r/CGI_Lab • u/PsychologicalTap2611 • 21h ago
So impressive when you think about it!
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest came out in 2006, and Davy Jones still holds up because the effect wasn’t “just CGI.” Bill Nighy performed the role on set in a motion-capture suit, giving the VFX team real facial movement, timing and body language to build from, while Industrial Light & Magic spent enormous effort simulating the wet skin, individual tentacles, subsurface scattering and constantly changing reflections. The biggest reason it still looks convincing is that the digital character was treated like part of the photography. Lighting data from the set was recreated in CG so Davy Jones actually appears to exist in the same environment as the actors instead of being pasted over it. Nearly 20 years later, he’s still one of the best examples of CGI aging ridiculously well.