Talk about rage. Who would've thought the Hulk would've touched off such a critical firestorm, with people not only questioning the wisdom of director Ang Lee's Oedipal emphasis but also Industrial Light & Magic's CG vision for the popular Marvel superhero? Expectation and perception are everything and a bad buzz dogged the Universal film ever since we got our first glimpse of a cartoony-looking Hulk in the Super Bowl teaser trailer. Yet that was arguably an ill-conceived snippet that was sped up and taken out of context. Even so, after viewing the completed film, few have been willing to cut Lee much slack for creating such a heady, personal comic book movie. But animation supervisor Colin Brady provides some valuable insight into Lee's creative choices and why ILM animated the Hulk the way it did.

Ang Gives Good Angst
The first thing the ILM veteran explains is that Lee was so specific in his direction of the computer-animated Hulk, requiring that he act more like a 4-year-old child throwing a temper tantrum than an out of control adult, that Brady urged him to don the motion capture suit himself. "Ang gave an amazing performance and after reviewing all the takes, we decided that his performance was the best," Brady suggests. "Even for the tank sequence, we built these miniature props and brought in a stunt guy and ex-football player and shot several motion capture sessions, beating the heck out of these tanks and smashing them up. And while all the physical motion was correct, the acting wasn't there. But Ang gave good angst. Even the Hulk beating up the tank with the turret was 99% Ang. He would really emphasize [the less is more mentality] that to me is what I was already drawn to in his films. You look at Hulk. There is very little change that happens on the faces of the actors. We tried very hard not to over animate because that's what Ang stressed."

The Hulk takes some acting tips from director Ang Lee in this ragin' scene. © 2003 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved. Credit: ILM. Director Ang Lee (right).

For Brady, acting has always been key to animation and the biggest challenge for him is getting a consistent performance. He says it doesn't matter how many talented artists in the world you have working on a project, the problem with animators is that they put so much of themselves in sculpting a performance that you lose consistency from shot to shot. "Ang was really good at reining us in and providing the consistency we needed. It was all about toning things down. My job would be to tell the animators when the Hulk is looking at rocks that it harkens back to when he's a child with his mother in the rock garden. At first they would give him these sad, puppy dog eyes. And I would tell them that this just doesn't work. Also, a big part of my job was to get the animators to feel the role before touching the computer, to get out of their seats, to act out the shots, to feel every shift of weight and bobble—to make it all seem like choreography."

Brady acknowledges that Hulk was a very personal story for Lee, and that the comic book story was merely a backdrop for exploring deeper issues between father (Nick Nolte) and son (Eric Bana). How the sins of the father (in this case the quest for power and perfection) are visited on the son, and how it also touches on the meaning of existence and becoming one with nature. "I sensed that he was into this as a very emotional release during the motion capture sessions," Brady continues. "I would put it into the category of primal scream therapy." Although there are moments that evoke King Kong, Brady says Lee never discussed the legendary monster movie or any other cinematic archetype. It was always about tapping the little boy lost within this angry beast.