Listen on SoundCloud

DESCRIPTION: This week we are joined by legendary visual effects supervisor John Knoll, who served that role on both “Mission: Impossible” and “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” In this episode we talk primarily about the first film, working with Brian De Palma, and what it took to pull off the train chase. Also, we get clarification on the face replacement debate! Released February 28th, 2020.

SHOW NOTES: In the interview John tells us how he animated the knife in these shots in “Mission: Impossible” (1996)...

As discussed in the interview, here are the 1/8th scale model helicopters they used to shoot the climax of the first movie. Click any image to enlarge...

In the interview we discuss the face replacement that was done for one shot in the aquarium restaurant scene. Immediately after this episode came out, ILM VFX guru Todd Vaziri did a full investigation and came up with the following...

Todd: “The first two shots are one take, and shot 3 is a different take (the glass/water continuity matches in shot 1 & 2, but not 3).

“My hypothesis is that it's the middle shot. Shot 1 you can't see Ethan's face. Shot 2 is the stuntman with Cruise face replacement. Shot 3 is Cruise.

Below you’ll see “The shot, gamma'd up. The head and the body feel a little disjointed...”

Below you’ll see the shot in “detail, gamma'd up, rock & rolled.

“There's some weirdness with his hairline, between the top of his head and the back of his head (probably a split). All in all, if this is the shot, it still totally works.”

Here’s the full thread on Twitter:

Follow Todd Vaziri on Twitter for more awesome filmmaking stuff like this!