Latest news with #ILM
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
How 1980's The Empire Strikes Back set Star Wars on the way to becoming phenom it is today
This is the latest instalment in our From the Vault feature series, in which we reflect on culturally significant movies celebrating notable anniversaries. Advertisement It is hard to imagine a world in which Star Wars is not the galaxy-conquering behemoth we know today. As of 2025, George Lucas's sci-fi franchise includes nine films and three movie spin-offs, with more streaming and animated series being added all the time. Of course, none of this would have happened without the 1977 original, a pitch-perfect popcorn odyssey buoyed by John Williams' triumphant music and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)'s dazzling special effects. But it was the 1980 sequel, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, which is 45 this month, that turned this stand-alone success into an enduring pop-culture phenomenon. And it almost ended in disaster.
Fast Company
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
ILM is embracing AI like any other tool, and you should too
The year, 1993. A rudimentary computer-generated T. rex—a reptilian skin stretched over a wire frame—played on a loop in a computer at Industrial Light & Magic in California. Three film legends—VFX supervisor Dennis Muren, animator Phil Tippett, and director Steven Spielberg—watched silently as the implications sank in. 'Cinema history changed,' Rob Bredow recounts in his April 2023 TED Talk, which has just been published on YouTube. Tippett, a stop-motion pioneer, dryly told Spielberg, 'I feel like I'm going extinct.' As most movie buffs know, that line landed in Jurassic Park. Tippett's fear, however, turned out to be unfounded. The legendary effects company fused Tippett's stop-motion puppetry with nascent CGI, using a 'dinosaur input device'—a rigged armature with motion encoders—to digitize frame-by-frame animation. The result? A seismic shift that expanded artists' tool kits worldwide and opened a new era in filmmaking. Bredow was only 19 when that happened. Now, as SVP of creative innovation for Lucasfilm and chief creative officer of ILM, he sees a direct parallel to today's artificial intelligence debates. 'Headlines say, 'AI is coming for our jobs,'' he says in the TED Talk. From the Dykstraflex—the computer-controlled motion camera that enabled Star Wars 's iconic dogfights—to the StageCraft—a 270-degree LED curved wall that projected hyperrealistic 3D environments for The Mandalorian and now many other shows and movies—Bredow argues that ILM's 50-year history is a demonstration of how technological leaps redefine, rather than replace, artistry. Stop-motion transformed and merged with 3D effects. So did physical models, full-size sets, and matte paintings. Just like it's happening now with AI. 'Innovation thrives when old and new technologies are blended,' Bredow argues. ILM was late to the AI game. This became painfully obvious when the effects company created a rejuvenated version of Mark Hamill for the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian (despite fans cheering on Luke Skywalker's return to the screen). Done with traditional computer face tracking and 3D models— the same technique used to create Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia— Return of the Jedi Luke was slammed for being unrealistic. Then a Star Wars fan and AI aficionado called Shamook re-created the scene using AI. The former took hours. The latter took weeks. There was no doubt about which one looked more realistic. The difference was so obvious that the company realized it had to act: ILM hired Shamook days after the deepfake remake was released. He worked on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, where ILM merged generative AI, trained on Harrison Ford's past performances, with a meticulously handcrafted CG model to de-age the actor. The AI captured Ford's micro-expressions; artists fine-tuned subtleties like eye moisture and skin texture. Ford himself said it was pretty good and really felt like him. Because it did. AI is just another tool in the toolbox The ethos that now guides its AI integration has been in ILM's DNA since its origin. It was what drove George Lucas to pair engineers with artists to solve visual storytelling challenges. 'We're designed to be creative beings,' Bredow says. 'We love seeing tech and creativity work together.' Bredow hinted at ILM's embrace of AI tools in a Fast Company interview back in August 2024: 'I do see a path forward with some combination of the algorithmic tools that we've had and some machine learning-based tools that we either already have or can imagine developing, that are really going to help accelerate artist workflows.' Now he has made clear that AI has reached a point in which it is just another toolbox in ILM's toolbox. His stance about the technology is one that I have been seeing more and more since independent filmmaker Paul Trillo, one of the pioneers in using generative AI for his shorts, told me the same years ago. Trillo thinks that AI will enable indie projects to achieve blockbuster-grade VFX: 'It is just a powerful tool in a creative's arsenal.' It's just too bad that the example that Bredow presented in the TEDTalk was so underwhelming: A video that shows some uninspired sci-fi animals that looked like Photoshop-made images quickly turned to video using Kling, a commercial AI video generation tool developed by Chinese tech company Kuaishou. He described it as ILM's 'moving mood board,' but it falls short of what you would expect from the mother of all VFX houses. But his points and the lesson from ILM's half-century of visual innovation stand. The Dykstraflex didn't kill cinematography—it birthed a new process and visual language. CGI dinosaurs didn't erase animators—they just demanded hybrid skills. Now, as AI reshapes VFX, Bredow says we are witnessing another T. rex moment: one where artists, armed with generative tools, push storytelling beyond current limits. Adaptation is nonnegotiable. New tools should be embraced as long as they are not unethically taking advantage of other people's artwork. 'The next game changer,' he said, 'will light up screens worldwide.' The credits won't fade on human creativity. Hordes of people's names will keep rolling. At least for a few more years to come.
Euronews
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
No room to stay: France's shrinking space for Ukrainian refugees
ADVERTISEMENT More than three years after fleeing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in France are facing a new kind of uncertainty: tightening budgets and waning political support. While countries like Germany and Poland continue to welcome the bulk of those fleeing the conflict, France hosts just 55,000 Ukrainians under the EU's "temporary protection" status, compared to 1.18 million in Germany alone. Since March 2022, temporary protection status has allowed Ukrainians to bypass the traditional asylum process and quickly access rights such as work permits, health care, school for children, and a modest asylum seeker allowance of up to €426 a month in France. The scheme in France, which was set to end in March 2025, was finally extended until March 2026 due to the ongoing conflict. But as the war drags on and economic pressures mount, the French government is finding it more and more challenging to continue supporting Ukrainian refugees. 'We've reached the end of a system' One of the main issues is housing. In the immediate aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion, the French state mobilised more than 19,500 spots in emergency shelters for Ukrainians. But according to the NGO La Cimade , those numbers have since dwindled, falling to to 13,000 spots in 2023, 9,000 in 2024 and 4,000 in 2025. The state also rolled out rental intermediation schemes known as ILM, allowing organisations and NGOs to sublet private apartments to vulnerable Ukrainian families. Approximately 30,000 homes were made available, but now this system is also faltering. According to a government bulletin sent by French Prime Minister François Bayrou in December 2024, only 11,000 ILM spots will be financed in 2025, far short of the number needed. The other issue is that while the organisations who provide the apartments to refugees first need to put up cash to sublet them, their own budgets are being pushed to the brink. Nadia Sollogoub, centrist senator and president of the Senate's France-Ukraine friendship group, has watched this unravel in real-time. 'In 2023 and 2024, these associations advanced the costs of the housing, but as the state was in financial difficultiy, so they were only reimbursed on 30 December each year, and not the full amount,' she told Euronews. 'I fear that some organisations will stop taking care of the Ukrainians because of this. The fact that the state takes a long time to pay them back puts them in great financial struggle and cash flow problems." With funding drying up, aid groups in France fear a crisis. "The refugees are very worried because support has run out of steam, and we're in a major financial crisis in France, so they don't really know what's going to happen. It used to be very controlled, but now we've really reached the end of the system," said Sollogoub. Some Ukrainian families are now living with the fear of losing their accommodation. In autumn 2024, associations sounded the alarm after several families in the east of France received expulsion notices from ILM housing. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks to media coverage and advocacy, they were allowed to stay, but the precedent was deeply unsettling, according to Violeta Moskalu, who heads a French-Ukrainian association in the region. Temporary protection or asylum? What's more, the framework of the temporary protection scheme is being tested. French authorities have been pushing Ukrainian refugees to apply for asylum. Refugees under the temporary scheme are ineligible for certain types of social aid, such as the RSA (active solidarity income) or aid for the disabled. And the longer the war continues, the more temporary protection begins to resemble a permanent limbo. Senator Nadia Sollogoub is pushing for change. 'I've tabled a bill to be examined by the Senate on May 14,' she said. ADVERTISEMENT 'It would allow those who remain under temporary protection and the IML scheme to have the same social rights as if they had been granted asylum… except that they will be able to return home.' She's critical of the government's mixed messaging: 'At the national level, the government continues to say, 'Here we are, with our hands on our hearts, our Ukrainian brothers whom we welcome with all our generosity,' except when it came the time to decide the 2025 budget, we didn't get the funds to house them.' Since January 2022, France has spent €4.32 billion on welcoming Ukrainian refugees, according to Statista . In February, the Parliament adopted a long-overdue and contentious budget plan for 2025, which aims to cut an eye-watering €30 billion and raise taxes by €20 billion to limit France's deficit to 5.4% of GDP this year. ADVERTISEMENT As state-funded support schemes struggle, more Ukrainians are applying for asylum. In 2024, France received more than 11,800 first-time asylum applications from Ukrainians — four times as many as the previous year, making Ukraine the second-largest country of origin for asylum seekers , after Afghanistan. But this comes with its own complications. "Our government services are already overwhelmed by asylum applications," Sollogoub told Euronews. "It takes quite a long time to get these documents. What's more, we're not doing what we wanted to do in the first place.' The initial goal, she emphasised, was to create a pathway for Ukrainians to return home when the war ends, not to force them into long-term asylum. ADVERTISEMENT Unlike temporary protection, refugee status prevents the status holder from returning to their home country. At the same time, Ukrainians' intentions to return to their country have dropped considerably over time from 52% in 2023 to 31% in 2024, according to the EU Agency for Asylum . Related Refugee allowance and rent compensation: Here's how benefits for Ukrainians are changing in Europe French court green lights Ukrainian gas firm's compensation claim against Russia Although France isn't directly slashing support for Ukrainian refugees, it's a glimpse of a wider shift across the continent, where support for Ukrainian refugees is being steadily scaled back. In December 2024, the Swiss parliament restricted temporary protection to those from attacked or occupied areas in Ukraine. Germany and Estonia have also curtailed aid and access to services for Ukrainians. ADVERTISEMENT
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Star Wars Celebration: Lucasfilm Unveils ‘Light & Magic' Season 2 Trailer
Disney+ pulled back the curtain on the next chapter of Light & Magic, the docuseries chronicling the history and groundbreaking work of Lucasfilm's storied visual effects house, Industrial Light & Magic. The trailer and key art for season two were unveiled during a presentation Friday at the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, offering the legions of fans who had traveled to Japan for the event an early glimpse at the show's deep dive into the studio's most transformative era — the shift to digital filmmaking. The three-part second season of the doc series went live on Disney+ as the Tokyo presentation got underway. Attendees were treated to video greetings from director Joe Johnston and producer Ron Howard, as well as a highlight reel from the show. A panel discussion followed, moderated by actor and Star Wars alum Sam Witwer (the voice of Darth Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story) and featuring several figures from across the Lucasfilm brain trust. Among the panelists were Ahmed Best (the actor behind Jar Jar Binks), Lucasfilm president and general manager Lynwen Brennan, ILM's design guru Doug Chiang, senior VFX supervisor John Knoll, ILM general manager Janet Lewin, and senior animation supervisor Rob Coleman. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'The Mandalorian & Grogu': Action-Heavy Footage Brings Baby Yoda to the Big Screen at Star Wars Celebration Star Wars Celebration: Shawn Levy, Ryan Gosling's Movie Is Titled 'Starfighter' Korean Star Don Lee's English-Language Action Film 'Pig Village' Reveals Key Cast (Exclusive) The panel was just one part of the packed itinerary at the Japan edition of the Star Wars Celebration, the biennial convention that fêtes all manner of things related to Jedis, Siths, and other creations from the galaxy far, far away. Earlier in the day, Ryan Gosling and director Shawn Levy made waves by unveiling the title and release date for their forthcoming Star Wars spinoff film, Star Wars: Starfighter, followed by Jon Favreau, Star Wars guru Dave Filoni, Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver taking the stage to reveal the first footage of The Mandalorian & Grogu, the feature follow-up to the hit Disney+ series. Season 2 of Light & Magic, produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Documentaries, zeroes in on a pivotal turning point in the visual effects industry: the dawn of the digital era. The series traces ILM's various breakthroughs, including the creation of the first fully CG characters and the technical hurdles of digitally simulating natural elements like water. According to producers, the series captures how ILM redefined cinematic storytelling for a new generation despite internal setbacks and widespread industry skepticism, Directed by Johnston, the new season's team of executive producers includes Grazer, Howard, Justin Wilkes, Sara Bernstein, Lawrence Kasdan, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and Carrie Beck, alongside Johnston himself. Jacqui Lopez, Ted Schillinger, and Michael Garcia serve as co-executive producers, with Meredith Kaulfers and Christopher St. John producing, and Nicole Pusateri supervising. The second of Light & Magic is now streaming exclusively on Disney+. Best of The Hollywood Reporter "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked 20 Times the Oscars Got It Wrong
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Twins! Rivals! Clones! Hollywood is doubling down on dual roles
For years, dual roles have been played largely for laughs. Think of Adam Sandler's Razzie-sweeping twin turn in Jack and Jill, or Lisa Kudrow as both Phoebe and Ursula Buffay on Friends. Eddie Murphy was always particularly prolific, his most multiplicitous performance as a clutch of Klumps for Nutty Professor II. There are exceptions, of course. But for every Legend or The Prestige there are ten Austin Powers, Bowfingers and – shudder – Norbits. This year, however, is giving us a more dramatic breed of duplicate. Robert De Niro will pull double Don duty in The Alto Knights, Michael B Jordan will play twin leads in the supernatural Sinners and a pair of Robert Pattinson clones is currently headlining Bong Joon-ho's Mickey 17. And there's more. The Monkey just served up a horror with two bloody scoops of Theo James, Zac Efron recently wrapped A24 thriller Famous, in which he plays both stalker and superstar and, this November, Elle Fanning will play twin sisters in the latest film in the Predator franchise. Recently, at Sundance, Dylan O'Brien played his own twin brother in darkly comic drama Twinless. So, even disregarding the films' genres, it's still a notable spike in audiences seeing double. So why now? And how are these seemingly impossible shots realised? 'For years, film-makers have used various techniques to show actors multiple times in the same scene,' says Daniel Harrington, a London-based VFX artist and compositor. 'In The Parent Trap, split-screen allowed the same actor to occupy both sides of the frame, whereas The Social Network used motion control to portray the Winklevoss twins by repeating precise camera movements.' Before we tackle the technicalities, however, here's a brief history of dual roles – for the concept is almost as old as cinema itself. In 1898, trailblazing director Georges Méliès was already double-exposing film to twice capture his likeness within the same frame. His method made the jump to feature-length films in 1917 when actor William Farnum played opposite himself in an adaptation of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The following year, Mary Pickford took dual roles in Stella Maris using a new split-screen technique that would continue to be used for decades, in films such as Dead Ringers, Adaptation and Jean-Claude Van Damme's as-good-as-it-sounds Double Impact. The Alto Knights, over a century later, even uses a similar technique to double up De Niro in select scenes. But today, split-screening is just one of many tools in the dual role toy box. The most notable advancement in the field came about in 1989, with the release of Back to the Future Part II and director Robert Zemeckis' commissioning of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to create the VistaGlide, a robotic, motion-controlled camera dolly system that would allow film-makers to capture multiple split-screen performances while also moving their cameras. This remains the most popular dual role method, says Harrington. Several mattes (the individual shots that make up a final frame) are filmed with the same actor playing their separate parts. This footage is then delivered to rotoscope and paint artists, who tidy up the edges of the raw mattes before tasking compositors with piecing them together into one seamless whole. 'Ultimately, the success of the illusion depends on the synergy between on-set preparation and post-production artistry,' says Harrington. 'Digital effects may be increasingly sophisticated, but they're still most effective when built on a strong practical foundation. So, on set, consistent lighting, precise framing and stand-ins are crucial for ensuring seamless compositing later. Without these elements, even the most advanced digital tools would struggle to create a convincing result. It's teamwork, exemplified not only by film, but by TV series such as Orphan Black.' The small screen has indeed reaped the rewards of these technical advancements – 2025 will also see Netflix debut twin Jamie Dornans in The Undertow and twin Anna Camps in the final season of You. Malachi Kirby will double up for Anansi Boys on Prime Video, and Cynthia Erivo will play identical sextuplets when Rian Johnson's Poker Face returns to Peacock. 'And, while no breakthrough is solely responsible [for this increase in dual roles],' says Harrington, 'recent developments in AI-driven deepfakes and performance cloning have significantly lowered costs and sped up production times'. This deepfake method of replacing faces (Robert Pattinson's visage was digitally transplanted onto a stand-in for Mickey 17) was another ILM contrivance, originally developed for 1993's Jurassic Park. Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor Theo Jones works at Framestore, the studio which worked on much of Joon-ho's latest offering. And, while Jones doesn't believe there's a single catalyst for the current spate of dual role projects – 'it's likely some sort of happy accident,' he says, 'the same way you might get two films about an asteroid hurtling towards Earth landing at the box office at the same time' – he also brings up the rise in deepfake technology. 'It wasn't an option 10, maybe even five years ago,' says Jones. 'But even this isn't perfect for a dual role – you still need to find someone with similar features and proportions, and the baseline performance would be coming from the stand-in rather than your actor. Plus, 'off-the-peg' deepfake technology certainly isn't up to Imax quality at the moment, so you'd still need plenty of VFX work to make it look believable.' Framestore, Jones reveals, has developed its own 'neural face rendering tech' – called Facade – which he believes will set a new standard in the industry. 'But, for purely dramatic moments,' he adds, 'something like Lupita Nyong'o's incredible performance in Us, you'd be far better placed using practical techniques for the shoot, and post-production fixes to make the finished picture seamless. Sometimes, this will involve rewriting the VFX rulebook – other times, it will mean using techniques that existed before computers were ever a part of film-making.' It's the perfect way to approach the art of the dual role. For, whether it's actors attracted by the creative challenge or film-makers hoping to advance the technical side of their craft, these twin turns have always been collaborative efforts. By continuing to blend techniques new and old, audiences are not only guaranteed evermore envelope-pushing performances, but the entire concept of the dual role will stay true to its innately patchwork nature.
