Dennis Berardi (‘Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ VFX supervisor): ‘If we break the suspension of disbelief, we have not done our jobs’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Matt Noble
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

“If we break the suspension of disbelief, we have not done our jobs,” states visual effects supervisor Dennis Berardi about “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.” In our recent webchat he continues, “Everyone’s so savvy. We just use all of the techniques all of the time and I think the audience goes along for the ride.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

The Netflix anthology series comprises eight episodes, each telling a different horror story. The collection of stories were curated by del Toro, with two being works he had written. The Oscar-winning filmmaker of “The Shape of Water” (2017) also handpicked the eight directors for the series. All the stories are dark and touch on various moral themes. Berardi explains, “When it all started to come together there was a lot of anticipation amongst the department heads about who the directors and what the stories were going to be. When Guillermo revealed them to us, it was pretty exciting.”

More from GoldDerby

SEELuis Sequeira interview: ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ costume designer

The episode ‘Pickman’s Model’ tells the tale of a museum curator and his family who are haunted by an artist’s disturbing works. The effects supervisor admits, “We had the ghoul that is coming out of another dimension. We created a half scale puppet and shot it at forced perspective. It was a lot of fun and interesting, old school. Then we did a digital version and fully animated it. Guillermo always likes to lean into the best of both worlds. Do as much in camera as possible and then enhance it, or take it over digitally, where possible. That was the hardest one to figure out.”

It’s not the designer’s first time working with del Toro. He has worked with the director on numerous projects including “The Shape of Water”. Berardi reflects, “He challenges me to reach new heights. I have improved as a filmmaker, artist, manager and communicator because Guillermo has pushed us to bring our best. I like what he beings out of us as artists. He’s also got a great vision and he’s a great designer. But he’s also a great listener. You get the best of both worlds. His creative process is very challenging, but we can all contribute.”

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.