SCENE STEALER

Making Santa’s brother (Vince Vaughn) and an elf (John Michael Higgins) fit proportionally when slow dancing was no small feat for “Fred Claus” visual effects supervisor Alex Bicknell, especially because the actor playing the elf was a full-sized man. Director David Dobkin insisted that Vaughn and Higgins shoot their scenes together, so Bicknell had to reduce Higgins’ scale while enabling him to improvise. Bicknell had Jorge Rodero, a little person, portray Willie the elf from the neck down. For every shot involving dialogue, Higgins’ performed just off camera. Later, Bicknell digitally married Higgins’ head to Rodero’s diminutive body.

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