When John Weir (Kiefer Sutherland) enters a world that seems entirely “upside down” in the new Paramount+ series Rabbit Hole, he’s also entering a visually stunning backdrop made possible by the visual-effects wizards at CBS VFX.
Weir, a master of deception in the world of corporate espionage, is framed for murder by powerful forces who have the ability to influence and control populations. To make his adventures possible required the use of equally powerful forces: a team of artists and technicians at CBS VFX, some 50 people strong, led by visual effects supervisor Martin Hall.
“The series is about espionage and misdirection, so our work is to help shock the viewer and keep them riveted while never losing sight of the fact that this is a character-driven series — but also contains thousands of visual effects shots,” Hall says.
Rabbit Hole is set in New York City but filmed in Toronto, which is just the beginning of the creative challenges. The visual effects team needed to create numerous digital 3D New York streets filled with computer-generated cars and buildings — and make sure they were seamlessly blended into the action.
Moreover, built in to each episode is a high-stakes moment. In one scene, for instance, Weir runs toward a building that suddenly explodes, sending flame and debris into the air, with a wind-concussion effect that literally knocks Weir to the ground and viewers back into their seats.
“We’ve worked incredibly closely with the series’ showrunners, because as they’ve amped up the drama, our work is to lean into that by shocking the audience with the action,” Hall says.
Each episode of Rabbit Hole contains as many as 200 visual effects shots — a huge number for any project. (By comparison, the feature film Jurassic Park contained 63 visual effects shots.) Of those shots, visual effects producer Sherie Meis says the majority are designed to be “invisible” to viewers. These include creating digital set extensions, designing and building digital environments, and augmenting backgrounds, in addition to the more noticeable effects.
There are also scenes, including a heart-pounding chase involving a horse-mounted police officer, that combine a wide range of visual effects techniques created to lend the series the dynamic, propulsive feel that Hall and Meis hope will keep viewers hooked.
“In a lot of shots, only about 10 percent of the image originally shot is still left,” Meis says. “Viewers might think, ‘That’s an amazing stunt,’ or wonder how they did that without realizing that it represents an enormous amount of work by the visual effects team.”
Sarah Hamilton served as co-producer on the visual effects for Rabbit Hole.
Sutherland serves as executive producer for Rabbit Hole, alongside writer-directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (This Is Us, WeCrashed), Charlie Gogolak (The Sinner, WeCrashed), Suzan Bymel (Designated Survivor) and Hunt Baldwin (Longmire, The Closer).
For more than 30 years, CBS VFX has expanded the boundaries of creativity through visual effects, virtual production and post-production creative services on some of the most acclaimed projects on television, across network, cable and streaming. In addition to Rabbit Hole and Fire Country, its recent work has included The Offer for Paramount+, Walker Independence for The CW, and Hacks for HBO. To support its industry-leading work, CBS VFX maintains a dedicated visual production soundstage, and works extensively with virtual production, digital set extension, and real-time pre-viz technologies. You can find out more at www.CBS-VFX.com.
