I've been talking for ages about how the Silver Surfer would not be full CGI in the upcoming Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, that the character would be human with perhaps some CGI over them to make them look more authentic, and so when Doug Jones was tipped for the part I was excited. He knows about character movement and is great acting behind makeup and CGI, so that looked like the route they were going. Well it looks as if I was right, but I didn't go far enough.

There's an indication via an anonymous tip over at AICN that the character will have no CGI at all. Whether that's to keep costs down or through deliberate choice to keep things as realistic as possible is unknown, it's also worth noting that the story carries an AICN "pinch of salt" notice. I think that usually means they can't fully guarantee the source.

I have a confirmation from a colleague from Spectral Motion FX that the Silver Surfer, played by Doug Jones, is NOT going to be a computer generated or motion capture based character like Davy Jones from Pirates 2. The character is being created using a body-suit that is sprayed in a chrome-ish, silver paint scheme.It also appears that the face of the surfer is a fixed, contemplative expression in the head piece appliance with limited mouth movement that will be articulated by Jones' performance in the suit.

They go on to say that they can't understand why this would be a good move, and with the technology shown through the Terminator 2's T-1000 that it could well be done with CGI. Well, I have to say although the T-1000 did look and act very cool throughout the film, when he was shown in full silver CGI mode it did still look like CGI, sure it was really good, but there was still an unnatural look to it, it wasn't quite there.

I'm still going for what I've always said. They may spray his suit and use the facemask, but when it comes Post Production time some AfterEffects and CGI work will be used to make him look way better. There's no way they are just going to film a man in a suit and leave it at that! Surely. However, if money is tight for the sequel, and a lot of it has presumably gone to secure the cast, perhaps it is a cost issue, in which case it'll look awful. No, I'm going with my choice.