Army of the Dead interview: Creating a Las Vegas wasteland and extra bloodshed in the new film

Today Zack Snyder’s epic new zombie heist film Army of the Dead finally hits Netflix. We had the chance to chat with Crafty Apes Senior VFX Supervisor Mark LeDoux (Lovecraft Country, Birds of Prey) and VFX Producer Bobby Tucker regarding their work on the movie.

Army of the Dead is set in Las Vegas after a zombie outbreak. A group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble and venture into the quarantine zone to pull off the ultimate heist.

We chatted with Mark and Bobby about how they aided the creation of bringing wasteland Las Vegas to life and much more!

Army of the Dead interview with Craft Apes Senior VFX Supervisor Mark LeDoux & VFX Producer Bobby Tucker

1428 Elm: How did you guys get involved in this project?

Bobby Tucker: Our executive producer has worked with some of the team in the past, Zack [Snyder’s] team and some of the producers and supervisors on the client’s side before. So we reached out to them and said we want to be on this. Since we had a pretty good relationship with Zack before then, it was a pretty easy relationship to get into with them.

What was it like working with Zack Snyder? I’ve heard that he really wanted the film to be as gory and over-the-top as possible. Did you guys have a lot of creative freedom to do what you wanted?

Bobby Tucker: Yeah, Zack was really great, actually. So, the team from Zack all the way down to the VFX team was really clear about their instructions for some of the blood, muzzle flashes, which was very specific to a look that they wanted. But we did a couple of other things, and we did some Vegas, cyborg zombies –– they gave us a lot of freedom with that, they responded well to our ideas, so it was great. They were very good about feedback to help improve the shots.

1428 Elm: How do you go about creating a wasteland in a place as vibrant and busy as Las Vegas?

Mark LeDoux: We did a lot of blood and gore inside the casinos and on the interiors. But then we recreated Vegas from a distance. To answer your question, that was really what was kind of interesting, right? Vegas is really lit up with neon lights. So, how do you make Vegas look decrepit when you can’t have the lights.

It’s just buildings you see in the distance. We got to play with different lighting to make it look like it was lit up and make it look deserted. It was a lot of fun to figure it out. Really, it’s the desert, so not much stuff grows. Everything kind of just sits there and doesn’t change all that much.

1428 Elm: Right, it seems like a great landscape for a zombie movie, especially when you think about the desert, as you said.

Mark LeDoux: Totally, totally. Resident Evil 3.

1428 Elm: Right! That’s a good point. Did you guys work on effects for the zombies, or was that all practical?

Mark LeDoux: A lot of the zombie effects were practical that we saw. We did do some pretty cool zombie effects with these cyborg zombies. We got to augment them. They’re machines, and that was a lot of fun. They’d get shot in the face and expose cool metal and eyes, and it was a lot of fun doing that.

1428 Elm: Was there anything during the process that turned out much differently than you expected?

Mark LeDoux: I would say so. It was a weird surprise by how cool how they all were. It’s a big movie and a lot of back and forth. Mostly the only note would be to add more blood! So I’d be like, “okay cool.” Bobby, what are your thoughts?

Bobby Tucker: The biggest surprise is that we picked up the project before COVID hit and then COVID hit and [Laughs]. We had to go into a remote workflow during all of this, which was fine. Everything worked well on our end and with the clients. They were very understanding of how the process was going to start going remote. It was one of our first projects to go through from front to back.

1428 Elm: Did you guys end up having to tone down any of the blood and gore to make sure it met the rating specifications.

Both: No! No, at all.

Bobby Tucker: They wanted more.

Mark LeDoux: I’m not that messed up, Maddy. [Laughs]

1428 Elm: Well, you never know with Netflix! Plus, people love the Saw movies. But above all, what do you guys hope people take away from the movie, apart from having their minds blown?

Mark LeDoux: Honestly, one of my favorite movies is Zack’s remake of Dawn of the Dead. And I love zombie movies, and I’ve actually always loved Zack Snyder, loved Watchmen. I hope it’s a huge success, so I hope they make more of it. It’d be awesome to have more movies in this world. It’s one of my favorite genres and one of my favorite directors. The movie looks super awesome, and everyone was great to work with. If it doesn’t do well, I’ll be disappointed, but I think it’s going to be awesome.

Bobby Tucker: I go the opposite way from Mark; blood and stuff freaks me out, and it makes me kind of queasy, so the heist stuff was the coolest for me. I hope people really enjoy the heist part. A zombie movie with a heist in it is such a cool concept.

Army of the Dead is now streaming on Netflix.