Wed Oct 1, 2008 — by Josh Wigler

Special Effects Guru Talks 'Watchmen' Motion-Capture

Behind the scenes scoop on how Dr. Manhattan came to life

Don't let anyone tell you that being a superhero is easy. Just look at Billy Crudup who plays Dr. Manhattan in the hopefully upcoming Watchmen. UGO has an interview up with Alan McFarland, the special lighting effects supervisor for Dr. Manhattan, in which he details how Crudup became the big blue atomic man.

"Billy wore a white spandex suit ... covered with blue LED [lights] and tracking markers that would be used in post production to reconstruct his performance in the computer," says McFarland. "Billy also had a number of carefully calibrated dots on his face to assist in capturing his expressions and dialogue."

McFarland says that Crudup was very in tune with Dr. Manhattan's "pathos," noting that "rarely did anything go past a few takes." Nothing like strapping your actor in an uncomfortable suit to get those thespian juices flowing.

As for the most technically challenging scene in the film, McFarland cites the moment in Manhattan's "laboratory when you see four of him. You see a glimpse of that in the trailer. 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."

Click here for more of McFarland's thoughts on the superhero epic, including his predictions for Watchmen's potential fashion influences!

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