Hugh Jackman Had a CGI Double in LOGAN and You Would've Never Noticed
There was more CGI actor work in director James Mangold's Logan than you realized. Cartoon Brew released a fascinating breakdown of all the CGI actor work that was done for the film, and both Hugh Jackman and Dafne Keen had CGI doubles for Wolverine and X-23. I know that may not be surprising because CGI work is done like this in films all the time, but there are scenes in this movie using these digital actors that you would have never even noticed had the details in this article not been revealed.
For example, when we see close-up shots of Jackman's Wolverine in a high-speed chase behind the wheel of his limo, that's really a stunt driver whose face was replaced with a digital version of Jackman. As you all saw in the movie, it's shockingly realistic!
The article includes an in-depth interview with the staff of Image Engine, the Canadian VFX studio who helped create the CG versions of Jackman and Keen that were used in several action scenes throughout Logan. The work they did was seamless and you can see some photos that were released showing you the digital builds and comparisons below.
Image Engine ended up making full body CG renders of both Jackman and Keen that would stand in for Wolverine and X-23 multiple times in the movie. As you'll see, the level of detail in creating these CG actors is incredible. I honestly would've never known that CG stand-ins were used in the film.
As the report says, this is "another example of where things are headed with digital actors and how they can be used to help tell the stories directors are wanting to tell." The whole article is definitely worth reading if you're interested in learning the details about how they accomplished all this.
