Jason Van Haverbeke launched his career in visual effects more than a decade ago and has since built an impressively diverse body of work. His credits span major studio features and high-end series, including Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Mandalorian, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Vicious.
What is your background?
My path into visual effects has been fairly complete across the pipeline. I started on set, moved into compositing, and eventually stepped into supervisory roles, which gave me a practical understanding of the process from capture through final pixel.
Early in my career I worked on large-scale productions like Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame, with Dawn of the Planet of the Apes being particularly influential in shaping my appreciation for performance-driven creature work. I later moved into leadership positions across projects including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Mandalorian Series, and Vicious.
The through-line for me has always been straightforward: photograph as much as possible, protect the performance, and use visual effects to support the storytelling rather than call attention to themselves. That mindset carried directly into Primate, where the priority was holding onto what we captured in-camera and letting VFX quietly extend the reality.
How was the collaboration with Director Johannes Roberts?
Working with Johannes Roberts is refreshingly grounded. Johannes leads with instinct and has a very sharp sensitivity to performance, so from the beginning we aligned around protecting what was happening on set. He never wanted the chimpanzee to feel overly digital or detached from the actors.
We talked often about maintaining roughly a seventy/thirty balance. Let the practical work carry the emotional weight and use visual effects to enhance, refine, and extend when necessary. Having that kind of creative north star simplifies thousands of decisions because everyone understands what we are protecting.
Johannes also creates an environment where ideas can come from anywhere. When that trust exists, the work inevitably becomes more thoughtful and leads to better filmmaking.
How was the VFX work divided among the different studios involved in the film?
The primary chimpanzee work was led by the incredibly talented team at Outpost VFX. Their focus was preserving what we captured on set and elevating it with subtle anatomical refinements, facial articulation, and seamless transitions whenever physical limitations required support.
Our in-house artists at Rebels VFX handled a large portion of the invisible work. Compositing, environmental continuity, cleanup, and all the quiet details that keep an audience immersed without ever thinking about the technique. It was a very ego-free vendor dynamic. The film benefited because no one was trying to “win” a shot. The priority was cohesion.
How did you approach the design and animation of the chimpanzee to ensure it felt both authentic and emotionally believable?
First, we always called him by name. Ben. Once you do that, you stop thinking about a creature asset and start thinking about a character.
The performance came from Miguel Torres Umba, who brought incredible physical discipline and emotional nuance to the suit. One of our strongest commitments was holding onto his eyes through the mask whenever possible. There is so much emotion there, and audiences instinctively search for that connection.
Animation became an exercise in restraint. Outpost focused on softening mechanical edges, supporting musculature, and extending expression without overwriting Miguel’s work. Sometimes the most important note is simply, “Do less.” If the audience believes there is thought behind the eyes, the character is already alive.
Can you walk us through the collaboration between the SFX team, animatronics, and VFX?
This was one of those productions where the lines between departments blurred in the best possible way. The animatronic mask gave us texture, imperfection, and natural light interaction. Miguel provided intent and unpredictability. Actors were reacting to something real.
Visual effects stepped in only when the physical build hit its limits. Extending range of motion, refining facial beats, supporting transitions, or enabling moments that simply were not safe to perform practically. There was never a desire to replace what we had. The work was about protecting the performance and completing the illusion.
How did you manage continuity when blending animatronic performances with fully CG shots?
Respect for the plate guided everything. We studied the practical footage obsessively. Breathing cadence, posture shifts, micro head movements. Those details became the blueprint for any digital work. When we moved into CG, animation inherited those behaviors so the seam would disappear. Ideally, the audience never feels where one technique ends and another begins.
What kind of reference material did your team rely on?
We leaned heavily into wildlife studies for anatomical grounding, but reference alone does not make something cinematic. Real chimp movement can be abrupt or visually confusing, so occasionally we shaped timing or focus to clarify intention without drifting into exaggeration. Believability is often just curated reality.
The film features several intense death sequences. How did the VFX team enhance the gore while maintaining balance?
Whenever possible, practical effects carried the moment. There is an unpredictability to physical materials that is incredibly difficult to replicate digitally, so we always wanted that foundation in-camera first. Our role was to extend that reality, maintain continuity across cuts, and push certain beats just far enough so they landed with impact without tipping into excess.
There is always a line with gore. If you pull back too much, the moment loses weight. Push too far, and it risks becoming distracting or even unintentionally comedic. A big part of our job was living right on that edge and knowing when to lean in and when to exercise restraint.
One of the more challenging sequences was the “Red Room.” Without getting into specifics, it presented a unique lighting environment that made integration particularly demanding. Deep saturated tones can flatten detail or shift color in ways that immediately give away what is practical versus digital. Blending everything so it held up under that kind of lighting required a lot of precision in both compositing and interactive work.
At the same time, we were very conscious of tone. The goal was always grounded intensity, never spectacle for spectacle’s sake. Johannes was clear that the violence needed to feel consequential and rooted in the story. When it works, the audience feels the moment rather than studies it, and ideally never questions how it was achieved.
The villa environment contrasts strongly with the film’s darker moments. How much was created digitally?
What appears to be Hawaii was actually built on a soundstage in London, and the production design team did an extraordinary job creating the pool, cliffside, and surrounding architecture. The foundation already sold the illusion before we ever touched a frame.
From there, lighting strategy and thoughtful camera angles reinforced scale and geography. Visual effects stepped in to enhance atmosphere, extend environments, and add the final touches that make it fully believable. It is a perfect example of departments building the illusion together rather than handing it off downstream.
Looking back on Primate, which aspect proved the most complex?
Restraint is always the hardest discipline in visual effects. It takes maturity to support rather than showcase. Protecting Miguel’s performance while subtly enhancing Ben demanded constant calibration. But those are the projects I find myself increasingly drawn to. There is something very satisfying about work that disappears into the storytelling.
How long have you worked on this show?
Just over a year from early planning through final delivery. Creature work benefits enormously from that runway because the last few percentage points are where emotional credibility really emerges.
What’s the VFX shots count?
We finished just north of 400 shots, many of them invisible. I have always believed the best compliment visual effects can receive is when no one realizes they are watching them.
What is your next project?
I just wrapped work on Passenger for Paramount Pictures, directed by André Øvredal and scheduled for a theatrical release on May 29, 2026. The film stars Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, and Melissa Leo, with Walter Hamada producing through 18Hz Productions alongside Gary Dauberman and his Coin Operated banner.
What are the four movies that gave you the passion for cinema?
Jaws is the film that sparked my love of filmmaking. The restraint, the camera work, the tension. It is a reminder that what you hold back is often more powerful than what you show.
Jurassic Park showed me how effective the practical and digital blend can be when it is grounded in reality. It never feels like a visual effects film, it just feels real.
Zodiac is a masterclass in invisible visual effects. You never think about the work because it is completely in service of the atmosphere. That level of subtlety is something I am always chasing.
And The Sting reminds me that movies are supposed to be fun. It is pure entertainment. Confident, beautifully crafted, and completely engaging from start to finish.
They all share a similar DNA: make the audience believe the world, and everything else falls into place.
A big thanks for your time.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Outpost VFX: Dedicated page about Primate on Outpost VFX website.
© Vincent Frei – The Art of VFX – 2026
