The Monsters of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Gelatinous Cube, Owlbear, Mimic, and More!
This article is presented by Paramount Pictures.
Bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons from the tabletop to the big screen was no simple task, with hundreds of artists, animators, sculptors, and designers from different studios working in concert to make the film’s beasts, creatures, and curiosities look as ferocious and fantastical as they deserve to.
Den of Geek spoke with Shane Mahan and Lindsay Macgowan, co-owners of special effects studio Legacy Effects, and Todd Vaziri, Compositing Supervisor at Ilm, who gave insight into the practical and digital effects that make Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ monsters and magic look so distinctly D&d.
The Owlbear
Tiefling Druid Doric, played by Sophia Lillis, has the enviable ability to shapeshift into a snowy Owlbear, a hulking monstrosity with razor-sharp talons and a head that turns on a swivel. The team at Ilm obviously had no real-life reference to help them create the Owlbear,...
Bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons from the tabletop to the big screen was no simple task, with hundreds of artists, animators, sculptors, and designers from different studios working in concert to make the film’s beasts, creatures, and curiosities look as ferocious and fantastical as they deserve to.
Den of Geek spoke with Shane Mahan and Lindsay Macgowan, co-owners of special effects studio Legacy Effects, and Todd Vaziri, Compositing Supervisor at Ilm, who gave insight into the practical and digital effects that make Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ monsters and magic look so distinctly D&d.
The Owlbear
Tiefling Druid Doric, played by Sophia Lillis, has the enviable ability to shapeshift into a snowy Owlbear, a hulking monstrosity with razor-sharp talons and a head that turns on a swivel. The team at Ilm obviously had no real-life reference to help them create the Owlbear,...
- 3/31/2023
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
Rachel McAdams has always been funny — her breakout role in “Mean Girls” as the iconic Regina George is proof enough of that — but when John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s smash hit “Game Night” arrived in theaters in February 2018, the comedy served as a sterling reminder of just how damn hilarious the Oscar nominee truly is.
While the film — which follows McAdams and Jason Bateman as a couple whose weekly game night is turned upside down when real danger enters the picture — is packed with uproarious scenes and quotable lines, there’s one line reading in particular that still delights fans, four words that continue to pop up in online spaces as a perpetual fave.
“Oh, no, he died!”
McAdams’ Annie utters the line toward the end of the film, when one of many bad dudes who have been pursuing the game night pals is, well, no other way to put this,...
While the film — which follows McAdams and Jason Bateman as a couple whose weekly game night is turned upside down when real danger enters the picture — is packed with uproarious scenes and quotable lines, there’s one line reading in particular that still delights fans, four words that continue to pop up in online spaces as a perpetual fave.
“Oh, no, he died!”
McAdams’ Annie utters the line toward the end of the film, when one of many bad dudes who have been pursuing the game night pals is, well, no other way to put this,...
- 5/2/2022
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Paul Bullock Jun 12, 2019
You may have seen Jurassic Park a dozen times, but there are details that might be easy to miss. Details like these...
Last year, visual effects artist Todd Vaziri took to Twitter to shatter the illusions of Jurassic Park fans everywhere. "When people watch this 24-year old mega-blockbuster," he tweeted, "they point and laugh at the totally obvious disappearing raptor on each viewing, ya?"
What, Todd? The what!?
Alongside this tweet, Vaziri also posted a slowed down Gif of the moment in question and, yep, there it is. During the final set piece, in which the T-Rex (somehow silently) stomps into the Visitor's Center and gobbles up the velociraptors, one of the raptors disappears. Not eaten by the Rex, just gone. One frame, she's there, the next she's not, the following one she's there again. Magic! Disappearo, the Vanishing Velociraptor! Thanks for destroying years of happy memories,...
You may have seen Jurassic Park a dozen times, but there are details that might be easy to miss. Details like these...
Last year, visual effects artist Todd Vaziri took to Twitter to shatter the illusions of Jurassic Park fans everywhere. "When people watch this 24-year old mega-blockbuster," he tweeted, "they point and laugh at the totally obvious disappearing raptor on each viewing, ya?"
What, Todd? The what!?
Alongside this tweet, Vaziri also posted a slowed down Gif of the moment in question and, yep, there it is. During the final set piece, in which the T-Rex (somehow silently) stomps into the Visitor's Center and gobbles up the velociraptors, one of the raptors disappears. Not eaten by the Rex, just gone. One frame, she's there, the next she's not, the following one she's there again. Magic! Disappearo, the Vanishing Velociraptor! Thanks for destroying years of happy memories,...
- 8/3/2017
- Den of Geek
Paul Bullock Aug 3, 2017
You may have seen Jurassic Park a dozen times, but there loads of details that are easy to miss. Details like these...
Last week, visual effects artist Todd Vaziri took to Twitter to shatter the illusions of Jurassic Park fans everywhere. "When people watch this 24-year old mega-blockbuster," he tweeted, "they point and laugh at the totally obvious disappearing raptor on each viewing, ya?"
See related James Bond 007: revisiting Never Say Never Again
What, Todd? The what!?
Alongside this tweet, Vaziri also posted a slowed down Gif of the moment in question and - yep - there it is. During the final set piece, in which the T-Rex (somehow silently) stomps into the Visitor's Centre and gobbles up the Velociraptors, one of the Raptors disappears. Not eaten by the Rex, just gone. One frame, she's there, the next she's not, the following one she's there again.
You may have seen Jurassic Park a dozen times, but there loads of details that are easy to miss. Details like these...
Last week, visual effects artist Todd Vaziri took to Twitter to shatter the illusions of Jurassic Park fans everywhere. "When people watch this 24-year old mega-blockbuster," he tweeted, "they point and laugh at the totally obvious disappearing raptor on each viewing, ya?"
See related James Bond 007: revisiting Never Say Never Again
What, Todd? The what!?
Alongside this tweet, Vaziri also posted a slowed down Gif of the moment in question and - yep - there it is. During the final set piece, in which the T-Rex (somehow silently) stomps into the Visitor's Centre and gobbles up the Velociraptors, one of the Raptors disappears. Not eaten by the Rex, just gone. One frame, she's there, the next she's not, the following one she's there again.
- 8/1/2017
- Den of Geek
Unless you’ve been living in the bottom of the Marianas trench for the past 40 years, it’s probably become apparent to you that Star Wars fans enjoy knowing a lot about Star Wars. More specifically: They enjoy advertising the fact that they know a lot about Star Wars. It is essentially impossible to stand in line with diehard Star Wars aficionados and not at least overhear someone dropping some science about R5-D4 like it was breaking news.
So when an employee at Industrial Light & Magic writes about how nearly every Star Wars nerd has gotten something fundamentally wrong about the Death Star all this time, it merits special attention. Todd Vaziri, who works at the company and was involved in the dailies for Rogue One, took to the the internet to blog about a discovery he made one morning that left him stunned by how obvious it ...
So when an employee at Industrial Light & Magic writes about how nearly every Star Wars nerd has gotten something fundamentally wrong about the Death Star all this time, it merits special attention. Todd Vaziri, who works at the company and was involved in the dailies for Rogue One, took to the the internet to blog about a discovery he made one morning that left him stunned by how obvious it ...
- 1/25/2017
- by Alex McCown-Levy
- avclub.com
In this final pre-release edition of Rogue One Bits: A profile about Ilm’s John Knoll and his contributions to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Visual effects artist Todd Vaziri reflects on his Rogue One experience. What would Rogue One be called if internet commenters had their way? Does Rogue One have any kind of chance […]
The post Rogue One Bits: A Profile of John Knoll, Oscar Chances, and ‘Rogue One’ Titles Devised by Internet Commenters appeared first on /Film.
The post Rogue One Bits: A Profile of John Knoll, Oscar Chances, and ‘Rogue One’ Titles Devised by Internet Commenters appeared first on /Film.
- 12/15/2016
- by Jacob Hall
- Slash Film
Star Wars had been part of pop culture for over three decades by the time George Lucas gave the reigns to Disney. That’s a long time for the lore to build up. Between the novels, comics, TV specials, and spin-off movies, the Star Wars universe had bloated into a contradictory mess. I was as sad as anyone to see Thrawn and Mara Jade tossed to the side when Disney detonated the Expanded Universe, but it made sense. Star Wars had fractured and trying to stitch it back together would’ve been worse than herding cats. Better to start from scratch. But it only took one tie-in novel to set the chain reaction off all over again. When Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters last year, Starkiller Base had a lot of people scratching their heads. How did eat the sun’s energy? Wouldn’t that affect the gravity...
- 2/29/2016
- by Donna Dickens
- Hitfix
On Sunday's "Mad Men," Don (Jon Hamm) took his son Bobby to see "Planet Of The Apes," which hit theaters on April 3, 1968, one day before the episode took place.
Despite the film being 40 years old, viewers were not pleased to see the final minutes of the classic Charlton Heston movie spoiled on Sunday night, especially considering "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner is an outspoken spoiler hater.
"Mad Men" fans took to Twitter to express their outrage and confusion.
I think when your TV show features the twist ending of a famous movie, you're not allowed to complain about spoilers anymore. #MadMen
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 29, 2013
Wait, so don't give away anything about "Mad Men," but Matthew Weiner gets to spoil "Planet of the Apes?" #StatuteOfLimitations
— Brian Lowry (@blowryontv) April 29, 2013
I know it's been said already, but: when we say Mad Men spoiled Planet of the Apes, is that a Mad Men...
Despite the film being 40 years old, viewers were not pleased to see the final minutes of the classic Charlton Heston movie spoiled on Sunday night, especially considering "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner is an outspoken spoiler hater.
"Mad Men" fans took to Twitter to express their outrage and confusion.
I think when your TV show features the twist ending of a famous movie, you're not allowed to complain about spoilers anymore. #MadMen
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 29, 2013
Wait, so don't give away anything about "Mad Men," but Matthew Weiner gets to spoil "Planet of the Apes?" #StatuteOfLimitations
— Brian Lowry (@blowryontv) April 29, 2013
I know it's been said already, but: when we say Mad Men spoiled Planet of the Apes, is that a Mad Men...
- 4/29/2013
- by Leigh Weingus
- Huffington Post
The Visual Effects Society (Ves) has announced the nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories of film, animation, television,
commercials and video games.
Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dominated the nominations receiving four nods. Nolan will also be honored at the event with the inaugural Ves Visionary Award. Ray Harryhausen will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Ves Awards will take place on Tuesday, February 1 and will air exclusively on Reelzchannel Saturday, February 19 at 10p Et/Pt with encore presentations throughout February.
Here's the complete list of nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion
Picture
Inception
Paul Franklin Visual Effects Supervisor
Chris Corbould Special Effects Supervisor
Mike Chambers Visual Effects Producer
Matthew Plummer Visual Effects Producer
Iron Man 2
Ben Snow VFX Supervisor
Ged Wright VFX Supervisor
Janek Sirrs VFX Supervisor
Susan Pickett VFX...
commercials and video games.
Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dominated the nominations receiving four nods. Nolan will also be honored at the event with the inaugural Ves Visionary Award. Ray Harryhausen will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Ves Awards will take place on Tuesday, February 1 and will air exclusively on Reelzchannel Saturday, February 19 at 10p Et/Pt with encore presentations throughout February.
Here's the complete list of nominees for the 9th Annual Ves Awards:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual-Effects Driven Feature Motion
Picture
Inception
Paul Franklin Visual Effects Supervisor
Chris Corbould Special Effects Supervisor
Mike Chambers Visual Effects Producer
Matthew Plummer Visual Effects Producer
Iron Man 2
Ben Snow VFX Supervisor
Ged Wright VFX Supervisor
Janek Sirrs VFX Supervisor
Susan Pickett VFX...
- 1/10/2011
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
No surprise there. It goes without saying that James Cameron's sci-fi spectacle Avatar has the potential to clean house at the 8th Annual Ves Awards for its breath taking visuals by the acclaimed Weta Digital. Cameron will also be picking up a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. In the outstanding animated feature category, the nominees include Up, 9, Coraline, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
The official press release is as followed:
3-D Films Dominate With Most Noms as Avatar grabs 11, Coraline 4, and Visual Effects Company Weta Digital Snags Most Company Noms with 9
Los Angeles, January 19, 2010 - The Visual Effects Society (Ves) today announced the nominees for the 8th Annual Ves Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 16, 2010, by numerous blue ribbon panels of Ves members who...
The official press release is as followed:
3-D Films Dominate With Most Noms as Avatar grabs 11, Coraline 4, and Visual Effects Company Weta Digital Snags Most Company Noms with 9
Los Angeles, January 19, 2010 - The Visual Effects Society (Ves) today announced the nominees for the 8th Annual Ves Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 16, 2010, by numerous blue ribbon panels of Ves members who...
- 1/22/2010
- Screen Anarchy
James Cameron's "Avatar" led the list of nominations announced Monday by the Visual Effects Society, scooping up 11.
The animated "Coraline," another movie released in 3D, followed with four nominations.
New Zealand-based Weta Digital, which worked on "Avatar," led the company noms with nine.
For visual effects in an effects-driven motion picture feature, the nominees are "2012," "Avatar," "District 9," "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
Noms for supporting visual effects in a movie went to "Angels & Demons," "The Box," "Invictus," "The Road" and "Sherlock Holmes."
"9," "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," "Coraline," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Up" were nominated for outstanding animation in an animated feature.
Ves noms in 20 categories, covering film, animation, TV, commercials and video games were chosen Saturday by blue-ribbon panels of Ves members, meeting in Burbank, San Francisco and London.
The eighth annual Ves Awards will be handed out on Feb.
The animated "Coraline," another movie released in 3D, followed with four nominations.
New Zealand-based Weta Digital, which worked on "Avatar," led the company noms with nine.
For visual effects in an effects-driven motion picture feature, the nominees are "2012," "Avatar," "District 9," "Star Trek" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
Noms for supporting visual effects in a movie went to "Angels & Demons," "The Box," "Invictus," "The Road" and "Sherlock Holmes."
"9," "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," "Coraline," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Up" were nominated for outstanding animation in an animated feature.
Ves noms in 20 categories, covering film, animation, TV, commercials and video games were chosen Saturday by blue-ribbon panels of Ves members, meeting in Burbank, San Francisco and London.
The eighth annual Ves Awards will be handed out on Feb.
- 1/18/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.