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But, Tony Stark wasn't the only one associated with this film who had to think quick and deal with unexpected events. Unforeseen changes peppered postproduction's best-laid plans, as well. "We had a few unfortunate instances," says Chris Townsend, who led visual effects teams around the globe that created much of the action in the highly acclaimed blockbuster. Principal photography started a month later than originally planned. During production, Robert Downey Jr. broke his leg, so the filmmakers took a six-week hiatus. As a result, the postproduction schedule shrank from 28 weeks to 20 weeks. Then, the 800 shots originally planned for more than doubled. "Once we wrapped photography, we had 19 or 20 weeks to do over 2,000 shots," Townsend says. Complicating that problem, Digital Domain (DD), the cornerstone vendor, and Fuel VFX, another vendor on the show, filed for bankruptcy. Animal Logic rescued Fuel, but DD had a bumpy road. "Very unfortunately, we had to scramble to find companies to take up work they couldn't do," Townsend says. And, as if Townsend needed another challenge, Director Shane Black was new to visual effects. "It was a perfect storm of events," Townsend says. "The complexities of making an Iron Man film or any film of this size and grandeur are immense, and we had complications because the director hadn't been there and done this before. Shane is talented and smart, but the only movie he had directed before was a small movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, so it was a journey for him. To get the picture he wanted, the studio wanted to make, Robert [Downey Jr.] wanted to make, and mold the picture into a cohesive, fun film was exciting. We worked up until the last minute." To meet the deadline, Townsend and Visual Effects Producer Mark Soper drew on small, nimble studios and small teams within large studios, as well as the larger, more muscular facilities. "We had 17 vendors, one of which was a handful of artists working in-house to do compositing work," Townsend says. "It was a crazy amount of vendors, but it was required because of the sheer volume of work, the short time frame, and the complexity." .com Video: Go to "Extras" in the May/June 2013 issue box CG W M ay / June 2013 ■ 19