In an interview with Starburst for the upcoming DVD release of TAKE SHELTER, special effects supervisor Chris Wells dropped some interesting details about his latest project: THE AVENGERS.

Working at Hydraulx, the SFX company behind SKYLINE and BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, Wells and his crew are overseeing the much-anticipated film’s opening sequence. ‘We’re doing what essentially boils down to the prelude of the movie,’ he said. ‘There’s a whole intro that happens before you start even getting the titles and it’s pretty big. There’s nothing small in this movie. I went to a screening with all the temporary visual effects and it was pretty fleshed out. It’s a long movie but it doesn’t feel like it. Out of all the comic book movies and franchises I’ve worked on, this is the best one I’ve seen so far.’

Having worked on the X-MEN films, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, FANTASTIC FOUR, GREEN LANTERN and more, Wells knows his superhero stuff, although he claims to not be a big fan of the genre. Asked whether the film would be driven by action or the more character-orientated work that director Joss Whedon is known for, Wells gave an answer that will set a lot of fanboy minds at rest. ‘I think they nailed both,’ he said. ‘Joss and I have worked on some projects before and he does a very good job with characters. Since this is the first time that we see these guys together as a unit, he had to address all their personal dealings with one another. I think he did a very good job of setting up the characters based on what we know from the Marvel franchise, integrating them together with all their differences and similarities and then getting on with business. And just when you think the movie is a character piece it just goes nuts.’

While Wells avoided giving away any details about the mysterious baddies of the piece and refused to be drawn on whether the much-rumoured Skrulls would be on villain duty, he did confirm that The Red Skull was not in the movie, cryptically adding, ‘but that’s ok because there’s enough bad guys to go around’. Despite being somewhat weary of superhero films, Wells went on to state that THE AVENGERS has far exceeded his expectations and is destined to be a massive hit when released this summer. ‘I promise you it’s not going to be boring,’ he said. ‘This thing has gone so big that Marvel are dwarfing their other franchises. For people who enjoy the comics and haven’t really liked the way some of the characters were treated in other movies, I think they’re going to be a little more appeased by this one. Especially the Hulk. They let the Hulk be Hulk and that’s great. He acts more like the comic book Hulk. It’s fun. My biggest problem with every single superhero movie is I don’t think the payoff ever matches the build up. This one definitely does.’

 

TAKE SHELTER will be available on DVD & Blu-ray from March 19 and THE AVENGERS will be in cinemas on April 27 (UK) and May 4 (US).

The full Hydraulx interview will be featured in an upcoming issue of Starburst.