Anatomy of a Shot | ‘The Gorge’: Building the Blast

Every shot tells a story. In The Gorge, one sequence had the power to end them all.

This edition of The Anatomy of a Shot dives into the nuclear crescendo that brings the film’s world to a breathtaking, obliterating conclusion, with an overview from Markus Drayss, Lead FX TD, to explain how it all came together.

Set in a remote wilderness split by a perilous ravine, The Gorge follows two elite operatives from opposing sides who find themselves fighting the same enemy. It’s a high-stakes, high-impact survival story, and our work had to match that scale.

From dense forests and quadrocopter chases to the gorge’s massive dual towers, DNEG created a fully digital, photorealistic environment that evolves across seasons and ends with an unforgettable bang. The final sequence sees a wave of cloaker bombs building up to a colossal nuclear explosion that rips through the environment across multiple wide and close-up shots. Cue the destruction.

Markus, walks us through what it took to simulate that level of destruction while keeping it grounded, scalable, and above all cinematic.

Speaking about the project, Markus said, “We wanted it to feel massive but art-directable every beat had to serve the story and the edit. The cloak explosions helped build tension and scale, so by the time the nuke hits, you really feel the weight of what’s coming.”

From Real Footage to Digital Detonation

Before we reach the climax, let’s rewind to how it all began. Creating a nuclear explosion that feels right is a balancing act between realism and audience expectation.

Our team turned to historical footage of U.S. nuclear tests as our primary reference point, from mushroom clouds to rapidly expanding shockwaves, trees bending under immense pressure, and spherical cloud formations. But quickly learned that what looks real on a test reel doesn’t always translate on screen.

“Real-world nuclear footage is often overexposed, filmed with high-speed cameras and filters to manage brightness. A truly realistic depiction would result in extreme overexposure, but to meet audience expectations of what a nuclear explosion "should" look like, we deliberately balanced exposure levels.”

And there was another curveball: physics. A true explosion inside a narrow gorge would behave very differently due to pressure reflections. But here, visual impact took precedence over strict physical accuracy.

“We made deliberate choices. For example, we used speed ramping once the cloud rose into view, and the thick fog in the gorge allowed us to hide parts of the simulation, saving resources while enhancing the mood.”

Seamless Integration

One of the most critical aspects of the sequence? Making the explosion belong in the world we’d built. That meant more than a good simulation, it meant dynamic interaction with the environment.

“The shockwave was key, it didn’t just expand; it kicked up terrain dust, bent thousands of trees, and brought the scene alive. The interactive lighting cast flickering shadows and glowing highlights across the gorge, tying the blast into the scene at every level.”

To manage the sheer size of the effect, the team split the simulation into manageable chunks, using high-res sims for close-ups and lower-res ones for wider shots, merging them before render. This modular approach kept performance in check while allowing for meticulous detail where it mattered most.

Building the Boom

The process kicked off with previs and placeholder elements, helping layout artists and editors block the sequence early on. From there, the FX team explored variations in blast radius, shockwave timing, and mushroom cloud behavior.

“We adopted an iterative process involving extensive testing and refinement. Early in development, we provided the client with contact sheets showcasing variations in explosion scale, speed, and range, helping them pinpoint the preferred approach. Additionally, static placeholders were introduced in early layout stages, allowing for efficient shot setup and layout work before incorporating the actual VFX elements.”

The result is a haunting, awe-inspiring climax where energy, light, and destruction ripple across a digital landscape with terrifying beauty. It’s a reminder of what VFX can do when art, physics, and storytelling collide.

The Gorge doesn’t go quietly. It roars, it ripples, it destroys. And behind that destruction was a global team of artists, technicians, and storytellers bringing every detail to life…and to ash.

At DNEG, we live for the challenge of building worlds… and sometimes, for the thrill of blowing them up. This was one of those times. Stay tuned for our full VFX Breakdown!