Ahead of his View Conference keynote speech on 23rd October, which will focus on creativity and the future of VFX, SVP, executive director and head of ILM Rob Bredow spoke to Variety about his work on May’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and confirmed that ILM will be doing the VFX for The Mandalorian.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced with the visual effects on “Solo: A Star Wars Story”?
“Solo” relied on a mix of old-school VFX techniques made fresh with the latest possible technology. One example was shooting the entire Kessel Run scene with rear-projection surrounding the cast in the cockpit. When we were shooting the film, it was almost like the actors were riding a theme park ride. Once we decided to use this technique, it meant creating 20-plus minutes of finished visual effects before the principle photography, turning the entire VFX schedule on it’s head. The artists at ILM came through with many minutes of beautiful, high-resolution final-quality imagery for us to project on set and many of the shots you see in the cockpit were final right out of what we captured in-camera. It really added to the quality of the lighting on the actors, the set, and the camera movement as well.
“Solo” was your first experience in the “Star Wars” universe, which spawned the creation of ILM. What was that experience like for you?
It was one of the most professionally satisfying experiences of my career. Not only did I get to serve as VFX supervisor on the film, but Ron Howard was kind enough to include me in his “brain trust” of sorts, welcoming me into his creative process. I was able to participate with story ideas throughout the production, particularly helping along two of the big action sequences — the train heist and the Kessel Run — both key sequences in the film. I’m really proud of the final result and I think the seamless interactions between visual effects and each of the other departments really paid off.
And Bredow confirmed – as if it were ever truly in any doubt – that ILM will be working on The Mandalorian.
How have things changed for you since you took on this new role at ILM? Will you still be working on VFX projects?
Fortunately for me, in my new role I get to be involved with all the projects at ILM. I get to collaborate with a wide variety of filmmakers across projects as varied as Marvel Studio’s “Captain Marvel,” “Bumblebee” for Paramount Pictures, “The Irishman” for Netflix, and an upcoming live-action series set in the “Star Wars” universe that is being written and produced by Jon Favreau. Of course, ILM has a world-class team of visual effects supervisors and producers who don’t need me to tell them how to do their job, but I can be a support to them and contribute thoughts for their consideration throughout the production of the films. To say I’ve got a dream job is putting it mildly.
