Nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 2025 Academy Awards, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, British Academy Film Awards, Satellite Awards and many other, Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has proven itself a masterclass in the art of movie magic.  Along with explosions, impressively engineered contraptions and undersea dance clubs, the film adaptation of one of Broadway’s most popular musicals and bestselling novel by Gregory Maguire is also filled with magical, musical, and sometimes flying creatures brought to life with the help of the VFX artists at Clear Angle Studios, Framestore, Gentle Giant Studios, OPSIS, The Third Floor, Inc., and, of course, Industrial Light and Magic. “Ultimately what we do is always in the service of story,” shares Ryan Gillis, one of ILM’s VFX supervisors on Wicked. “For this film, we got to create a bear nanny, a wolf doctor, a flying Elphaba and her army of flying monkeys, the famed emerald city and yellow brick road.” Certainly not a bad visual effects gig.  Directed by Chu and produced by Universal Pictures, Wicked tells the story of the witches of Oz. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” their friendship reaches a crossroads, and their lives take very different paths. Glinda's unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, and Elphaba's determination to remain true to herself and to those around her results in unexpected and shocking consequences for her future. Their adventure in Oz ultimately sees them fulfill their destinies as Glinda the Good and Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West. But the mysterious disappearance and imprisonment of Oz’s animal population, many of whom can speak, learn, and teach like any other two-legged citizen in Oz, is a major plot point. Gillis, a computer art graduate from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), served as Groom Supervisor and the Groom Artist for the film’s first animal stars, nanny Dulcibear and Wolf Doctor who care for Elphaba early in the film during her childhood.  “The biggest challenge with both of these characters was creating photorealistic animals that had subtle fantastical characteristics who then also had to give anthropomorphized performances,” explains Gillis, who had previously worked with fellow ILM VFX supervisor Robert Weaver on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. “Bears and wolves aren't known for their ability to belt out Broadway tunes. They don't have sprigs of human hair, dramatic stripes, and it's usually frowned upon when they take part in medical procedures. Dulcibear had to look both like a believable bear, but when she reached to pick up the newborn Elphaba she immediately had to present to the audience as nurturing, not threatening.” When Elphaba’s mother gives birth to her – with the help of a curly-haired, glasses-wearing Wolf Doctor – a horrified energy overtakes the delivery room as we see that Elphaba has bright green skin. While Elphaba’s birth mother wrestles with her emotions, unable to look at her own child, Dulcibear scoops up the radiantly emerald baby, cradling the child and, with a rather large claw and equally large heart, reassures Elphaba that everything will be alright.  ILM posted a behind-the-scenes breakdown of creating Dulcibear and her nurturing, mother-like movements in this video: Then there was the matter of making Dulcibear smile and sing, like any other mother would with their child.  “When undergoing rapid facial movements required for singing, the characters still had to look natural with readable expressions,” says Gillis. “This feat was achieved by our amazing animation team through performance choices and then supported by subtle accommodations that we built into the characters.” Both Dulcibear and Wolf Doctor had to show shock and surprise at Elphaba’s skin color, and noticeable concern as they sang about her unusual predicament; Dulcibear also had to reciprocate joyous giggles as Elphaba smiled and laughed at her bear nanny. Highlighting both animals’ snouts, eyebrows and eyeball shines were all part of the collaborative team effort to give the bear and wolf as much humanity as would be believable in the land of Oz.  “It is always an extraordinary challenge to make a character doing unbelievable things feel believable,” says Gillis. “And it takes a tremendous amount of coordination between all of our disciplines to accomplish it.” In addition to building the grooms for each asset, Gillis worked with modeling, texture, and lookdev departments to develop the proportions and overall look and feel of the animal characters. Once the assets were built, Gillis provided support to the simulation department to make sure they had what they needed to apply motion to the fur and to ensure that the hair – from bobbing head curls to fluffy, wagging tails – moved properly. “No matter how long you work in the industry, each project is an opportunity to learn something new, and every time you have to replicate an animal it is a crash course in anatomy,” notes Gillis. “To build an asset that works in diverse environments and with a broad spectrum of performances, you have to understand the way that something is built.” And, naturally, fur was an integral part of both Dulcibear and Wolf Doctor’s anatomical makeup. But while fur might seem like an obvious part of the grooming production for animal character models, it’s a more complex production process than expected.  “Fur layers can be built out of several different types of hair that, once you get to the outer surface of the hair volume, are rarely even visible,” explains Gillis. “Those invisible under layers influence how light scatters through the fur volume and ultimately how the hair moves and behaves. These characters were an exercise in finding an efficient balance between those inner and outer layers of fur while exploring how far we could push their more imaginative design aspects.” Dulcibear, sporting her own set of hair curls as well as housekeeper attire, has perfect dexterity when carrying Elphaba, taking part in tea parties and presenting the young witch with books. But the bear still carries in water buckets with her mouth while running in haste on all fours and Wolf Doctor, prepping for delivery, still must hop up onto a chair the way a dog would leap onto a couch. The way an animal’s fur moves and catches the light as its body shakes and pivots on all fours still has to translate when that same animal gets up on its hind legs and rocks a baby.  “Those realistic and artistic elements had to be combined so that the final characters were still believable, all while allowing the performance from the animators to be emotive while maintaining their readability,” shares Gillis. “The realization of both Wicked’s fantasy creatures and the renowned world for them to inhabit and soar through was pretty spectacular.” Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.