Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Nominated for Oscars Best Visual Effects

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been nominated for Best Visual Effects at The Oscars. The Academy announced all of the nominations for this year’s ceremony his morning online. As fans pour over their favorites getting the nod, Marvel Studios touted James Gunn’s swan song with the band of misfit heroes. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has some steep competition in the category. But, the work on the film is so staggeringly laid out in behind the scenes features and interviews that it could end up winning. 

One big movie is probably standing in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s way, and that film is Godzilla Minus One. A Letterboxd favorite, the extended run in theaters and word of mouth should really help the radioactive lizard out. Disney also got a Visual Effects nod for The Creator. While the reviews and reception might not be as effusive, the movie looks very cool. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning also made the cut and can’t be dismissed. Lastly, Napoleon gets a nomination, which surprised people online who believed that the entire Joaquin Phoenix drama was made with practical effects. So, the contest is really jumping now.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3’s Biggest VFX Triumph

Most people who saw Guardians of the Galaxyy Vol. 3 are going to point toward a single sequence when someone asks why it should win. And, that entire scene is a doozy. “The Hallway Fight” is something that James Gunn and the team at Wētā FX should really be proud of. The VFX house’s supervisor Guy Williams broke the entire sequence down with Corridor Crew.

“There’s a lot of stunt choreography going on here. Stephane Cerretti is the VFX supervisor who oversaw this for Marvel and he worked with all those teams to figure out how they were going to shoot it,” he began. “Spoiler alert, this is not one shot. It’s 18 shots shot over the course of three days.”

Williams would also mention how the team ended up strategically plotting out where cuts would fit. For example, a splice would occur during a major character movement to help the scene’s flow. “There’s a breakdown of [Mantis] going up onto his shoulders because it’s actually two stunts,” Williams continued. “She’s rigged for one stunt and when she lands on his shoulders, it’s cut so they can rig him to flip.”

James Gunn Working With VFX Teams

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 breaking records for most practical effects in a movie, the VFX team was very thankful for their partnership with James Gunn. Talking to ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast, supervisor Stephane Ceretti talked about being able to achieve the director’s vision through collaboration.

“He knows exactly where he wants to put everything,” Ceretti explained. “Sometimes, there’s cases where we don’t agree or we just have to talk about it. It’s not like we don’t agree about it, but I say, ‘Hey, I think I can actually do this maybe in a better way.’ And sometimes, I’m all for practical stuff. I love what we can offer to filmmakers to tell their stories, but I come from that old school, ‘Hey, if we can shoot it, let’s shoot it’ kind of school. So I love the two. I love seeing Daniel Sudick [senior special effects supervisor, Marvel Studios], our special effects guy, blowing up some stuff on [set]. When I was a kid, I was blowing up stuff in my garden after I watched The Empire Strikes Back. I had my ping pong table covered with flour and doing stop-motion animation. So I love all that stuff. My parents didn’t, but I love all that stuff. 

“So we’re like, ‘Oh, let’s do it.’ Even today, we were talking about something, and he said, ‘I think we can. Let’s just do it.’ So if we can do it, let’s do it. And we have our special effects guy saying, “Yeah, I’d love to do that.” I say, “Well then do it.” So that’s the way, if it comes from that. My goal when I do these movies is do what I can do and what other people can do as much as I can,” he added. “But I don’t want to take the cake and say, ‘I’m going to do everything.’ Because I’m not interested in that. I want everybody, if a stunt guy can do a stunt, just do that stunt, go for it. And that’s important for me that every department can bring something that we can do together and then I’m here to help if we need help, but it’s not about me.”

Do you think Guardians can win? Let us know down in the comments!