As it turns out, Patton Oswalt didn’t just voice Pip the Troll in Chloe Zhaos’ Eternals—he was actually on-set acting out the role. Appearing in the mid-credits scene of the latest Marvel Studios flick, Pip the Troll pops out of a portal to introduce Eros (Harry Styles), the beloved cosmic character better known as Starfox. Now, we know that nearly all of that moment was created by computer-generated imagery, all but Oswalt and Styles being on-set to act it.
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Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Matt Aitken of Weta Digital tells us Oswalt was there on the sound stage acting everything out himself. In fact, the actor even performed everything while on his knees, just so the Weta team had the right height for Pip.
“We ended up replacing Patton Oswalt with Pip and the corridor, because we needed to do all that interactive portal light and extend it,” Aitken says. “But if you’re looking at Eros, then his face will definitely be the face, but everything else is CG in those shots.”
When we doubled-down and asked Aitken if that means Oswalt performed the motion-capture, Aitken confirmed it—both that Oswalt was on set in-person, and also that he’s an all-around great guy.
“He’s there on his knees to get his head in the right height. But yeah, no he was there,” Aitken adds. “He’s fantastic. He’s just great.”
Speaking of Oswalt’s casting, Pip creator Jim Starlin gave the actor his stamp of approval when we spoke with him earlier this month.
“Oh, yeah, I think he’s perfect for it,” Starlin told us of Oswalt’s casting. “I got a real kick out of his voicing over M.O.D.O.K. in that cartoon series. I watched the first one and I went, ‘Eh, it’s okay. And then I watched the second one, then I got hooked and just laughed my ass throughout the rest of it.’”
He added, “Now, Patton’s always been a character actor who I think has got terrific range, and I think his voice is just perfect for it.”
Eternals is now in theaters while Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is streaming on Disney+.
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