Anaconda

Anaconda follows the story of Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd), who have been best friends since they were kids and always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie. When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they head deep into the Amazon to start filming. But things get real when an actual giant anaconda appears, turning their comically chaotic movie set into a deadly situation. The movie they’re dying to make? It might just get them killed…

ILM’s work on the film consisted of the titular snake, as well as the smaller snake, Heitor. For the main anaconda, a large challenge lay in making it look as terrifying as possible. The ILM team evolved the design of the snake in post production, creating model work based on concepts from the art department that made the mouth longer and shaped the eyes to be scarier. Ultimately, they aimed for a more viper-like appearance, while still blending it to look like a traditional anaconda.

On top of making it scary, they also had to make it powerful. The ILM animation team rigged the digital anaconda model with 2,000 controllers and an impressive muscle system to simulate movement along the snake that felt mighty, and really showcased the individual muscles. The team gathered extensive reference material of snake movements: slithering, constricting, eating, striking, etc. Many of the artists would consider themselves snake experts after viewing so much snake content!

The Anaconda team was led by ILM visual effects supervisor Frazer Churchill in collaboration with ILM animation supervisor Stewart Alves, ILM associate visual effects supervisor Gabriel Reichle, ILM executive visual effects producer Fiona Chilton, and ILM visual effects producer Suhit Saha. The work was led by ILM’s Sydney studio.

Read more about Anaconda on ILM.com:

Snakes on a Frame: ILM artists help unleash a slithering terror onto the big screen in ‘Anaconda’