Will Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull feature Indy ducking CGI boulders and reacting to greenscreen aliens? Not according to production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas, who also worked on Superman Returns and X2: X-Men United. We just talked to Dyas, who says he built all of the movie's sets, with little or no greenscreen. More details, and a gallery of Dyas' designs from Superman and X2, after the jump.

Many people had feared that George Lucas' involvement in the new Indiana Jones would mean another spate of greenscreen craziness, along the lines of the three Star Wars prequels. But Dyas says:

There really wasn't much CGI. We built all the sets... We built all of the [moving stone staircases, converging stone pillars and other pieces] so it was very nice.

You can see from looking at these images from Dyas' portfolio that he's designed and built some very elaborate sets for earlier movies, including Magneto's cell in X2. It'll be interesting to see Indy go head-to-head with the 100 percent CGI Speed Racer, also opening in May. [Guy Hendrix Dyas]

2:04 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
40,525 views
25 comments

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FredicvsMaximvs at 02:42 PM on 03/31/08
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Indiana Jones is going to be two hours of pure awesome. Everything I've seen of Speed Racer makes me want to vomit.

In other words, puppet Yoda > CGI Yoda. By a mile.
goldfarb at 02:45 PM on 03/31/08
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once again a claim of "no CG" perpetuates the wrong ideas about what these tools are for, how they are used and most importantly why they are used.
I can list a hundred films that have used CG very well...and no one noticed AT ALL...
and I can name a hundred films that have used practical FX that have been terrible (I mean the FX not the films nessesarily).
replace the term 'VFX' with the word 'music' and see how stupid this whole debate is.

oh and yeah, Guy Hendrix Dyas does nice stuff :)
Slothrop at 02:50 PM on 03/31/08
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@goldfarb:

all that is true, but then I think about the horrible scene in the droid factory on Geonosis and see some of the shots in the Krystal Skull trailers and I get clammy.
Garrison Dean, King... at 03:01 PM on 03/31/08
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Sure just tell that to Ray Winstone's pants.

@goldfarb: word. No one cried about CG in Children of Men or Spidey 2. It ain't CG that people hate, its bad effects and bad use of effects.
Justin K. Rivers at 03:02 PM on 03/31/08
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@goldfarb: CGI has been grossly overused. And misused as well. A desire to see "no CGI" is a natural reaction against that trend, and the debate of how much CGI to use is a valid one because of it.

You can't get to a more refined level of discussing which aspects of special effects CGI is best suited for without first addressing (and correcting) the imballance.
Garrison Dean, King... at 03:23 PM on 03/31/08
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So when one sees a bad painting, of which there are many, should we say

"Man I'm so tired of paint! If I see one more person using paint I'm gonna barf. Paint raped my childhood!!!"
Annalee Newitz at 03:28 PM on 03/31/08
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test
Annalee Newitz at 03:28 PM on 03/31/08
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ah, I see my test worked. ignore that.
Garrison Dean, King... at 03:32 PM on 03/31/08
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@Annalee Newitz: What are you talking about? I don't see anything. May not be working.

tee hee.
Plague at 03:32 PM on 03/31/08
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@goldfarb: @Garrison Dean:
What you two said, I will ape.

Cuz, well, I like apes.
Dr. Eirik at 04:16 PM on 03/31/08
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CGI can be pretty seamless. Of all movies, Cast Away used it extensively. I figured they'd done it in the plane crash sequence, but many, if not all, of the island scenes contained some elements of CGI. It was done well enough that I didn't even think about it until I saw the making-of.

That being said, I rather like the idea of the next Indy movie trying to go for something that's a bit retro. We'll see in a few months if that works for them.
Belabras at 06:05 PM on 03/31/08
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I frankly don't care how much CGI a movie uses. All I care about is how good the script is, and to a lesser degree, how well the actors carry that script to completion.

Effects are nice, but without solid writing, everything else is just icing on a pile of dog crap.
cde at 07:22 PM on 03/31/08
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I wouldn't care if they used cgi for the whole movie, if we get one scene of shai geting bitchslapped with a morningstar...
ggodo at 07:37 PM on 03/31/08
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Hey, can we get some different ads? I come for my daily news and get a side bar full of scantily clad women. Not that I have anything against that, but the others around me do.
IrisMR at 07:59 PM on 03/31/08
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AWESOME. You know, CGI is being overused lately. It's nice to see some good ol' fashion moviemaking.
Szin at 08:23 PM on 03/31/08
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Well that's great. Now I just hope the movie is fun!
Balius at 09:43 PM on 03/31/08
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If you notice CGI, it's bad CGI.

But...wasn't one of the sticking points about this movie that Harrison Ford was being denied the trademark whip, and that said whip would be added in later via special effects? It was supposedly due to safety restrictions, and the actor supposedly threatened to walk because of it...

Was that ever resolved?
E0157H7 at 01:15 AM on 04/01/08
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Thank God. CGI, when used well, is a powerful tool. The key is subtlety.
When Lucas visited the set of Gangs of New York, he told Scorsese that all of that could be done with computers. Oy.
Jesse Mrozowski at 05:44 AM on 04/01/08
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You're telling me that giant pillar converging as they fall is real practical effect and not CGI? Cause every time I see the trailer it looks so fake I get nervous. Maybe it will look different when it's on the big screen.
beelzebuddha at 07:43 AM on 04/01/08
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It sounds like Lucas may have actually learned a lesson or two from his SW prequels. Or, Spielberg kept him in check... based on Lucas' little pity party about the new Indy movie being "just a movie", I'm guessing that Spielberg kept GL in line.
partypooper08 at 10:25 AM on 04/01/08
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very funny, Mr. Dyas.
I hate to be a party pooper, but on top of cool sets this film has TONS of CG..
only about 1/4 of the movie has digital FX.
PP
awesomerobot at 12:01 PM on 04/01/08
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Thank you jesus.
Go Team Venture at 07:55 PM on 04/01/08
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ill take real life over CGI any day.
Homage at 08:03 PM on 04/01/08
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Well, yes, a few of you smart-alecs are correct in pointing out that imagery in this movie was generated by computers at many stages throughout the picture's production; but surely you're also clever enough to realise, underneath it all, that what they mean when they say "no cg" is "computers have not taken the place of props or set-building or stunt-work on this picture". After all, if you weren't that smart, you wouldn't have picked everyone up on their technically-incorrect terminology in the first place.

What worries me is more this Dyas character's claim that he BUILT ALL THE SETS HIMSELF. I mean, that's gotta be one hell of a craftsman, am I right? Huh??
Balius at 04:27 AM on 04/02/08
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@Homage: He started right after the last Indiana Jones movie was released. His slow workmanship is why it took so long.