Production Companies Fox 2000 Pictures, Davis Entertainment, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners, Major Studio Partners, Mid Atlantic Films, Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
“Durza’s Beast provides a sharp physical contrast to Saphira’s naturalistic look,” says Williams. “The beast is a completely task-built creature – a flying mouth of teeth, oversized head and teeth, and no legs. If you combined a large tarantula with a bat, then added a bull’s head with vampire teeth, you’d have the Beast.”
“The character’s design came quickly,” adds Murphy, “but developing the technology to render it was a challenge due to the inherent difficulties in ‘choreographing’ smoke, and action amongst the smoke.”
WETA created effects extensions for the practical Hungary sets for the battle. “We had to master the exact terrain of the practical set so that we could match into portions of the live-action footage,” says Williams. “All our action biases more towards one side of the volcano, which is visually more interesting because we’re closer to the volcano walls and get an enhanced sense of Saphira’s flying speed.”
WETA worked on another big action sequence that combines spectacle with emotion, further exploring the connection between Eragon and Saphira, and a moving act of personal sacrifice. “We get to explore Saphira’s softer, gentler side in this scene,” says Williams. “We pushed and refined her facial animation, keeping her movements very subtle, and letting the moments work for themselves.”
In a magical moment that propels the character and story forward, WETA created a sequence in which Saphira undergoes a metamorphosis from adolescence to adulthood. The visual effects from WETA and ILM, along with the exotic and rugged locations in Hungary and Slovakia, created the illusion of Alagaësia. ERAGON was one of the biggest productions ever to be filmed in Hungary and Slovakia.
The production crew of over-500 was headquartered in the historic city of Budapest. The set for Garrow’s Farm, where Eragon lived with his Uncle Garrow and cousin Roran, was built on privately owned land in a valley at Budakesi, a forty-five minute drive from Budapest.
The production constructed Galbatorix’s lair in a hillside cave, with access available only through a hole in the cave’s roof. Special cranes were used to move equipment – including cameras, sound recorders and set dressing – into the cave. Once inside the cave, the filmmakers’ activities were limited due to the area’s status as a national monument. Later, the mountains of Slovakia would provide a number of natural settings with spectacular views across valleys, gorges and waterfalls.
These worlds and characters created by these locations, effects artists, technicians, craftsmen, filmmakers and actors stem from the imagination of Christopher Paolini, whose novel is linked to the film in an unexpected way. "I originally conceived ERAGON as a movie,” he points out. “I saw the characters and action clearly in my mind. But since I didn't have the money to produce a film, I ended up writing the story as a book.”
At the time, it was beyond Paolini’s wildest dreams that a major studio would adapt his epic tale. But then, Paolini’s own life story, his imagination – and the journey of his heroic title character – remind us that no dream is too big.
Movie Database
In Theaters
