WonderCon Panel Recap: The Creative Process of Logan
Last weekend, 20th Century Fox brought an in-depth look at Logan to WonderCon 2017. In a packed room, they broke down the limo escape scene from the film. From concept art drawings by Francois Audouy to pre-visualization by Clint Reagan, we saw everything, including character development and digital shots before they were overlayed onto the film.
Both production designer Audouy and artist Reagan talked about how they wanted to create a difficult situation and avoid any “superhero” cliches. How did they do that? By not having the car break the fence that surrounded Logan’s property. It’s such a small piece of information and such a small choice, but it’s one that worked beautifully with the film. Think about it. In any other action film, the fence would have broken, which would have spirited the protagonists away to freedom. In this case, Logan — after a decade of taking care of business — faced the first of multiple obstacles to dealing with Laura and keeping her safe. Thankfully he figured a way around the problem (and took out a few ravagers in the process).
The panel continued by breaking down what Audouy called “finding the gems:” picking the pieces and shots that they liked and showing how they fit into the final scenes of the film. We saw everything, from how they cut down the various looks of the characters (ask anyone who went to the Logan panel about “Tank Guy” and they’ll tell you all about what it means,) to how they placed character,s like the final shot of Boyd Holbrook watching Logan as the train sped across the tracks helping Laura and Logan escape to freedom.
After all, it added to the artistic nature of the film as well and made it come to life. Seeing the special effects that make superhero films happen is a fascinating look into the industry and what makes our favorite superhero characters come to life. For Logan, one of the first superheroes adapted to the big screen, it felt like a fitting way to wrap up Hugh Jackman’s performance, and possibly the story of the Wolverine.
The panel concluded with people asking various questions about the process, but the story was very clear and the story behind the images clearer still. Hopefully, the WonderCon panel will make it’s way to the Blu-ray/DVD of the film so other fans can experience the magic. What conclusions did we draw from the panel? Everything that both Audouy and Regan discussed was very true, “[Director] Jim [Mangold] wanted to make sure that Logan’s life was awful.” said Clint, “I mean the shit just kept coming, but there’s a very real very human aspect to that story that we wanted to explore – something you don’t normally see in superhero films.”
Stay tuned for our one-on-one interviews with both Audouy and Reagan. Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. Don’t miss out on Logan which is still in theaters.