For The King’s Man, Director Matthew Vaughn leaves modern-day England behind and heads instead to World War I, where he reveals the origins of the British espionage organization. The story weaves its way through historical events and introduces numerous historical figures along the way, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin—and there’s plenty of action along the way. To help bring the action to life, Visual Effects Supervisor Angus Bickerton hired VFX experts RISE to work as one of the prequel’s vendors.
Post-production on The King’s Man started in March 2019—RISE finished its last shot in January 2020. “The release date was pushed so far because of the Coronavirus pandemic; it was one of the longest waiting periods for us to see our work on the big screen!” notes RISE VFX Supervisor Oliver Schulz.
RISE was responsible for 330 shots across The King’s Man. The studio’s main body of work comprised the energetic fight sequence between Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), Conrad Oxford (Harris Dickinson), and Shola (Djimon Hounsou). “We also worked on a sequence in a train, where we added an outside environment, as well as some establishing shots of steam trains and landscapes. Another major part of the work was replacing one of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s (Tom Hollander) hands, as he was disabled.”