On December 11, 2014, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central interviewed none other than Smaug the Tremendous. This is a brilliant piece, with the fire drake showing more emotion than he ever did in The Desolation of Smaug–eye-blinking, tongue-licking, hackle-raising and the like. Considering the enormity of resources involved in bringing the dragon to Hollywood, could this be the most expensive interview ever done on a talk show?
See the video when you click on this link or watch here (PG disclaimer: profanity at the end):
The signoff, crediting Smaug’s “handlers”:
The credits are as follows:
Benedict Cumberbatch – voice of Smaug
Peter Jackson – director/screenwriter
Fran Walsh – screenwriter
Philippa Boyens – screenwriter
Matt Aitken – visual effects supervisor
Marvyn Young
Zoe Saker-Norris
Philip Korsika
Mat Monro
Alexander Berson
Sebastian Bommersheim – digital compositor
Sabine Laimer
Douglas McHale
CodyAmos
Jason Laseroff
Simon Baker
Gerardo Aguilera – visual effects technical director
Chay Johansson
Max Telford
Aaron Gilman – animation supervisor
Alex Burt
Anthony McIndoe
Ben Folkman
Carlos Fraiha
Carlo Leggiero
Caz Ting
Daniel Zettl
Dave Clayton – visual effects
Drew Park
Edwina Ting
Jerry Kung – previsualization animator
Joseph King
Julie Legge
Kevin Estey
Ludovich Chailloleau
Mark Smith
Matthew Riordan
Merlin Maertz
Mike Clark
Peter Chen
Simeon Duncombe
Victor Huang
David Farmer
Brent Burge
Jason Baker
Matt Lappin – The Colbert Report
If anyone knows the duties of each artist, please contact me and I’ll give the credit where due.
Here, Peter Jackson talks about Smaug’s appearance with Colbert:
Uploaded December 17, 2014.
