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Ellis Park Stadium
“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman)
The genesis of the project
Morgan Freeman, fascinated by the true story told in Invictus: Nelson Mandela, submits the film adaptation project to his friend Clint Eastwood. The director, delighted to be able to spend two months in South Africa, surrounded by a team of 90% locals, readily accepts and joins the fray.
Logically, it seeks to shoot in the stadium where the famous historic final was once held. Unfortunately, in fifteen years, the location has changed somewhat, but the filmmaker can count on the expertise of Michael Owens, the special effects supervisor.
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Time travel
He then began research to completely remodel the enclosure to give it back its former patina. In order to fill the stands on screen, the team hires a few extras but also uses digital effects to achieve a convincing rendering.
Michael Owens has since explained his work: “On ‘Invictus,’ one of the main tasks was to put 60,000 people into rugby stadiums. We only had a few extras on set, and therefore, to be able to create those crowds any time we show play in a rugby match, the entire background had to be replaced. We shot in real stadiums, but had to replace everything but the players in order to fill those stadiums convincingly. The only way to do that is frame by frame rotoscoping, separating the players from the stadium. Then, we had to synthetically re-create the stadium and put our synthetic crowds into the synthetic stadium. We completely replaced everything from the grass up in for practically every shot involving rugby play.”.
Although the film looks very classical very classic, it required no less than 600 visual effects visual effects made by Michael Owens’ team. Michael Owens’ team.
Ellis Park Stadium
Built between 1927 and 1928, Ellis Park Stadium is one of the largest stadiums in South Africa. A true temple for sports fans.
The current Ellis Park Stadium is the second stadium of this name built on this site, on South Park Lane. The first stadium was severely damaged in the 1970s and was replaced by a new 60,000-seat version, which opened in 1982. It was on this ground that the 1995 Rugby World Cup was won by South Africa. Ellis Park Stadium is currently home to the Golden Lions, the Currie Cup team in the Super 14, and the Orlando Pirates, in the Premier Soccer League.
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By Damien Duarte
Passionné par la culture pop depuis son enfance, ses références vont de Donald Duck à Batman en passant par Marty McFly. Fantripper dans l'âme, voyager sur les traces de Ghostbusters, James Bond ou des héros de romans comme Cotton Malone fait partie d'un séjour idéal et réussi !