Interviews
Alex Aja Explains the Importance of Using CGI Alligators in ‘Crawl’ [Interview]
There’s one thing you won’t see a lot of in Alexandre Aja’s new man-eating alligator movie Crawl, and that’s real life alligators. Or, for that matter, an abundance of animatronics and puppets. The new thriller, starring Kaya Scodelario as a college student trapped in a house in the middle of a hurricane as it fills with water and angry alligators, relies almost entirely on CGI creatures.
In a new interview with Bloody-Disgusting, Alexandre Aja explained the importance and necessity for CGI creations over practical effects, and revealed that – although computers did a lot of the heavy lifting – there was practical work done on the set to make the illusion convincing.
“There are, I think, four or five shots that are practical, at the end,” Aja explains.
“We had a tail to do some of the movement in the water, we had a head for the head coming out. We had the jaws open when you see [Kaya Scodelario] through the teeth. That’s practical. The baby alligators are also practical.
“The rest was full CG, but it was a decision taken very early on because […] to recreate the movement, the speed, the ferocity of these beasts, there is no animatronics that can achieve that,” Aja says.
Alexandre Aja is, of course, referring to the fact that – as impressive as animatronics have become – the art form has its own limitations.
“I was not missing the animatronics for a simple reason. When you go with animatronics you’re mostly locked into a frame,” Aja says, referring to the need to shoot animatronics from specific angles, to hide the seams and the puppeteers.
“It was good when you were mixing a lot of movies with a lot of […] fast cuts,” Aja adds, but that wasn’t what he had in mind. “I wanted to be around them. I wanted to see their whole body moving towards her and closing on her. I really wanted to feel that they exist within the frame with her, and that’s something that usually animatronics doesn’t let you do because you have to restrict framing a lot.”
Still, no matter how much CGI a film like Crawl uses, for the effects to be believable it takes additional work on the set.
“I’m a big partisan of mixing technology and I was really hands-on, to be sure that we create the place for the visual effect, [so] that we could really incorporate them the best way,” Aja explains.
“So like a diver recreating the wake as it [the alligator] comes out of the water, so we’d have the real movement of the water. From the distant crawling in their spandex green suit through a cable [to] get the right movement on the ground, and on the set around. Those were very important elements,” Aja says.
You’ll get a much closer look at the alligators of Crawl when the film opens in theaters this weekend!
Kaya Scodelario stars in CRAWL from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Courtesy Paramount Pictures.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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