10 Filmmakers Who Defended Their Terrible Movies

5. Alex Laurant Blames Technology For The Mummy Returns' Atrocious CGI

The Rock Scorpion King The Mummy Returns
Universal Pictures

Alex Laurant probably isn't a name you're familiar with, but you've almost certainly seen his work. He was involved in the visual effects for movies like Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, and The Mummy Returns, and it's an infamous moment in the latter project that earned him a spot on this list.

Often being remembered as one of the worst bits of CGI in movie history, this infamous moment occurs when a remarkably unconvincing Dwayne Johnson scorpion monster meanders onto the screen during the final battle.

Acknowledging this sequence's shortcomings, Laurant appeared on an episode of Corridor Crew's VFX Artists React, and explained how it went so wrong.

He stated that, because of the "under-developed" facial capture techniques present in the 1990s, getting the Scorpion King to look exactly how they wanted it just wasn't possible. As is still the case over 20 years later, it was the face that proved the trickiest element, with that pesky uncanny valley dragging the entire sequence down.

So, what did they do? Well, the only thing they could do - they attempted to hide the bad CGI as much as possible, using dim lighting to their advantage.

It sounds like the VFX team bit off more than it could chew, and despite their best efforts, this moment was probably doomed to look awful no matter what.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!