Inside the blood, sweat, bureaucracy, and physics of “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu”
Pokémon’s first live-action film is being hailed for its CGI designs of the little monsters. Here’s how it avoided a “Sonic the Hedgehog”-level fiasco.
Back in January 2017, visual effects supervisor Erik Nordby got a call from director Rob Letterman about a new movie he just signed up for. The two had previously worked together on 2015’s Goosebumps, so Nordby was pretty much sold on the prospect of working with Letterman again–but it was his actual pitch that really hooked him. Letterman told Nordby he wanted to create something that hearkened back to Amblin Entertainment’s string of 80s classics like E.T. and The Goonies with a heartfelt father and son story at the center.