Everyone loves a good robot fight, and that is exactly what Director Neil Blomkamp had in mind when he brought Grant Hulley on to stunt coordinate Chappie. Set in South Africa, the film takes place in the future where crime is patrolled by an oppressive mechanized police force. Chappie, a robot, gets stolen and reprogrammed. The result is a robot who can think and feel for himself.
You have now worked with Director Neill Blomkamp twice. What is it like working with him? Does he have any specific directing/work style that you are drawn to?
Yes that is correct, District 9 and now Chappie. Neill is an awesome director to work with, he gives you guidance as to what he wants and then allows us to work it, add or change things that we feel might be better. The action in this film is a collaboration between the stunt team and Neill. I have …show more content…
In this day and age, the droid’s could all be done using CGI but Neill wanted as much live action and human input as possible. This meant that air rams, jerk ratchets and cable work was used as much as possible and then only give the VFX guys a smaller amount of work to do.
First off, I would just like to say that Hugh Jackman is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is humble and easy to engage with. Vincent Moore works closely with some of the stunt performers, so I put two performers as his henchmen that I knew would be able to handle the pressure of working around an a grade actor like Hugh.
How did Sharlto Copley’s suit factor into your stunt coordination?
Both Sharlto and his Stunt double Ian Stock had a lyca suit on with various plastic pieces added to create the size and shape of the droids. These plastic pieces made it difficult to move and or Fall with, so for some of the sequences we either removed them or had foam ones made that would act as a body
You have now worked with Director Neill Blomkamp twice. What is it like working with him? Does he have any specific directing/work style that you are drawn to?
Yes that is correct, District 9 and now Chappie. Neill is an awesome director to work with, he gives you guidance as to what he wants and then allows us to work it, add or change things that we feel might be better. The action in this film is a collaboration between the stunt team and Neill. I have …show more content…
In this day and age, the droid’s could all be done using CGI but Neill wanted as much live action and human input as possible. This meant that air rams, jerk ratchets and cable work was used as much as possible and then only give the VFX guys a smaller amount of work to do.
First off, I would just like to say that Hugh Jackman is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is humble and easy to engage with. Vincent Moore works closely with some of the stunt performers, so I put two performers as his henchmen that I knew would be able to handle the pressure of working around an a grade actor like Hugh.
How did Sharlto Copley’s suit factor into your stunt coordination?
Both Sharlto and his Stunt double Ian Stock had a lyca suit on with various plastic pieces added to create the size and shape of the droids. These plastic pieces made it difficult to move and or Fall with, so for some of the sequences we either removed them or had foam ones made that would act as a body