Marvel’s Eternals was an epic blockbuster even by MCU standards, with a story that spanned thousands of years, a whole host of new characters being introduced and some pretty spectacular special effects throughout. When it comes to the latter of these, it was therefore surprising that the post-credit scene of the movie seemed to perform something of a misstep as it introduced Harry Styles’ Eros and Pip the Troll.
While Styles’s appearance was not an issue, many fans were quick to point out that something about Pip just seemed rushed and very out of line with the usually perfect Marvel CGI effects. According to Eternals VFX supervisors Matt Aitken and Stephane Ceretti, there were some timing issues around completing this late addition to the story which certainly contributed to the less than stunning appearance of the character.
Speaking in an interview with The Wrap, the pair touched on the subject of Pip’s appearance, commenting that the footage was done as part of reshoots and that caused problems with the amount of time they had to work on the final movie. They said:
Matt Aitken: “Patton Oswalt, who is somebody I’ve followed for years and years, who’s a friend of the visual effects community, as he hosts the VES Awards every year for us, did the onset reference performance with knee pads on, on his knees, so that his head was the right height.”
Stephane Ceretti: “And we shot that during the additional photography. It was a different ending. We did that pretty quick at the end… Let’s be honest. But it was a bit challenging to get that done in time, but we did what we could. It turned out okay. It’s…”
Matt Aitken: “Another new thing to the MCU.”
Eternals Missed the Mark With Pip The Troll This Time, But Will Get Him Right In Future
While it was always going to be hard for any new character to compete with a Harry Styles cameo, it seems that Patton Oswalt’s Pip the Troll may have been dealt a poor hand with his first appearance in the MCU, however the scene is short, and his next appearance will probably not be quite as hurried. In many ways, it harks back to the first appearance of Thanos in the post-credit scene of Avengers, which was nothing like the Josh Brolin villain he became later. Aitken and Ceretti continued:
Matt Aitken: “And so, just try trying different things out. And I think I might have said to you at one point, Steph, we’re getting close to our hard out. We need this much time. If we’re going to change the design again, and build the facial rig, and get all the nuances of the facial performance, we’re going to need to have that approval of the design right here. And then I think we went way past that.”
Stephane Ceretti: “We were way past that. I was like, ‘Guys, we got to go. We really got to go. But what if we try this. We got to go. Try this. Okay, we’ll try this.’ We’ve all been there, but I mean, in the end you’re putting, for the first time, a CG character next to Harry Styles. And you’re thinking, ‘Hmm, Harry Styles is going to be hard to beat.’ It is what it is. I still think it’s a fun moment. I still think it’s a lot of opportunities for fun stories later down the line. I hope it’s a character we’re going to see more, because he’s hilarious.”
Eternals ended up being one of Marvel’s hardest movies to shoot thanks to the Covid pandemic, and in the end scenes like this do not make a big impact on the overall MCU. As the introduction of a secondary character, it was as well done as was possible with the resources made available to the team behind him, and that will just mean that if and when he returns these initial wrinkles will all have been ironed out.
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