Over the past 30 years, Habib Zargarpour has helped create some of the most innovative and iconic VFX shots in cinema and pioneered virtual production. Beginning with The Mask’s eye-popping protagonist, Habib went on to instigate Twister and The Perfect Storm’s freak weather conditions, race pods for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and use game-engine technology to build The Jungle Book and Blade Runner 2049’s captivating worlds.
Today, Habib works as head of film development at Digital Monarch Media, a division of Unity Technologies. He deep-dives into how he helped director Denis Villeneuve and DoP Roger Deakins explore LA 2049’s wastelands, and details the physics of pod racers. For VFX fans, this podcast is a treat from start to finish.
Links:
Chapters:
7:15 Deckard and industrial design: Habib’s early years
13:15 Adventures in Dinosaur City
19:18 Starting at ILM on “The Mask”
22:25 Beginning on Blade Runner 2049
27:40 Downing the Spinner with Denis Villeneuve
38:26 Working with Roger Deakins
44:20 How “The Perfect Storm” pioneered real-time
49:10 Star Wars Ep. 1’s pod racing
52:56 Virtual production on The Jungle Book
59:30 Game engines and production