Walter Schulz (‘The Curse’ VFX supervisor) on how Asher ends up on the ceiling and why mirrored buildings were his ‘worst enemy’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“I didn’t get the script right off the bat, but what I did know from the rumors was that two other supervisors turned it down, and I was very curious why,” says “The Curse” visual effects supervisor Walter Schulz. “And then I found out exactly why — because they were going to have buildings with walls made of mirrors, and reflections are the worst enemy of any visual effects approach or any visual effects supervisor. So that was right there a challenge. And I love challenges.” Watch his exclusive video interview above.

“The Curse” stars Oscar winner Emma Stone and Emmy nominee Nathan Fielder as a newlywed couple struggling to make their vision for eco-living a reality in a small New Mexico town. The Showtime drama series was created by Fielder and Benny Safdie.

The visual effects ramp up for the season finale titled “Green Queen,” when Asher (Fielder) wakes up on the ceiling as Whitney (Stone) goes into labor. To make it work, the production design team collaborated with visual effects and built one right-side-up set and one upside down set. “He had to be sometimes on the actual ceiling on the right-side-up set with wires and everything was being pulled from above, erased later,” Schulz explains.

SEE ‘The Curse’ cinematographer Maceo Bishop on referencing ‘To Catch a Predator’ and ‘Candid Camera’ for Showtime drama

“And in order to have the proper gravity when they’re struggling with the towel and all these things, we needed to make sure that the gravity was always in that place. And then whenever he was crawling around the ceiling, depending on what areas he was, when he tries to go out the door, we would be on the upside down set and I had to do all the survey for the upside down on the right side up sets to make sure they were identical, especially the placement of the chairs and all that.”

The VFX supervisor also recalls how kind and collaborative Stone was on set. “One day we were sitting around during a break and Emma had a house that was rented particularly for her and the actors to be in. And we had military type air conditioning pumping air into the window. So that house was super cool, super nice, and we were all just sitting around [outside in 120 degree heat]. I was standing next to the door and the moment she’s about to enter the door, you can feel that really nice cool air and all that, she stopped right there next to me and she looked around and she saw everybody sitting in the shade on the rocks under the trees everywhere they could. And she goes, ‘I’m not going in there.’ And she went and sat down with us.”

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