10 Movie Special Effects Nobody Believed

3. Pretty Much The Entire Movie - The Fountain

The Special Effect

Darren Aronofksy's surreal romantic fantasy film was a troubled production to say the least, with Warner Bros. halving the budget from $70 million to $35 million, forcing the director to get creative with his proposed special effects.

Aronofsky ended up hiring Peter Parks, a specialist in macro photography, who brewed chemicals and bacteria together for the film's effects team to shoot in extreme close-up.

The resulting kaleidoscopic images formed the basis for The Fountain's depiction of the star Xibalba and its nebula, and because Parks used simple materials such as yeast, dyes, solvents, baby oil and even curry powder, he ended up costing the production just $140,000.

In fact, the film's VFX company worked on a mere 87 shots, namely combining the macro photography with the on-set shooting and also providing set extensions.

Why Nobody Believed It

Because it was a frankly insane undertaking, and it's incredible that Aronofsky actually managed to pull it off. Parks himself even said, "Nobody believed he could make this film without CGI. The studio thought he was crazy."

Without knowledge of this film's production, how could anyone guess that it was mostly achieved through practical means? The beautiful irony, of course, is that the film ended up looking like it cost much, much more than $35 million.