Louis Leterrier Says Special Effects In The Incredible Hulk Trailer Unfinished, Describes Film's Final Battle

Director Louis Leterrier recently did a shot-for-shot recap of The Incredible Hulk teaser trailer with Empire and if you missed it, there are some tasty chunks of info therein. For instance, Leterrier recognizes how late in the marketing game it is for the June Hulk reboot, but still emphasizes that none of the special effects shots in the teaser were finished but were "decent enough" to put out there for the fans and general audiences alike.

"[We released the trailer quite late because] no shots are finished yet. That's why we took so long to release the teaser, because unlike the other movies coming out this summer, our main character relies on so much calculation and technique. None of the shots in this trailer are finished shots, but I think it's decent enough and it shows the audience what we're going for. There's a different version of the teaser that will only be shown in movie theatres where you see a close-up of the Hulk's face as he comes out of the darkness and cries to [Betty]. A full close-up, like full-screen. And until we had that shot right I didn't want to release it."

While the trailer received a positive reception overall, the new CGI Hulk didn't receive too many "looks insanely real" or "CGI looks awesome" remarks compared to May's jaw-dropping Iron Man. And 125 million bucks later, it should, no? One other nit-pick I've heard on Slashfilm, from peers, and in my head is doubt that the Hulk will be on screen much and deliver the maximum goods. Might Leterrier would hold out the spectacle like a budget horror film or a lame '70s porn? That's how the teaser played it, and smartly so we thought here, but the actual movie has to "wow" and "wow" quick to be a smash hit. Umm, expect a "Hulk-out" by minute three of the film...

"You'll see Bruce Banner transform in minute three. (Laughs) Minute three! That's what's good about it and it was really important when I was accepting the movie. We're not treating it as an origin movie but: Bruce Banner stepping into his chair and the gamma bomb and everything. He's the Hulk already, with the Hulk within him, and you get to understand how he came to be in this situation..."

Lastly, if your gut told you that the teaser's scenes with Hulk versus Abomination outside Harlem's Apollo Theater (see pic above) were from the movie's final, you were correct. But this will be one battle royale that lasts longer than many heavyweight boxing matches, 26 minutes to be exact...

"But our final scene, our final battle â€" unlike a normal movie where the final fight scene is six minutes long, ours is 26 minutes long! So you get 26 minutes of two monsters pummelling each other through New York City, jumping up and down, ripping helicopters from the sky and stuff. You know, lots of green blood on the street, splashed all around. So it's pretty cool. ...Some humans try to get out of the way but no, they can't… there's a little bit of collateral damage! (Laughs) There's a bit of a bodycount. Not on account of the Hulk – the Hulk's a saviour – but Blomsky [Abomination] is ruthless."

With any reboot, fans are going to be quite skeptical (especially with so little noise from the flick thus far), and unlike the awesome hodge-podge trailer to The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk's seemed to play it a little too linear for some. Leterrier was smart to voice up and obviously realizes how much is on the line. With Ed Norton, we know what we're getting in terms of quality, so if the action is there as well, sounds that much more promising.

Discuss: Does a 26-minute monster mash impress you? After the teaser's release and the director's comments, how does The Incredible Hulk stack up against this summer's TDK and Iron Man? Do you expect it to out-perform the $132 million of Ang Lee's Hulk?