Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/663382
DIRECTOR'S CHAIR www.postmagazine.com 18 POST APRIL 2016 rench visual effects veteran Cedric Nicolas-Troyan was the VFX supervisor on the 2012 global hit, Snow White and The Huntsman, which grossed nearly $400 million and won him an Oscar nomination for his work. Now he's back for the prequel, The Huntsman: Winter's War, but this time he's moved up to the director's chair for his feature film directorial debut. The fantasy action-adventure once again stars Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron in their roles from Snow White and the Huntsman, joined by Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain. As evil Queen Ravenna, Theron betrays her good sister Freya (Blunt) with an unforgivable act, freezing Freya's heart to love and unleashing in her an icy power she never knew she possessed. Retreating to a kingdom far to the north, Freya raises an army of Huntsmen as her protectors, with the only rule that no two of them should ever fall in love. As a war for domination escalates between the two queens, the hero standing between them is Freya's most elite Huntsman, Eric (Hemsworth). Alongside fellow warrior Sara (Chastain), the only woman who has ever captured his heart, Eric must help Freya vanquish her sister or Ravenna's wickedness will rule for eternity. So who will win the war between good and evil? He isn't telling, but here, in an exclusive interview with Post, Nicolas-Troyan, who was still deep in post at press time, and whose VFX credits include work on the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, The Ring and One Hour Photo, talks about making the film, the challenges involved, and his love of post. You definitely jumped in the deep end for your directing debut. How did you prepare for such a huge, complex production? "I didn't have much time as the train was moving and I had to jump in. I was actually developing other projects with Joe Roth, the producer on this, and with other studios, to direct, and I felt ready. It was finding the right opportunity to cross over into directing, and suddenly Joe called me about this after Frank Darabont left the project, and he offered it to me. It was already in pre-produc- tion and I had no time to agonize over it. I just jumped." Did you get any advice from directors you knew on how to handle the job? "Luckily, I've been working with top directors for 20 years, and as a VFX supervisor you're always there early in the project and you're the last to leave. So you sit on the set beside them, and that was the best 'directing school' you can have. You watch and learn so much that way, and after doing also second unit on Snow White, I knew I was ready to direct. And obviously my background in VFX made it a lot easier to take on a movie like this. I know what can be done and what can't, and how to spend wisely. The big thing was trying to make the best decisions for the movie and sticking to them" What sort of film did you set out to make? "It's actually a 'sprequel' — a prequel and a sequel (laughs). I wanted to stay true to the world established in the first one and expand from there." What were the biggest challenges of making this, as it's always tough trying to top a huge hit? "The big one for me was the tone. You don't want it too declamatory and CEDRIC NICOLAS-TROYAN: THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR F THIS VFX VET JUMPS INTO THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR Nicolas-Troyan on set with stars Jessica Chastain and Chris Hemsworth. BY IAIN BLAIR