If you want to see Benedict Cumberbatch crawl around on the floor while acting like a dragon, look no further. Peter Jackson's visual effects company, Weta Digital, released a featurette from the forthcoming Blu-ray release of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" that chronicles how the title creature was brought to life. It involves a lot of CGI, of course, plus Cumberbatch wearing a motion-capture suit and acting like a dragon.
"Having Benedict in a mo-cap suit was lots of fun -- for us, and hopefully for him, too -- and seemed to help get him immersed and hone in on the character," animation supervisor David Clayton says in narrating the clip. "The translation of performance from Benedict to Smaug wasn't a one-to-one match like you'd get from a humanoid creature. They have very different physiologies." (You know, in case you weren't aware that humans aren't dragons.)
Learn about the making of "Smaug" below. The DVD and Blu-ray arrive April 8.
"Having Benedict in a mo-cap suit was lots of fun -- for us, and hopefully for him, too -- and seemed to help get him immersed and hone in on the character," animation supervisor David Clayton says in narrating the clip. "The translation of performance from Benedict to Smaug wasn't a one-to-one match like you'd get from a humanoid creature. They have very different physiologies." (You know, in case you weren't aware that humans aren't dragons.)
Learn about the making of "Smaug" below. The DVD and Blu-ray arrive April 8.