Rocky from Project Hail Mary behind the scenes, testing movement and acting

Video reposted by James Ortiz, Rocky’s voice. James is leading the rocketeers: Claire Roi Harvey, Fred Davis and Darcy Collins. I was part of the Neal Scanlan’s Cfx team (creature fx) leading Rocky’s paint and finish. Painting Rocky was incredibly challenging and a very delicate process. 🪨He had to feel like something that doesn’t exist… and yet be completely believable. 🪨He was stone not just one kind. Rocky is endless textures, densities, and colors. I worked with a wide range of references: minerals, eroded surfaces, geological formations, even materials that react to light in very specific ways. 🪨I used products that crystallize as they dry to build unique textures, along with natural sponges and layered techniques. Not just acrylics, but fabric dyes, iridescent flakes, metallic powders, pigments, resins, and varnishes everything to create translucency and subtle movement within the color. 🙃My previous experience painting stone and marble for films was key in developing a process to bring the directors’ vision to life. 👎🏼The goal was always HYPERREALISM: that if you got close enough to Rocky, you wouldn’t see a single brushstroke... JUST SOMETHING… ALIVE. HOD👉🏽 Neal Scanlan