The CGI Magic Behind Remarkably Bright Creatures' Octopus Character
Watch the breakdown and hear from Untold Studios' Senior VFX Supervisor Chris Ritvo about how it all came together.
Go behind the scenes of Remarkably Bright Creatures, Netflix's adaptation of the bestselling novel by Shelby Van Pelt, and explore the VFX work developed by Untold Studios for the film. Remarkably Bright Creatures follows Tova Sullivan, a grieving widow who cleans a local aquarium at night, where she forms a profound bond with a clever giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus.
Marcellus, a fully CG character, was central to the story. It presented a unique technical challenge, requiring complex simulations of lighting, glass, and water interactions, as well as direct interactions with live-action performances by Sally Field and Lewis Pullman.
Olivia Newman, the director of the film, said her team spent around six months researching how to bring Marcellus to life, and quickly realized there was no way to train a real octopus to perform the actions.
"Marcellus was built as a complete performance asset rather than a shot-specific solution. His look development was designed around the adaptability of a real octopus, with multiple patterns, textures, and camouflage states that could be blended across scenes.
The model included more than 270 suckers per tentacle across eight arms, supported by layers of rigging that allowed animators to shape both broad performance and highly specific sucker and contact behaviour," said Senior VFX Supervisor Chris Ritvo.
On set, production used a puppet matched to Marcellus' colour, scale, and texture, giving the filmmakers and VFX team practical lighting reference.
"When you look at a real octopus, everything is moving all the time, in every direction. Our CFX team created the skin and tentacle movement that really made Marcellus come alive underwater. The character also required extensive CFX work to capture the constant motion of an octopus' skin, arms, and suckers. Untold developed simulation passes for tentacle movement, skin detail, environmental contact, and underwater behaviour, giving Marcellus the tactile, living quality needed for Newman’s adaptation."
Marcellus also shows up beyond the film, playing a role in the wider launch campaign for Remarkably Bright Creatures, including the new film tie-in edition of the novel and a Times Square billboard. You can watch the Netflix cast and crew making-of video below:
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