ILM mainstay John Knoll recently spoke with British Cinematographer about his career, the many innovations he has been a part of and his place in the wider pantheon of ILM legends.
Included among Knoll’s six Academy Award-nominations is an Oscar for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. “It was decided that Bill Nighy should be on set playing the role of Davy Jones, so we’d get all of the benefits of that. Hal Hickel [ILM animation supervisor] and I got talking about that as a challenge and brought it to the R&D department. That’s what led to the iMocap system which was a big part of making Davy Jones and his crew so successful.”
A proud moment was the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which revolves around the theft of the plans for the Death Star and was based on a story idea by Knoll. An important part of the aesthetic was replicating how the models were constructed for the original Star Wars. “We went through a process of getting a whole bunch of the original model kits that were used to build all of the ships and built digital versions of them, so the modellers were working in the same way.” The late Peter Cushing was digitally resurrected as Grand Moff Tarkin. “We had the blessing of Peter Cushing’s estate. I felt that we were using this character in a way that was respectful and Peter Cushing would have liked if he were around to play the role.”
According to Knoll, the key to being a good visual effects supervisor is getting into the head of the director to try to understand their point of view and taste because “you’re going to have to be their agent when they’re absent”. He also believes it is important to be a good communicator and a student of nature.
