Film & Video has another great article talking about the Special Effects used in the movie “Valkryie”. It covered the detailed sets they need to construct, and focuses very heavily (with before/during/after shots) on the process used to remove Tom Cruise’s two fingers digitally.
Valkyrie director Bryan Singer had an onerous task. He needed to make a Nazi soldier, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise), and other German army officers sympathetic enough to hold an audience that already knows the ending to the story — a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Imageworks’ Richard Hoover, twice nominated for a visual effects Oscar (Superman Returns and Armageddon), had a less obvious challenge: lockstep the studio’s photorealistic visual effects into historical accuracy. In doing so, the Imageworks crew soldiered through around 600 shots that incorporated digital makeup and environmental effects.
