Hironobu Sakaguchi
Director, Final Fantasy

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When a video-game designer suddenly recasts himself as a revolutionary filmmaker, you might suspect a major ego has gone haywire. Not this time. Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the best-selling PlayStation series Final Fantasy, is now director of the movie of the same name. But ask him how his film is going to transform the entertainment industry, and he meekly demurs, saying, "I'd like to keep my friends in Hollywood."

Here's what worries him: Final Fantasy, due out in July, is the first full-length feature to be cast entirely with computer-generated people. If it works, the likes of Cruise and Costner may find themselves redundant. And right now, Final Fantasy looks very much like it's going to work. Its protagonists' body movements are indistinguishable from those of real humans, thanks to motion capture, a technique borrowed from video games. Faces have been meticulously mapped with every conceivable detail, including pores and pockmarks. Teams of animators have labored for two years to make strands of hair waft just so, and to match lip movements to the voices of James Woods and Alec Baldwin, among others. Result: a reality so devilishly detailed, you can almost smell it.

And it could only have been achieved by a new kind of director — one more comfortable looking at video-game codes than storyboards. Old-school filmmakers — even those seasoned in feature-length computer animation, like Steven Spielberg and Pixar's John Lassiter — have recoiled from creating digital actors. But Sakaguchi had both the filmic naiveté and technological know-how to forge ahead. In addition, he has long dreamed of creating "a world where the idea of 'spirits' is scientifically explained." Hence Final Fantasy, a dream come true.

Perhaps this all sounds a little familiar: a Hollywood outsider with a passion for technology, directing a groundbreaking sci-fi movie with religious overtones. Ultimately, the only difference between Sakaguchi and George Lucas may be that Sakaguchi doesn't have to deal with impetuous human actors. And hopefully, Final Fantasy will erase the unpleasant memory of Jar-Jar Binks.

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PHOTOGRAPHS FOR TIME DIGITAL BY DANA EDMONDS
PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION FOR TIME DIGITAL BY WILLIAM DUKE (inset)

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