Fox hired ADI in an 11th hour scramble to reconceive The Beast for X-MEN FIRST CLASS and Alec Gillis jumped on a plane to London to meet with director Matthew Vaughn. Alec's surprise that another designer had been hired turned to delight when he discovered he was to be teamed with ADI alum Dave Elsey. Dave had been one of the London crew on ALIEN 3, and would go on to win an Oscar on THE WOLFMAN. Dave's wife Lou brought her considerable hair working talents to the mix too. With crews in London and L.A., the team pulled off a minor miracle in short order!
Was there any discussion about making The Beast look like Kelsey Grammer's version seen in
X-Men: The Last Stand?
Tom Woodruff Jr.: By the time the show dropped in our laps, a certain amount of design work had already been done by another MUFX studio, none of which was in a direction to capture Kelsey Grammer's likeness. Although, that would have been an interesting continuity detail, it would lead to the question of why Nick Holt in human form didn't look like a young Kelsey Grammer.
Even though, Nicholas Hoult didn't look like Kelsey Grammer's Beast, he did goes out of his way to study the actors mannerisms from
X-Men: The Last Stand, and NBC's classic television series,
Frasier.
I also wanted to inform you of another exciting project that Tom Woodruff Jr. and
Amalgamated Dynamics is working on,
Fire City. Which is the story of demons secretly among us, the fragile balance is broken by a Dark Force bent on changing the world. This lush universe was conceived by screenwriters, Brian Lubocki and Michael Hayes. Who sought out the practical effects gurus at
ADI to help bring their vision to life. Their pitch was so impressive that Tom Woodruff Jr. decided the project would be a great opportunity for him to direct his first feature film,
Fire City: The Interpreter Of Signs. You can get a taste of the project in the
Kickstarter video above, and also the
Fire City: King Of Miseries short below, which Tom directed.
Can you tell us about your
Kickstarter funding campaign that you recently launched for
Fire City: The Interpreter Of Signs?
With our our stretch goal, we will be the third largest funded film project in Kickstarter history (the first largest not run by a major actor and/or studio), behind the Veronica Mars movie and Zach Braff's project. For those excited to join the renaissance of extraordinary practical effects and help launch a deep and vast new story world, we have prizes that invite you to be a demon in the film or have your likeness on a demon tarot card shown on screen, or just spend a day on set with us!
How much are you hoping to raise for
Fire City: The Interpreter Of Signs?
We hope to raise $1M, asking people to join the revolution of non-studio, "real" effects films that have quality stories, not just a bunch of noise and digital overload. At $1M, we can bring the demons into the light, bring on top level resources (at much discounted rates) and offer some great, interesting prizes on Kickstarter. That said, we have a version that's stripped down to its essentials, while still being great, for $100,000. At $1M, we'll make it look like $10M.
Is the cast set for
Fire City: The Interpreter Of Signs?
There are some amazing actresses and actors I've worked with in my career who I'd like to work with again. Nothing's locked down yet. Scheduling will have a lot to do with that. But we have been in touch.
COMIC BOOK PREVIEW
Illustrated by Kurt Komoda
When and where will the comic be available?
We premiered the comic at San Diego Comic Con - our 8-foot molluck demon and Interpreter of Signs (a demon fortune teller) were passing out free copies. If you were not able to make SDCC this year, you will still be able to get a digital copy via the website very soon, at www.FireCity.com.
Is the comic planned as a mini-series, or something more?
I've come to realize that all things within
Fire City have something more. I'm not allowed to say anything more than that.
For more information, visit FireCity.com, Facebook, and/or Twitter @InterpreterFilm