Doug Larmour (‘Constellation’ visual effects supervisor) on the spectacle of zero gravity fire and blood in space [Exclusive Video Interview]
“Obviously, it was a fairly big ask,” declares visual effects supervisor Doug Larmour about the outrageously complicated visual effects deployed in the big budget Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller “Constellation.” For our recent webchat he adds, “Having worked in a few space projects before and knowing that there’s a solution for zero gravity. You build sets with take-off rooms and ceilings, and you build a wind system and a flying system with some really good special effects people. You get a whole lot of wonderful people to remove all your wires for you. And then you in terms of floating objects, it’s C.G.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
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“Constellation” was created by Peter Harness, based on a concept by Sean Jablonski, starring BAFTA nominee Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) as a lone European Space Agency astronaut who is forced to make a harrowing journey back to Earth after a fatal accident occurs on board the International Space Station (ISS). When she ultimately returns to Earth with the body of her dead crewmate, she finds that key parts of her life, including her young daughter, have changed, are missing or as not the same as she remembers them. The sci-fi psychological thriller co-stars Emmy nominee Jonathan Banks (“Better Call Saul”), James D’Arcy, Julian Looman, Henry David, William Catlett and Barbara Sukowa.
“The biggest individual piece that was worrying about the whole thing was probably the zero gravity fire and the zero gravity blood, cause they’re not things that people are used to seeing,” Larmour says about two of the most challenging aspects that came with creating the impressive space-set sequences in and around the ISS. “VFX works really well when you’re trying to sell something that people understand and people know and you set things in reality and match reality as much as possible,” he explains. “As long as you do a good enough job and have enough actual reality in front of the camera, then it’s easy to sell the things behind it. The problem is when you have something that’s in your face, like the blood and all the C.G. fire.”
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