in Africa every day. Then in post, it took us almost a whole year to create the VFX lion and get it right. I’ve worked a lot with VFX on other films, but this was by far the most challenging thing I’ve ever been involved with.
Director Baltasar Kormákur on the set of Beast with Idris Elba
Did you do a lot of previz?
Yes. Quite a lot with The Third Floor. Then later in post we also did some postviz. It was necessary with a film like this because you have to plan it all out very carefully, especially all the scenes with the lion interacting with the actors.
The great Philippe Rousselot shot it. How did you collaborate?
We really wanted to put the audience right there with the actors, and a big part of that was deciding to shoot it all on location in South Africa. You’re not on a stage somewhere in LA or Atlanta. There’s no greenscreen or bluescreen. It’s all real environments. I wanted it to look and feel realistic, not like some Hollywood version of Africa.
Then I wanted to use very long shots, up to eight minutes at a time, so we had to plan out all the action and movement, every element. I wanted the audience to feel trapped and terrified – you can’t get out of it, and the lion is always coming to you, and it’s always seen from the perspective of the characters. So when Idris looks behind him, the camera turns as well.
We shot with the ARRI Alexa 65 with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. That gave us a great look for the huge landscapes.
Fair to say you had to direct the lion twice — once on location and then again in post in collaboration with the VFX team?
Yes, and it was a very interesting process. The lion was created using state-of-the-art CGI but during the shoot we needed a physical version of the VFX lion as a visual reference for all the actors and crew, so we had a stunt guy with a big hat on that matched the size of the lion’s head.
That gave us a reference for how it moved and what it could do. We’d shoot that and then shoot it again without the stunt guy so we could get a clean version. That gave us the actors’ reactions and emotions, but it’s really weird when you’re doing a scene and there’s nothing there now – not even the stunt guy.
How early on did you decide to shoot the final battle between Idris and the lion in one take, and why?
We decided quite early on because I felt it would be far more frightening and brutal if we shot it all in one long take. Again, there’s no escape. We don’t cut away. It was one of the last things we shot, and we worked on it from prep all the way through the shoot, as it had to be very choreographed. I knew it’d be a big challenge, especially dealing with all the CGI elements in post, and it was a huge amount of work.
Where did you post?
I usually like to do it in Iceland at my company, RVK Studios, but this was all in London, mainly at Framestore for all the VFX. Then I worked with all my usual post guys.
We did the sound with Glenn Freemantle and his team at Sound 24 at Pinewood Studios. It was a great movie for the sound design team and sound editors. They had a lot of fun with all the lion sounds and bush noises. Then we did all the grading at Company 3 with Stefan Sonnenfeld in London. Framestore and Company 3 just merged, so they’re all in the same building in London, which is so convenient now.
Do you like the post process?
I really love it. I love all aspects of filmmaking — the prep, the shoot, the post. I enjoy it all, but especially post, where you actually make the film. You need enough time in post so you can allow the movie to be what it wants to be. We had a year – and this film needed every minute of it for the CGI.
It’s funny because at the start of post, when it’s just a cartoon lion, you watch it, and it works because you have to use your imagination. But then there’s this long period when it’s slowly coming together, but it just seems terrible. It’s worse in a way. You have to be very patient, as all the details – like the way sand comes off the lion’s feet, its breath and so on — come far later.
How involved are you in the DI, and how important is it to you?
I love the DI, and it was crucial to the look of the film. Our source format was ARRIRAW 6.5K, and we did the DI in 4K master. All the night scenes were a challenge because there’s no light source in the savannah, and we had to balance that with the naturalism of the rest of it. We allowed the beautiful colors of Africa to speak.
Did the film turn out the way you hoped?
Very much so. Of course things change, especially in post, but I loved the whole process. It wasn’t easy to make this film, but I’m very happy with what we all achieved, especially with the lion.
Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.
