Collider: How exactly did each of you guys get here, working on these insanely crazy Marvel movies?
DAN DeLEEUW: Its something that Ive always wanted to do.
We all shareStar Warsas our favorite movie, in the past.
I got lucky enough to get on second unit forIron Man 3.
Id hide under my bed until I could figure out to put it back together.
I did a lot of model making and building stuff.
Image via Marvel Studios, Photo: Chuck Zlotnick
I went to art school, and studied design and industrial design, which naturally led into visual effects.
I actually started as a traditional model maker, building spaceships and buildings, and flying cameras through it.
I also had an interest in computers and played with the computer side of things.
Image via Marvel Studios, Photo: Chuck Zlotnick
I just tried to transition from the traditional work into the computer stuff.
I started in 94, and Ive been there ever since.
I worked my way up through that company.
Image via Marvel Studios, Photo: Chuck Zlotnick
Just being interested in lots of different things keeps your interest pretty tight.
Everything is always changing with the technology and new problems to be solved.
You want to always keep it fresh.
Image via Marvel Studios, Photo: Chuck Zlotnick
EARL: Its a big mix.
Its a great combination of art, science and technology.
Were fortunate in that we all work at places where we have a lot of really smart people.
Image via Marvel Studios, Photo: Chuck Zlotnick
And someone will go, Oh, I know.
That keeps it fun.
DeLEEUW: Yeah, you have to love it.
It seems like you probably keep working on stuff, up until the very last second.
DeLEEUW: There were a lot of them, really.
What you thought were gonna be deadlines just dont matter anymore.
You have the ability now to just keep updating shots and dropping them into the final cut.
Wakanda went until the end.
PORT: There was a shot where Thanos belt buckle was shining too much.
I thought we won the last shot award, but Russell was actually five minutes later.
Thats not the rule anymore.
Now the rule is that you cant go on vacation until it comes out into the theater.
Thats when youre done-done.
EARL: People are always asking, Is that shot final?
And I say, Ask me when were in the theater.
So, what was that shot that you were working on so late?
EARL: Oh, I dont even wanna mention it.
One of those life highlights was onWinter Soldier.
It was like, Stan Lees on set!
So, I got the producer to introduce me to Stan Lee.
The producer said, This is Dan Deleeuw, hes a visual effects supervisor.
And Stan was like, Oh, youre the guys that make these things possible!
I was like, Whoa, this is the greatest thing ever!
If you think about it, that was just Stan being Stan.
The Hulk can be in a movie and you might believe in him.
That was always the trifecta.
With comics, I was an idiot, back in the day.
But, it was the right thing, at the time.
EARL: I was probably less into comics.
For me, it wasStar Wars,Indiana Jones, and BMX bikes.
DeLEEUW: Thats why you sent that shot ofBlack Pantheron the BMX.
EARL: I thought we could add that, which was really fun.
PORT: For me, it was less comics.
They were in my life, but not in a crazy way.
But I did a lot of making plastic models.
Im still doing that today, but in a different way.
What were the challenges that you guys faced with Thanos, that you didnt have with the Hulk?
DeLEEUW: The technology is improving, from film to film.
She finally figures it out that he does love her.
Shes like, Oh, my god, he actually loves me.
Shes screaming and acting it out, but Thanos has to play it as this stone faced character.
There was a lot involved with making Thanos super awesome.
That allowed us to get that subtlety, which was really important.
With those subtle performances, it wouldnt have been as effective or as believable, as a character.
It certainly wouldnt have been able to convey a non-dialogue performance as well because it was so subtle.
For that particular character, it really all comes down to Josh Brolin and his performance.
DeLEEUW: There are multiple levels of complexity in a movie.
With Marvel, every movie thats happened before is a training ground.
And then,Civil Warcame along and tripled the size of that.
And then,Infinity Warcame along and quadrupled the size of it.
With Joe [Russo], everything references back toThe Empire Strikes Back, in some form or another.
Josh Brolin was great because he was on board for anything.
He really got into the character.
I think he really enjoys playing the character.
Working on a few films, they all have their own different takes on the characters.
With the visual effects, Chris has the uncanny ability to always know where the shield is.
Its always CG when he throws it, but he always knows where it is.
And Robert [Downey] is great with knowing what Tony is gonna do with the suit.
Him getting stabbed was the result of Robert working with the directors and making that moment that much greater.
But, theyre all great.
One of the things were seeing more and more in the Marvel films is the whole de-aging process.
How do you feel thats progressed, since youve started doing it?
DeLEEUW: We started onWinter Soldier, with old Peggy.
We got to actually use Hayley [Atwell].
She had that relationship with Chris from the first movie, so it just resonated so much more.
We didnt actually shoot it on location, like they wanted to.
We actually did it in post and pioneered that way of doing it.
Theres really no fixed system yet, but its getting better and better, with every movie.
Avengers: Infinity Waris available on Blu-ray and DVD.
