Benedict Cumberbatch Exudes Menace In Smaug Mo-Cap Footage
We’re pretty familiar with the sight of good actors jumping and rolling about in mo-cap suits while doing performance capture work for effects-based films. We’re especially familiar with that image when it comes toPeter Jackson’s Middle-Earth movies. And yet there’s something special about seeingBenedict Cumberbatch, whose on-screen presence radiates control and composure, crawling on his belly and fire-breathing dialogue for the worm Smaug inThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. A few short featurettes about the creation of the dragon, and the Smaug mo-cap work, have gone online. They’re probably more fun than at least half the other stuff you could be watching. Check out a few below.
We’ve posteda short bit of footageshowing Cumberbatch’s mo-cap work, but that was way back at the beginning of this year.The Desolation of Smaugis available in digital formats now and hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 3, so Warner Bros. and everyone else involved in distributing the film
TheLA Timeshas the best of the videos, as if features some interviews, a bit of the actor getting suited up, and then a good bit of action footage. It’s also the one that is technically non-embeddable, so if you may’t see the video immediately below head to the LAT link above.
Then there are a couple more, fromWarner Bros. UKandMMGNAustralia. The first one has more performance footage, while the second is more oriented on the design of Smaug himself. you’re able to bet the blu-ray will have a lot more of this sort of thing.
The final film in the three-movie adaptation of The Hobbit isThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which opens on December 17.
