Ryan Reynolds has given fans a behind-the-scenes look at his upcoming film Detective Pikachu. Detective Pikachu will be the first ever live-action movie based on the popular card and video game series Pokémon, centering around the fan-favorite character Pikachu, voiced by Reynolds in the upcoming film.

Both the Pokémon card game and video game came out in 1996, followed by an anime in 1997 giving fans their first TV show based on the combative pocket monsters. Pokémon has gotten dozens of movies and TV shows over the years, but 2019 will mark the debut of a live-action film with Reynolds signed on to voice Pikachu alongside Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, and Bill Nighy. Now that the release date is inching closer, Reynolds has given fans a first look at how his character was created for the film.

Posting on his official Instagram account, Reynolds shared a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of how the special effects department is bringing Pikachu to life for the big screen. The left side of the image shows the cute and fuzzy Pikachu, while the right side shows Reynolds face covered in motion capture markers. These little dots are used to capture Reynolds facial expressions so that Pikachu’s reactions can seem that much more authentic. Reynolds original post can be seen below:

While Detective Pikachu will use motion capture technology to capture Pikachu’s facial expressions, this certainly isn’t the first film to do so. Motion capture technology has been around for years, with animators using the technology to track the movement of characters. In recent years, however, the technology has been used to bring several hyper-realistic characters to life, including Gollum from The Lord of the Rings and Hulk and Thanos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The only difference between these movies and Detective Pikachu is that Reynolds doesn’t have to wear a full body motion capture suit since the film is only using his facial expressions.

The technology has no doubt evolved and become more realistic over the years, but fans were still nervous to see their favorite Pokémon characters adapted for a live-action movie. After the first trailer for Detective Pikachu dropped, many fans were relieved by the results. The new look of a live-action Pikachu was better than many could have imagined, but he’ll hardly be the only Pokémon featured in the movie. As seen in the trailer, several other Pokémon have been confirmed for the film, though none of them will have the charming facial expressions that Reynolds is bringing to Pikachu.

More: Why Sonic’s Live-Action Design Looks Worse Than Detective Pikachu’s Pokémon

Source: Ryan Reynolds

  • detective pikachu Release Date: 2019-05-10