The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Posted on 10/02/2009 in Homepage 3, Specials

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the last awaited movie by David Fincher (Seven, Zodiac), an ambitious movie marked by amazing, sensitive and digitaly refined images. The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations and it will be released in Italy by February 13th. The Italian preview of the movies was the opening event of Future Film Festival 2009 (January 27th – February 1st).

Inspired by the 1921 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the movie tells the story about a man who ages backward — he’s born old and dies an infant — and about the people and places he meets, about his loves, about New Orleans from 1918 to XXI century.
The movie tells an extremely original story thanks to new and refined technologies able to make believable incredible events. The cast is made of stars: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas e Tilda Swinton.
Special effects

In the Nineties there was the first project of the movie but tecnologies to tells this kind of story weren’t available. Only in the last years there was the opportunity to realize the movie and its amazing special effects made by Digital Domain and Gentle Giant Studios.
The special effects supervisor, Eric Barba, has worked with the Oscar winner Greg Cannom who has realized the prosthetic makeup that brings out the growing old and the rejuvenation during the movie.  Brad Pitt takes part of all the scenes with Benjamin, when he is young and when he is old.
The digital photography and the use of the light has been essential to tells this kind of story: the light sources change during the movie, from candles to gas lamps, from incandescent lamps to fluorescent lamps. The different light sources has been realized by digital technologies.

At the Digital Domain site, the video about the movie special effects

The movie site

The site about the special effects, growing old and rejuvenation
http://www.benjaminbuttonfx.com/site.html