SCENE STEALER

In “Spider-Man 3,” now on DVD, a close encounter with a particle accelerator supercharges the molecules of Flint Marko, transforming him into Sandman. Sony Pictures Imageworks put actor Thomas Haden Church through a similar process, combining his powerful performance with flowing sand via an unprecedented combination of hands-on character animation and particle simulation. SPI’s crew, under visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk, saved the toughest sequence for last: Sandman’s birth, where Marko’s disintegrated particles pull themselves into human form. To achieve that Oscar-worthy effect, SPI had to learn how to make virtual sand flow uphill.

-- Ron Magid