WhoDoo EFX has designed, created and produced over 70 digital visual effects for Paramount Pictures’s romantic comedy ‘Failure to Launch,’ which stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey, now in theaters. The company client for the project was Kim Locascio, Vice President, Visual Effects, for Paramount Pictures, and Leslie Converse, Visual Effects Producer for the film. WhoDoo president/Visual Effects Supervisor Helena Packer and Executive Producer Mark Ritcheson made the announcement.

WhoDoo digital contributions to ‘Failure to Launch’ play a significant role within the film storyline. McConaughey plays a thirty-something man who has never been able to leave his parent house, while Parker plays the beautiful woman his parents hire to lure him away. McConaughey character, during the course of the film, seems to have inexplicably ‘weird’ relations with wild animals ?‚àö√ë‚àö¬® including dolphins, chipmunks, lizards, and mockingbirds ?‚àö√ë‚àö¬® attacking him. WhoDoo EFX developed and produced these animals digitally, so they could interact with McConaughey in highly amusing sequences.

Packer, as visual effects supervisor, coordinated the efforts of two teams of top digital animators and compositors including Marla Carter and Janice Lee. Paul Taglienetti was the visual effects producer for WhoDoo EFX. Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., created several of the animal puppets for the film, which were incorporated into digital effects shots produced by WhoDoo. Walt Conti Edge Innovations created the animatronic dolphins.

Said Leslie Converse, Visual Effects Producer, ‘I worked with WhoDoo EFX on ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Stepford Wives,’s and enjoyed them immensely. We selected them for ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§Failure to Launch’s since we knew their work would be first-rate. In the film, there is a running joke about sweet animals continually attacking Matthew character. We needed to creatively combine digital effects with puppets for some of the creatures, while others were completely CG. WhoDoo made the digital creatures spectacularly come to life, and I’sm sure movie-goers will be highly amused by the ferocious chipmunk scene!’

Added Helena Packer, ‘We had developed a great relationship with producer Scott Rudin and Leslie Converse at Paramount while working together on ?‚àö√ë‚àö‚â§The Stepford Wives,’s so when they needed character animation effects, they came to us. Our assignment with the new film was to produce a series of amusing character animation sequences involving various animals that interact with Matthew and other actors in the film. These sequences play an integral role in the storyline. The challenge was in maintaining a sense of reality with our digital animals as they interact with humans, since we were depicting them in situations animals normally would never find themselves in. For example, mockingbirds don’st usually get mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and dolphins don’st usually bite people!’

Paramount Pictures Presents a Scott Rudin/Aversano Films production, a Tom Dey film, ‘Failure to Launch.’ Directed by Tom Dey, the film is written by Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember. Scott Rudin and Scott Aversano are the producers. Ron Bozman is executive producer. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper, Terry Bradshaw, and Kathy Bates. The film is rated PG-13 for sexual content, some nudity & language.

About Paramount Pictures:
Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc., one of the leading global entertainment content companies, with prominent and respected brands in focused demographics across virtually all media.

About WhoDoo EFX:
Founded in l999, WhoDoo EFX provides a creative environment in which clients and artists alike can work together to develop new and exciting visual effects for a wide range of projects. The company is comprised of a pool of highly successful and award winning professionals. Helena Packer, who founded WhoDoo EFX, and Mark Ritcheson, who joined in 2000, are the co-owners of the company. Collectively, the duo and their team have garnered numerous major industry awards, contributing unique and acclaimed visual effects to dozens of feature films, episodic TV series, commercials, and music videos.

WhoDoo EFX is located at 1335 Fourth Street, Suite # 200, Santa Monica, CA, 90401. The phone is 310/899-1314 and the web is www.whodooefx.com.