How Lola tackled these invisible effects for ‘WandaVision’.
In episode 5 of WandaVision, a new guest arrives on Wanda and Vision’s doorstep.
It turns out to be the character Ralph Bohner posing as Wanda’s twin brother Pietro (aka Quicksilver), although not played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson from the MCU movies, but instead played by Evan Peters, who actually played Quicksilver in the recent X-Men films.
For that doorstep moment Peters was made up with a distinctive white wig. However, after filming, production decided they wanted the hairstyle to more closely match that of previous incarnations of Quicksilver.
So, his hair was replaced digitally.
To do that work, the production turned to Lola VFX, well known as a visual effects studio specializing in beauty, cosmetics and de-ageing work (they also handled many Vision shots in the show—check back to befores & afters for more on this work later in the week).
“No one likes working with hair, it’s always so difficult,” advises Lola visual effects supervisor Trent Claus. “Here it was about adjusting to a certain style. For the shoot it had been bigger and fluffier, and they wanted it tighter, more streamlined.”
This re-style was managed completely as a 2D manipulation in Flame, which, luckily, Lola only had to do for this introductory scene.
“You see him from behind per several shots, and then you see him from the front for a few shots, and then you see it again in a later episode when they do the Agatha reveal.”
