15 Behind-the-Scenes Movie Photos Where Things Don’t Look as Glamorous in Real Life

Movie magic works very similar to regular magic, since as long as you don’t see the trick, you can let yourself believe anything. However, we know that actors don’t have superpowers and that alien planets don’t exist, so special effects and camera work need to be used to sell us on the fantasy.

If you want to keep believing in that magic, then look away, because we are about to delve into the backstage of some incredibly well made films. A lot of green screens, gray suits and miniatures went into the creation of modern classics, with the end result so good it’s surprising it wasn’t real at all.

Avatar: Fire and Ash

To make the blue aliens look as good as they do, the actors wore suits to record their movements and face cameras for their expressions. For the actors, the movie didn’t happen in a lush forest, rather in a dull grey warehouse.

The Avengers

Mark Ruffalo didn’t just portray Bruce Banner in The Avengers, he also gave life to The Hulk, both in voice and body. You might think the green giant was purely CGI, but they had the actor wear a silly suit to keep his character consistent.

The Lord of the Rings

Gandalf and Saruman are great adversaries that travel the world in stallions, winged beasts, or through their arcane magic. Once the cameras are off, the actors need to traverse the landscape with tiny little golf carts.

Jurassic Park

Granted, the animatronic that gave life to the T-Rex (and nearly kills the movie by going over budget) is impressive, but much less imposing when you see the several technicians that need to coordinate its every move.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Davy Jones had Bill Nighy give a legendary performance, something that reaches audiences from beyond the tentacles. The other actors actually interacted with the legend himself, although in a less intimidating gray suit.

Mad Max: Fury Road

The high-speed chase in the film is actually not going that fast for most of the actors. Several scenes had the dust clouds added in post production, and the speed simulated on several occasions.

The Matrix

Neo’s world famous emergency dodge of several bullets has been widely referenced and parodied in media for decades, but it has a not-so glamorous origin. The move has Keanu Reeves flailing his arms at nothing, with cables for support.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Making cartoon characters interact with real-world objects was certainly a challenge, particularly when it came to acting opposed to them. This particular gun was first moved along with a string, until it was placed on the hand of a remote-controlled robot arm.

Gravity

George Clooney’s moment in space has him wearing the classic space suit, but that wasn’t what he was wearing in reality. Here, we have a bright stage light representing the sun, and a bunch of markers to create the suit in post production.

Life of Pi

The film has the audience question what really happened when Pi was lost in the ocean. The movie was, of course, not filmed in open waters, but in a closed off swimming pool.

300

Nearly the entire movie was filmed inside a sound stage, with the dream-like scenarios added later. Most of what the actors saw during the making of the film was a blue screen, so they had to try really hard to interpret what was going on around them.

Barbie

The city where Barbie lives in already has a doll-like aesthetic, so for wider shots, it’s no wonder the filmmakers created a miniature version of the place. This shows that they didn’t build the entire neighborhood for the movie, rather just a couple of key sets.

The Dark Crystal

The characters in The Dark Crystal are outlandish creatures, brought to life by puppeteers, animatronics and careful editing. These creatures need makeup too, although it is easier to apply when you can remove the head of the performer.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

The main alien itself was a puppet created through hard work and careful camera placement. The director, Steven Spielberg, was very deliberate on how the creature should act, where it was located and how it talked.

The NeverEnding Story

Falkor is a large and majestic creature when encountered in the movie, and it clearly demanded a lot of work to get right. Now, the animatronic version at the studio is still large, but it loses some majestic points when not with its fur.