THERE'S A SCENE in the Jennifer Lawrence movie No Hard Feelings where her clothes catch fire. She's riding on the hood of a car as it speeds across a crowded beach and crashes into a barbecue, sending burning coals flying. But the flames don't look like any real ones that you've ever seen. They're plasticky and neon yellow, pointing straight up when they should be blowing back toward the windshield. Even in a low-effort comedy such as this one, the effect is distractingly flimsy. ¶ It's not an isolated incident. Computer-generated fires are breaking out everywhere, and they look terrible. Prominent house fires in last year's The Banshees of Inisherin and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery appear as if they've been scribbled onto the liveaction footage by hand. So do the kitchen fires on Hulu's The Bear and some wildfires on CBS's Fire Country. On Game of Thrones, the dragons' breath was created by mounting honest-to-goodness flamethrowers on cranes; on the spinoff House of the Dragon, the titular creatures are clearly spewing digital fire. Amid all the obvious effects in the latest Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy movies, it's the fires-flat, over saturated, and motion-smoothed-that stick out most.
Not so long ago, there was no CGI, so the only way to put fire on film was to light a real one in front of a camera. For decades, Hollywood pyrotechnicians ignited scenery, vehicles, and stuntpeople, often within face-scorching distance of movie stars and children. Houses were burned down for deodorant commercials, and Pink Floyd once set a guy on fire just because they thought it would look cool on an album cover. In rare cases, there were injuries and even deaths, but that didn't deter filmmakers from embracing an effect that couldn't be achieved by any other means.
This story is from the October 23 - November 5, 2023 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 23 - November 5, 2023 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Reality Check
Joseph O'Neill's realist novel embodies the best and worst of the genre.
An Atlas Who Can't Carry
J.Lo's AI-friendly flick flattens its own world.
Billie Doesn't Have to Do It All
The singer's gleefully disorienting third album doesn't hit every note it reaches for.
A Hollywood Family's Grudges
In Griffin Dunne's memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club-about growing up the son of Dominick Dunne and the nephew of John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion-both acid and names are dropped.
Quite the Tomato
A summer appetizer from a seriously ambitious restaurant.
This Cooking Can't Be Pinned Down
Theodora's menu is all over the map. That's what makes it great.
Answered Prayers
Brooklynites Cristiana Peña and Nick Porter had a dream to live in an old church upstate.
INDUSTRY Goes for Broke
With a new Sunday-night time slot and Game of Thrones's Kit Harington co-starring, can this buzzy GEN-Z FINANCE DRAMA finally break out?
THE SECRET SAUCE
As Marcus on THE BEAR, LIONEL BOYCE is the guy everyone wants to be around. He's having that effect on Hollywood too.
The Love Machine
LOVE IS BLIND creator CHRIS COELEN drops a new group of singles into his strange experiment-and wrestles with all the lawsuits against the series.