I was watching the 'Pacific Rim' behind the scenes extras last night. One featurette was on the SFX and I noted that they were created by ILM and shared a few of the same faces as the PT team (Including one of the head guys, I forget his name).

It was a stark contrast to seeing those same faces looking depressed, unengaged and most notably confused during similar Star Wars PT featurettes. But for 'Pacific Rim' Del Toro was leading them, giving them guidance and offering encouragment. When they asked questions, he answered with a simple yes or gave them a clear no followed by a description of exactly how he wanted it to look. He was in control of every facet of the shots, from how he wanted the creatures to move, their movement speeds, the skin textures, the fight coreagraphy, the camera angles/moves, lighting and shooting styles. But in the PT featurettes, time and again you see those same people hurridly mocking up hundreds of possible ideas only for Lucas to casually say something like "I like these three (random ideas)" and offer no reason why. Cue shots of crest fallen and bewildered ILM employees.

I'm not saying 'Pacific Rim' turned out perfect or anything (Though the VisFX turned out damn near perfect IMO) but it was amazing to see the effect a confident and enthusiastic leader can have on motivating a creative team.

(It also made me really want to see what Del Toro would've done with The Hobbit too.)