Maxim Baldry And Jason Smith Talk The Return Of Shelob In 'The Rings Of Power'
Image Source: YouTube
With the San Diego Comic-Con in full swing, this weekend is prospering in a variety of pop culture news. As the release date for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two draws closer, new promotional content is being released. Not only has a new full-length trailer been released, but Den of Geek also had an exclusive interview with Maxim Baldry and Jason Smith! In this interview, the appearance of a classic character was discussed; if you have a thing against spiders, you may want to turn back.
Smith, the senior VFX supervisor on set, explained how they came up with their design for the giant spider Shelob, “The first thing we did is we all thought back to the nightmare spiders of our youth.” Their research was thorough, looking into “every spider known to man” to some degree. Smith had a personal degree of inspiration surrounding the design, “I realized that the fear I was feeling most aggressively was with those long, thin legs—the black widow proportions really spoke to me.”
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Image Source: IMDb
On the subject of actually manipulating Shelob, the VFX supervisor explained, “We’d come out attacking [Maxim Baldry] with this mechanical spider puppet that we had made, with multiple puppeteers [working] the legs because we wanted to get something crawling on him. We love visual effects but only as the tool to close the gap where it must be closed.” They took a classic physical approach rather than solely relying on computer-generated content and motion capture.
When interacting with the puppet in the scene, Isildur actor Baldry described it as “a terrifying concoction of all of [his] worst nightmares.” Even on set, the design was “very realistic, very claustrophobic,” and the scene itself was “quite isolating” since he’s the only person in it. This moment is important though, as the actor describes conquering the battle as very “character-building for Isildur.” Baldry described the impact this season has on Isildur, “He leaves season two a man; he is no longer a boy. He’s hardened, he’s blunt, he’s a little bit more of a mercenary… more warrior-like.”
The Rings of Power season two premieres on August 29, 2024, streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. The episodes will be released on Thursdays; there will be eight in total. If you need to catch up on the plot, season one of the series is currently available to stream on Prime Video.
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Source(s): Den of Geek, IMDb
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