ALLURE: Here's Why You've Got the Hots for Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus
Here's Why You've Got the Hots for Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus
The special effects artist behind Salem’s sexiest zombie walks us through how he made being undead look so good.
“No personality?” I respectfully disagree, Mr. Ebert. (May he rest in peace.) You have to give the film credit — the ROI alone has served Disney well. Eventually, The Sanderson Sistahs won the hearts of children and adults alike — so much so that it’s become a staple on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween programming, Spirit Halloween stores carry endless paraphernalia from the movie, like costumes, kitchenware, and decor, and in 2020 Disney announced they would be reviving Winifred, Sarah, and Mary from the dead (yet again) for a sequel. Hocus Pocus 2 aired on Disney+ on September 30 with two musical performances from The Sandersons, a trip to Walgreens to uncover the wonders of biocellulose masks and retinol, and a new plotline with hot zombie Billy Butcherson.
Yes, “hot zombie.” I didn’t realize until very recently that my personal affection for Mr. Butcherson was a nearly universal thing. Per Twitter, finding Billy hot is a guilty pleasure that plenty acknowledge. Given Billy had an affair with Sarah while allegedly dating Winifred, he was clearly a prize to be won. (Even though we learn in the sequel Winifred’s version of events isn’t the most accurate.)
When interviewing Tony Gardner, the founder of Alterian, Inc. and special effects artist for Billy in both the original and the sequel, the “hot for Billy” theme was further cemented. “[The film] made Doug Jones [the actor who portrays Billy Butcherson] a rock star by default,” says Gardner. He recalls that many of the people on the crew for the new film revealed their childhood crushes on Billy Butcherson. The first time Jones walked on set in full Billy glory, there were “a lot of jaws on the floor from the younger crew members.”
I also learned that Billy’s hotness was somewhat intentional. The zombie’s look is based on the protagonist in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. While the book doesn’t describe his looks in-depth, it mentions Ichabod was “tall and exceedingly lank” with “his whole frame most loosely hung together,” which Gardner clearly nails with Billy. Ichabod has been played by actors like Tom Mison and Jeff Goldblum for television and film who — dare I say it? — give the character a haunting hotness. (A far cry from how he’s portrayed in the 1949 Disney’s animated film.)
“I always viewed Billy as sort of a cooler, hipper version of Ichabod Crane,” said Gardner. “Where he’s this gangly school teacher kind of guy that had that pseudo-punk ponytail that was unkempt.” Because Jones is tall and thin, they were able to bring this vision to life. “My concept was to start with the skinny awkward guy and then ‘punk’ him out in regards to hair and eye makeup. Even his ponytail is teased out. Everything’s a little bit bigger than it needs to be, but that also helps make him look a little skinnier as well.” (So in this case, emo is dead. Literally.)
Bringing Billy Back to Life
As for reviving Billy from his grave for the sequel, Gardner said he and Jones got a trial run in 2020 for In Search of the Sanderson Sisters: A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover, a one-hour special which was put on virtually during the pandemic to raise money for Bette Midler’s charity, New York Restoration Project.
“We didn’t have any of the molds for Doug’s prosthetics anymore, but we had his body cast and his hand cast,” said Gardner. “Doug’s literally exactly the same size he was almost 30 years ago. There’s nothing different about the guy, if anyone was going to do an anti-aging commercial, it should be Doug Jones. His body, his face, everything is exactly the same.”
Even with some of the prep work already done, it took Gardner and special effects makeup artist Tom Flouts an hour and a half to transform Jones in total, utilizing gloves for his hands and a bodysuit to cover her legs and upper arm area just like the first movie. After the special aired, the sequel was announced. “I had done my best attempt for [In Search of the Sanderson Sisters] to match [Billy to the original movie],” said Gardner. “But once the sequel was announced, I became obsessed with being as true as possible to what he looked like and being as accurate to the first film as I possibly could.”
While there have been technical improvements and achievements in things like makeup materials available and glues for prosthetic application in the nearly 30 years since the first Hocus Pocus premiered, Gardner wanted to ensure Billy’s look remained nearly identical to the original to not take the audience out of the movie. Gardner used foam latex instead of silicone (a material used more now because of its more realistic qualities) and the same types of paints, makeup supplies, and materials he employed in the original. “I tried to literally match the wrinkle lines and the depressions in his face so that he was literally timeless — that it looked like he went to sleep,” he said. “As a zombie, he’s already dead. He’s not going to age and when he gets back up out of the grave, he’s gonna look exactly the same, right?”
Another part of Billy’s overall look that stayed consistent from film to film is how he appears more like a dried-out husk than a rotting, fleshy corpse. This was a different type of intentional Disney magic. “A lot of the way he looks was actually dictated by the script, because the script described him getting his head chopped off and his fingers getting cut off — that would normally be fairly gory and graphic for a zombie, but this is a Disney movie,” said Gardner. “I took the approach that [he] was more like driftwood or dried wood — when something broke, it would be like a stick breaking and there would be sort of a dried look inside it. The whole ‘dried’ idea drove the look of his face and the lines, that gauntness — like something losing moisture and drying to the bone structure.”
On top of all the details that were so painstakingly recreated, one piece of the original film literally made it into the sequel, thanks to Gardner’s almost 30-year preservation of it. “I had saved the original Billy wig from the first film and had it on display at Alterian Studios,” said Gardner. “I literally took it off the wig head and used it as-is, with all of the original dust, leaves, and the original fabric ponytail tie still in it.” Clearly, Billy is pulling it off, original dust and all.
Original Article: https://www.fangoria.com/original/old-school-kills-behind-the-scenes-of-studio-666-with-fx-legend-tony-gardner/
FANGORIA: Old School Kills: Behind The FX Of STUDIO 666 With FX Legend Tony Gardner
Old School Kills: Behind The FX Of STUDIO 666 With FX Legend Tony Gardner
The Foo Fighters and Gardner join forces for some good old fashioned beheadings, guts, and rock ‘n roll.
FX legend Tony Gardner has been involved with countless iconic horror properties and films throughout his amazing career that includes well over 200 credits and began back when he was invited to help out on Michael Jackson’s Thriller as a part of Rick Baker’s crew, nearly forty years ago now. For his latest effects project, the horror comedy Studio 666 which features Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters battling evil forces as they record their latest album, Tony and his team at Alterian, Inc. got to go old school and deliver up some of the best practical kills this writer has seen in some time.
Prior to Studio 666, Gardner had previously collaborated with Grohl and the Foo Fighters on several music video projects. But teaming up for a full-blown horror movie provided both the legendary FX artist and the band with the opportunity to push themselves in some new and exciting ways.
“Dave was at our shop one day, and he told me how they were currently recording over at this old house,” Gardner explained. “Dave had this idea about making a movie where this house would be haunted, someone in the band would get possessed, and all this crazy stuff would happen. He showed me a few pictures of the house for inspiration, and then I went and looked at it to figure out what sort of setups could happen with what was available there. He asked me, ‘Do you have any ways that you have ever wanted to kill people that you’ve never had an opportunity to do?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I actually do.’ His response was, ‘Well, I think it would be fun to incorporate those kills into this haunted house idea.'”
“So, Dave put together this story treatment that was a page and a half, and then I put together two pages worth of different scenarios on how people could die in or around the house. My list included chainsawing two people in half while they were having sex – I just thought it would be a funny riff on those classic over-the-top ’80s type of kill scenes, where the promiscuous people die a horrible death. I just wanted to push it way over the top. And after I gave Dave and his two producers my breakdown, they hired screenwriters to put the two documents together and incorporate the death scenes into the script. So it was a totally backward way of doing things, but it was fun to be there from the very beginning.”
Even though Gardner has worked on hundreds of projects throughout his career, Studio 666 stood out as a chance to experience something he doesn’t often get to in his work: total creative freedom. In most cases, when effects teams are brought onto a project, they are working with an existing list of goals and ideas to achieve through the FX, but on Studio 666, Gardner got to push himself creatively in ways he hadn’t really ever experienced before.
“Truth be told, I have never had as much freedom on a film as I had with this one. It was fantastic. We were literally the first people hired on Studio 666, and I had come up with the death scenes, so we were really in control of our stuff and some other elements of production early on, too. We storyboarded several of the scenes and did mockups of ideas at Alterian as well. It was super great to feel trusted like we were here, and then to be given creative free rein on top of that was just a dream come true kind of experience for myself and everyone else on my team.”
“The other thing that stood out about Studio 666 was that everyone who worked on that film was so nice, and that the Foo Fighters themselves were all up for anything and everything. I remember when we first started talking about the Chainsaw death and the question was, “Well, who in the band would he be able to tolerate all of the lifecasting required?” as opposed to it already being delineated in the script. I had already done lifecasts on all of the band members for the Run music video for old age makeups, and some of the guys enjoyed the experience and some people, not so much. But Rami was really cool about all of it, so that was another case where we were coming at this from a reverse engineering type of way, and figuring out the best person to support the effects and then writing that person into the scene. We were just figuring stuff out along those lines throughout Studio 666 because time was limited. They self-financed the movie and there was only so much time to get everything done. So when we were on set, it really felt like the clock was always ticking.”
Despite the time limitations they might have faced, Gardner and his team were able to achieve so many mind-blowing effects sequences throughout Studio 666. Their work undoubtedly gives all upcoming movies with ten times the budget of this indie horror-comedy a real run for their money. And while the proper resources are always something that can make or break the FX work in a project, time is another crucial element that can really help an effects team be more than prepared to take on the number of ambitious gore gags, kills, and other fun elements that make Studio 666 such a memorable cinematic endeavor.
“We always wanted to be super organized on this,” Tony recalled. “Because we were hired so early on, we had the chance to do multiple video tests of almost every single gag we did, which we never have the time or freedom to do these days. So that was really nice, too. For example, when we did Rami’s death scene, we had time to experiment, and built a giant rig under a fake bed that puts a spinning chainsaw blade up three feet on a platform and moves it from A to B. As a result, production was able to build a set elevated off the floor so that we could get our rig in to do what it needed to do. Besides the pneumatic rigs, there were also these 55-gallon drums of blood pumping under the floor, too, and based on our tests, we knew our rig would ruin the entire room – so a fake one was built outside and tented off for the blood.
“The goal whenever you’re doing a scene like this is to have it be easy going on set because we only have a day to ruin that room, and the cleanup of the room between takes would be hellacious because the blood’s hitting the ceiling and then dripping down. So we mapped out how we wanted to do all of it to go in, and in one take or two takes, hopefully give them what we know works. And it couldn’t have gone any smoother, to be honest with you. For all these things that could have gone wrong, we were very fortunate.”
“What helped was that we also had the chance to test everything with the blood rigs and everything well ahead of time so that we could finesse the pressure and take care of all these things that sometimes you’d be dealing with on set and in the moment instead of ahead of time. We were also able to get feedback from Dave and BJ [director BJ McDonnell] and everybody right off the bat, and then dial things in for set. It was really fun,” added Gardner.
Even though Gardner and his team at Alterian are no strangers to modern effects techniques and applications, Studio 666 provided them with the opportunity to go old school in a lot of ways, which Tony said helped everyone out on set during the film’s production.
“The goal when you’re in FX is to do the film and not have to use CG for anything other than maybe some wire removal. But with Studio 666, we didn’t even have to do that. We were burying hoses in the dirt, and building sets three feet off the ground, and doing what needed to be done in advance in order to make things work, and work well practically. That made all the difference in the world to us. It was fun to do what we grew up doing with new people too. Some of the crew were half our age, and they were saying, ‘Hey, this practical stuff is cool.’ It doesn’t have to all look like a video game; it can actually exist in front of you. And all the actors really appreciated being able to see and interact with all this stuff. Which makes all of us look really good in the end.”
“I also have to say that making a horror-comedy is always really fun, because part of what you’re doing is figuring out how far you can push everything within those boundaries, and with a horror-comedy, you can push the gore really far because things are supposed to be funny. So it opens up the opportunity to get really crazy with everything, like Taylor’s sudden death or Will Forte’s head getting shot off, where there’s just so much blood shooting out of his neck stump and at such a high pressure. It was literally vaporizing as it was going up into the air. At the same time, creating elements like Chris Shiflett’s severed head where we had to match his eyeballs and hair patterns, and making something where the detail needed to hold up in an extreme close-up is just as rewarding. Looking back on it now, Studio 666 was an experience that you know you’re not going to have very often, and you appreciate everyone and everything that’s happening that much more because of how special it feels. And then, when you get to see the crew responding to it and enjoying it, that’s the best,” added Gardner.
Another crucial element to the success of Studio 666 was having a seasoned director in the form of BJ McDonnell at the helm who not only had a knack for working in the genre, but also enthusiastically embraced the FX process. And for as much as Tony helped guide so many moments in the story of Studio 666 early on, he was also one of the first who originally thought McDonnell would be the best filmmaker to take on the indie horror-comedy.
According to Tony, “I was one of the first to recommend BJ to direct this, and it was for that very reason – he knows effects. He knows how to light them. He knows how to make stuff that’s not real actually look real. He gets the genre. We’ve worked with him on a lot of different shows as a camera operator and steady cam operator. He had been a camera operator on the “Run” music video, so the band and the producers already knew who he was as well and liked him, too. He had directed a few music videos for Slayer that Alterian had done makeup effects for, and we always thought that he had such a great understanding of everything we were doing from so many different perspectives, so it felt like he would be a perfect fit for us because he knows and understands what we’re doing. He gets how to cut from this angle to that angle to make an effect work better, instead of lingering on one angle for so long, and how to light makeup effects elements, so having him come on board for Studio 666 was a huge relief for us because we knew we could have solid conversations with a director that would understand what we were talking about. It was great not to have to spend time explaining what we were doing; instead, we could get right into it. He’s an amazing guy, he is super articulate, and he is very creative. I’m really glad that it all worked out and that he was the one directing this.”
“Honestly, there was a genuine love of the film from everyone on set for Studio 666. Everyone on the crew was there because they wanted to be there. None of us were being paid our regular rates because it was a low-budget movie. But everybody was so very passionate about what they were doing and really great to work with such a great attitude, and I think all that shows up on screen in the film. I think a lot of that attitude came from the top down, and Dave and BJ and producers Jim Rota and John Ramsey all had such a great attitude and sense of humor about everything.”
“Something else that ended up being so cool about this was how Dave managed to get John Carpenter to not only write original music for the movie but get him to show up for a day to shoot with us, too,” Tony continued. “Things were just happening very organically like that on this film, beyond what you would normally expect. But when John came down, he was totally into it. My daughter, Kyra, was shooting behind-the-scenes video on this, documenting from the first meetings and table read all the way through to the premiere last night. And John Carpenter sat down with her on camera and just talked forever, and she had the best time with him. After it was over, I was like, ‘Okay Kyra, you need to know the pedigree of a guy that you were just talking to because he’s a legend to all of us.'”
“On a totally selfish level, besides getting to come up with the kills, I also got to play one of the zombies that tears Dave up during his nightmare. And for Kyra’s behind-the-scenes interview with me, she picked the day I was in full makeup and contacts to do the interview, so that was fun. You barely see us zombies in the movie, but I always have a good time playing a zombie – how can you not? I just felt like, with this one, it was my responsibility to myself to either kill someone or be killed.”
Original Article: https://www.fangoria.com/original/old-school-kills-behind-the-scenes-of-studio-666-with-fx-legend-tony-gardner/
CREATIVE BOOM: Daft Punk's Discovery at 20: Collaborators on Crafting the Iconic Robot Look and Revolution
Daft Punk's Discovery at 20: Collaborators on Crafting the Iconic Robot Look and Revolution
March 2001: former humans Daft Punk unleash Discovery onto the world, their seminal sophomore LP which changes the dance scene forever. A month or two earlier, the French house duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter showcased their robotic new look in legendary UK magazine The Face, changing the look of music with equal impact.
A whole generation of producers would disguise themselves over the next twenty years with masks and helmets of their own making. The main man behind the revolution was the founder of Alterian Inc. and Co-founder of Oxcart Assembly Tony Gardner, a Californian SFX legend who’s helped transform everyone from Sacha Baron Cohen to director Spike Jonze. As Creative Boom learns, it was actually the latter who recommended Gardner to the act, having worked with Tony on 1999’s Three Kings and Daft Punk themselves on classic videos Spike directed for them like ‘Da Funk’.
“They were looking to create personas that were more specific and long-term because they’d usually put on a disguise or a mask for performances for the sole purpose of masking their identity, without thinking of the image,” Tony tells us over video chat. “The goal was to create an identity for them that would continue with longevity. They had an idea they wanted to be robots which they wanted to incorporate into cartoon form into anime music videos for Interstella 5555, and then have the robots ‘come alive’ for the new album.”
Luis Sanchis remembers this real-life realisation well; after all, the French creative was the one who photographed the duo for Face magazine’s rather eye-opening spread. As these (NSFW) scans demonstrate, the robots were posed in some very human scenarios indeed, chilling with a bunch of laughing nudists being the most memorable example.
“They wanted to portray a day in the life of Daft Punk,” Luis tells us in a phone call from New York. “I came up with some of the scenarios, like the one with the people naked. That shot was actually taken in the Los Angeles house they were staying in at the time. We hired people from a real nudist colony, and as I was preparing the lights they came in – and all of a sudden, they were naked!”
The Face shoot took place in late 2000, by which point the playful, textural work of the photographer defined the magazine’s look. Though already a seasoned pro with years of experience behind him, working with robots still posed a unique set of challenges for Luis.
“They had to wear the helmets with a backpack (powering their LED displays), so their clothes had to be bigger sizes to hide the backpacks. The tricky part was one shot where they’re reclining in loungers by a pool. We had to make a hole behind their heads to put the cables connected to the backpack: There was no Photoshop back then, everything had to be done in-camera. But people like to hire me for very challenging projects, so I know how to execute them well.”
Tony reveals the helmets and backpacks were equally challenging to make. At the time, he and his colleagues at SFX studio Alterian Inc. were busy making prosthetics for the Farrelly Brothers flick Shallow Hal. Their stock-in-trade came in handy when making ribbed hoods for the costumes out of foam latex. Everything else, though was a real journey of discovery.
“Inside our shop was like two different worlds,” Tony recalls. “It was big bodysuits over here (for Shallow Hal), and on the other side, it was all hardware and robotics and people figuring out how to vacuum-metalise fibreglass. We had no real previous experience in things like metalising, chroming, metal plating, LED technology, or anything this complex! Stuff like the circuitry, the readouts and the manufacturing of the LED screens themselves, it was all within learning distance, but how to program that and create a console that Daft Punk could then wear on their arm to control those facial features? We needed to reach out to people that were already experts in the field.”
Experts who got involved included one of the main brains behind those Jumbotrons which embarrass couple spectators in baseball stadiums. The result allowed Daft Punk to communicate with those around them through their sci-fi helmets.
“We pre-programmed a bunch of responses and visuals on Guy-Manuel’s helmet and taught Thomas how to do the keypad on his arm so that they could really be in control of their characters. Thomas got into the programming right away. He’s such a smart guy, and he came up with some really cool stuff. He’s also a very communicative person, so that’s why he has literal text on his face. It’s literally sort of who he is.”
Guy-Man, as Tony calls his old friend, is a quieter and more introspective sort of Punk, which inspired the team to output all his communication as pictographs. As he says, “Whether it was a heart showing up or rain coming down, there was never a word on his face, ever.”
Early concepts of the bots by Alex Courtes and Martin Fougerol were inspired by cult movies like The Man Who Fell to Earth and Phantom of the Paradise. These designs originally envisioned a red visor for Thomas and a golden NASA-style one for Guy-Manuel, until it hit that the latter was impossible for photographers like Luis of The Face to shoot.
“We realised quickly that everything in the room reflected in the gold visor,” explains Tony. “You couldn’t take a photo of Guy-Man without seeing the camera and everything in the room! All of a sudden we were trying to dull down the visor’s metallic finish so we could infer that robot vibe, but still make it function.”
“When you shoot a flash at Guy-Man now you don’t see anything inside the helmet because his faceplate has multiple layers. We had to create another interior layer like a tight black mesh that allowed him to see through it but didn’t allow people to see him. That mesh layer had to allow the LEDs to read through it as well.” Tony reveals the tinting for the helmet was done by a company in Ohio that manufactures astronaut helmets, an interesting precursor to recent campaign work Tony has done for NASA with his creative studio Oxcart Assembly. Another interesting factoid? The Punk robots were originally as hairy as us human folk.
“The characters actually had hair on their heads up until, I don’t know, half an hour before their first photoshoot,” Tony reveals. “That’s how fluid and organic the process was when we were designing and fitting.”
Once Discovery was out of the door, Tony and team worked on elements of the live show in support of the album. The collaboration continued in the form of promos for third LP Human After All. It ended with Daft Punk’s Electroma, the cult art house film celebrating its 15th anniversary this year that finishes with – spoiler alert – a rather explosive ending for the robots.
“We thought everything was gonna end after Electroma,” says Tony. “It’s like; they’re done, we blew them up, we burned them down, that’s the end of it.”
Of course, you can’t keep a good concept down. The robots would make a return in TRON: Legacy and later music videos in updates on the original Alterian makes of Y2K, proving that Daft Punk would be forever associated with their robot guises. While the musical DNA of Discovery is all over any retro dance or pop track with soft rock and disco elements, the album’s visual impact remains harder to miss.
It’s easy to forget that there was little else like it on the scene when the robots first emerged in Face’s February 2001 issue. In fact, the rebranding of Daft Punk as robots was a vital push behind Discovery’s marketing. As Luis explains to us, even though his Face shoot has the feel of cinema from the ’70s-’80s period the Punks were borrowing sounds from, the music itself wasn’t available to him during the planning stages.
“The pictures weren’t influenced by the music at all,” he tells us. “They had their own identity. It was more about introducing the helmets.” The photographer’s work undoubtedly pushed the glowing, otherworldly look of these aliens into pop culture, changing the rules for how an artist could market and represent an identity in music. Not that either creative could have realised it at the time.
“I think as time’s gone by we’ve obviously realized the impact that our combined work has had,” says Tony. “When you’re in the moment, you don’t realise something can have that sort of lasting impact. You just dive in with enthusiasm and try to figure it out.”
“It was an enjoyable experience, and it was exciting, and it was new. It’s a very creative group of people, and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of that.”
“It doesn’t feel like 20 years ago,” Luis concludes. “It really feels like it was yesterday.”
The futurists of Daft Punk, timeless after all.
original article: https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/daft-punk/
BLOODY DISGUSTING: ‘Hocus Pocus’: Tony Gardner Shares Never-Before-Seen Photos From Set!
‘Hocus Pocus’: Tony Gardner Shares Never-Before-Seen Photos From Set!
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot, Doug Jones (in full Billy Butcherson zombie makeup), leans in so that Margaret Prentice and I can reference his makeup while matching up the look of his character’s severed head. This was prior to the scene where Omri Katz (as Max) knocks Billy’s head off with a tree branch. Karyn Malchus played the headless version of Billy Butcherson, and would be wearing this dummy head on top of a skullcap strapped to her own head, while looking through the lace of Billy’s collar. The fake head had magnets mounted in the base of the neck, and there were corresponding magnets inside the neck stump that Karyn wore on her head. The tree branch was metal covered in foam, and the only protection Karyn’s real face had was just the fiberglass skullcap covering her face from the nose up, so there was a lot of rehearsal to make sure that Karyn’s false head was at exactly the right height for the branch to take Billy’s head off and not her own.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot, Doug Jones (in full Billy Butcherson zombie makeup), leans in so that Margaret Prentice and I can reference his makeup while matching up the look of his character’s severed head. This was prior to the scene where Omri Katz (as Max) knocks Billy’s head off with a tree branch. Karyn Malchus played the headless version of Billy Butcherson, and would be wearing this dummy head on top of a skullcap strapped to her own head, while looking through the lace of Billy’s collar. The fake head had magnets mounted in the base of the neck, and there were corresponding magnets inside the neck stump that Karyn wore on her head. The tree branch was metal covered in foam, and the only protection Karyn’s real face had was just the fiberglass skullcap covering her face from the nose up, so there was a lot of rehearsal to make sure that Karyn’s false head was at exactly the right height for the branch to take Billy’s head off and not her own.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot from Hocus Pocus, Director Kenny Ortega (in grey shirt) lines up the scene where headless Billy Butcherson (on the left side of the photo) has just had his head kicked off by Winnifred Sanderson’s fly-by on her broomstick. Actress Karyn Malchus is wearing the “Headless Billy” rig, and that red dot in her hand is actually the base of a small fan that she’s pointing at her own face through the lace of the character’s collar. In the background behind Ortega you can see a zombie in a tracksuit: Doug Jones wearing his zombie prosthetics and wig, but regular sweatpants and shirt. That outfit was pretty much Doug’s uniform when he wasn’t in wardrobe, and he still wears that same outfit to work 25 years later.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot, Doug Jones (in full Billy Butcherson zombie makeup), leans in so that Margaret Prentice and I can reference his makeup while matching up the look of his character’s severed head. This was prior to the scene where Omri Katz (as Max) knocks Billy’s head off with a tree branch. Karyn Malchus played the headless version of Billy Butcherson, and would be wearing this dummy head on top of a skullcap strapped to her own head, while looking through the lace of Billy’s collar. The fake head had magnets mounted in the base of the neck, and there were corresponding magnets inside the neck stump that Karyn wore on her head. The tree branch was metal covered in foam, and the only protection Karyn’s real face had was just the fiberglass skullcap covering her face from the nose up, so there was a lot of rehearsal to make sure that Karyn’s false head was at exactly the right height for the branch to take Billy’s head off and not her own.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot from Hocus Pocus, Director Kenny Ortega (in grey shirt) lines up the scene where headless Billy Butcherson (on the left side of the photo) has just had his head kicked off by Winnifred Sanderson’s fly-by on her broomstick. Actress Karyn Malchus is wearing the “Headless Billy” rig, and that red dot in her hand is actually the base of a small fan that she’s pointing at her own face through the lace of the character’s collar. In the background behind Ortega you can see a zombie in a tracksuit: Doug Jones wearing his zombie prosthetics and wig, but regular sweatpants and shirt. That outfit was pretty much Doug’s uniform when he wasn’t in wardrobe, and he still wears that same outfit to work 25 years later.”
“Besides the real cats that played Binx in Hocus Pocus, there were a few versions of the cat that were built by the Binx crew at Alterian, supervised by Bill Sturgeon. In addition to the hero animatronic Binx, there were floppy cats, posable stand-in cats, and inflatable versions of Binx. After the animatronic Binx had been built and film-tested, it was decided that the cat’s long fangs were a bit too threatening, so we had to shorten the acrylic teeth on the animatronic Binx…a delicate operation considering the already-completed fur work and the small size of the cat’s mouth.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot, Doug Jones (in full Billy Butcherson zombie makeup), leans in so that Margaret Prentice and I can reference his makeup while matching up the look of his character’s severed head. This was prior to the scene where Omri Katz (as Max) knocks Billy’s head off with a tree branch. Karyn Malchus played the headless version of Billy Butcherson, and would be wearing this dummy head on top of a skullcap strapped to her own head, while looking through the lace of Billy’s collar. The fake head had magnets mounted in the base of the neck, and there were corresponding magnets inside the neck stump that Karyn wore on her head. The tree branch was metal covered in foam, and the only protection Karyn’s real face had was just the fiberglass skullcap covering her face from the nose up, so there was a lot of rehearsal to make sure that Karyn’s false head was at exactly the right height for the branch to take Billy’s head off and not her own.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot from Hocus Pocus, Director Kenny Ortega (in grey shirt) lines up the scene where headless Billy Butcherson (on the left side of the photo) has just had his head kicked off by Winnifred Sanderson’s fly-by on her broomstick. Actress Karyn Malchus is wearing the “Headless Billy” rig, and that red dot in her hand is actually the base of a small fan that she’s pointing at her own face through the lace of the character’s collar. In the background behind Ortega you can see a zombie in a tracksuit: Doug Jones wearing his zombie prosthetics and wig, but regular sweatpants and shirt. That outfit was pretty much Doug’s uniform when he wasn’t in wardrobe, and he still wears that same outfit to work 25 years later.”
“Besides the real cats that played Binx in Hocus Pocus, there were a few versions of the cat that were built by the Binx crew at Alterian, supervised by Bill Sturgeon. In addition to the hero animatronic Binx, there were floppy cats, posable stand-in cats, and inflatable versions of Binx. After the animatronic Binx had been built and film-tested, it was decided that the cat’s long fangs were a bit too threatening, so we had to shorten the acrylic teeth on the animatronic Binx…a delicate operation considering the already-completed fur work and the small size of the cat’s mouth.”
“In this photo, I’m gluing Doug Jones‘ pre-cut mouth stitches back together with a prosthetic adhesive so that he can drag a blunt knife across his mouth, open his mouth up, and cough up some dust and some live moths. Alterian’s Vance Hartwell was in charge of fabricating a “mouth rig” that was essentially a latex pocket attached between upper and lower dentures which completely blocked Doug Jones’ throat. There was a small hole in the very back of the pocket so that Doug could cough some air through it and force the fuller’s earth and the mouths up and out of his mouth. Once the pocket was loaded with the Fuller’s earth, an animal wrangler would place several moths in the pocket with tweezers, under the supervision of a representative from the Humane Society. Then the stitches would be glued shut, and we’d run out of frame so that they could get to the shot as fast as possible. Unfortunately, it took a few takes to get this just right, but Doug was a real trouper! Those moths gave it their all as well. (Remeber, this was pre-CGI …there was no option other than figuring out how to do it practically with real moths.)”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot, Doug Jones (in full Billy Butcherson zombie makeup), leans in so that Margaret Prentice and I can reference his makeup while matching up the look of his character’s severed head. This was prior to the scene where Omri Katz (as Max) knocks Billy’s head off with a tree branch. Karyn Malchus played the headless version of Billy Butcherson, and would be wearing this dummy head on top of a skullcap strapped to her own head, while looking through the lace of Billy’s collar. The fake head had magnets mounted in the base of the neck, and there were corresponding magnets inside the neck stump that Karyn wore on her head. The tree branch was metal covered in foam, and the only protection Karyn’s real face had was just the fiberglass skullcap covering her face from the nose up, so there was a lot of rehearsal to make sure that Karyn’s false head was at exactly the right height for the branch to take Billy’s head off and not her own.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot from Hocus Pocus, Director Kenny Ortega (in grey shirt) lines up the scene where headless Billy Butcherson (on the left side of the photo) has just had his head kicked off by Winnifred Sanderson’s fly-by on her broomstick. Actress Karyn Malchus is wearing the “Headless Billy” rig, and that red dot in her hand is actually the base of a small fan that she’s pointing at her own face through the lace of the character’s collar. In the background behind Ortega you can see a zombie in a tracksuit: Doug Jones wearing his zombie prosthetics and wig, but regular sweatpants and shirt. That outfit was pretty much Doug’s uniform when he wasn’t in wardrobe, and he still wears that same outfit to work 25 years later.”
“Besides the real cats that played Binx in Hocus Pocus, there were a few versions of the cat that were built by the Binx crew at Alterian, supervised by Bill Sturgeon. In addition to the hero animatronic Binx, there were floppy cats, posable stand-in cats, and inflatable versions of Binx. After the animatronic Binx had been built and film-tested, it was decided that the cat’s long fangs were a bit too threatening, so we had to shorten the acrylic teeth on the animatronic Binx…a delicate operation considering the already-completed fur work and the small size of the cat’s mouth.”
“In this photo, I’m gluing Doug Jones‘ pre-cut mouth stitches back together with a prosthetic adhesive so that he can drag a blunt knife across his mouth, open his mouth up, and cough up some dust and some live moths. Alterian’s Vance Hartwell was in charge of fabricating a “mouth rig” that was essentially a latex pocket attached between upper and lower dentures which completely blocked Doug Jones’ throat. There was a small hole in the very back of the pocket so that Doug could cough some air through it and force the fuller’s earth and the mouths up and out of his mouth. Once the pocket was loaded with the Fuller’s earth, an animal wrangler would place several moths in the pocket with tweezers, under the supervision of a representative from the Humane Society. Then the stitches would be glued shut, and we’d run out of frame so that they could get to the shot as fast as possible. Unfortunately, it took a few takes to get this just right, but Doug was a real trouper! Those moths gave it their all as well. (Remeber, this was pre-CGI …there was no option other than figuring out how to do it practically with real moths.)”
“In these behind-the-scenes polaroid photos from Disney’s Hocus Pocus, Actress Karyn Malchus is fit for her Headless Billy Butcherson wardrobe for the very first time, while wearing the prototype body rig for the headless version of Billy. The sleeves for this version of the character had to be modified so that the area where they attached to the body of the jacket was a much larger opening, to allow for Karyn’s arms to go into the false arms at her shoulder height, which was midway down the false torso. Weird to see everything clean and white, prior to the final fabric choices and the dying and aging of the material. Karyn was working in an extremely limiting body rig, and with limited vision. She and Doug Jones were two peas in a pod – neither of them ever complained about anything and were so much fun to work with.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life.”
We’re huge fans of Hocus Pocus here on Bloody Disgusting, and we’ve got quite a treat today for those of you who are fellow fans of the 1993 Halloween classic.
Not only did we get the chance to speak with Alterian Inc’s makeup FX master Tony Gardner, who was the film’s animatronic cat effects artist/special makeup effects artist, but he was also awesome enough to share with us TONS of behind the scenes insights as well as NEVER SEEN set photos that document his team’s effects work.
Of course, one of the film’s biggest effects is the undead character Billy Butcherson, played by iconic creature performer Doug Jones. Gardner’s photos and insights peel back the curtain and showcase all the work that went into bringing Billy to the screen; did you know, for example, that Jones wasn’t the only one to play Billy?!
Consider this an early Halloween treat – a bonus featurette for Hocus Pocus, if you will, that you certainly won’t find on any of the film’s home video releases!
Most of the set photographs below are credited to Andrew Cooper.
KEEP UP WITH TONY GARDNER and ALTERIAN INC. AT THE FOLLOWING SOCIALS:
Instagram: @tonygardner and @alterianinc
Website: www.alterianinc.com
Twitter: @TonyatAlterian and @alterianinc
“This behind-the-scenes photo from Hocus Pocus was taken on the lot at Disney Studios, on the soundstage where both the Witch’s house and the Graveyard sets were built. Here Director of Photography Hiro Narita fine-tunes the lighting on Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, for the scene where Billy faces off against the witches on their broomsticks flying towards him over the cemetery. A giant flying grid was mounted to the ceiling of the stage that was capable of flying the Sanderson Sisters anywhere on the stage at any angle, and in this case, a cameraman was flown towards Thora Birch in the rig, representing Bette Midler/ Winnie Sanderson’s point of view. The high speed of travel on the rig would cause the “rider” to spin out at a certain point towards the end of their trajectory, which made for entertaining shooting days.”
“This photo was taken on the Disney sound stage where Hocus Pocus’s graveyard set was built. Actress Thora Birch reacts to Winnie Sanderson (Bette Midler) flying down to grab her, while Headless Billy Butcherson struggles to put his head back on in the background. For the scenes in the film where Billy Butcherson loses his head, actress Karyn Malchus took over for Doug Jones as “Headless Billy.” I wanted to shoot the effect practically on set, so we built up an upper torso for Karyn to wear that was proportionate to Doug Jones’. Karyn wore a skullcap with a neck stump on it that had magnets inside the stump that corresponded with magnets buried in the neck of the latex and polyfoam severed head of Billy Butcherson. Alterian had done a variation of this design on Karyn earlier, for a film called Freaked, where Karyn played a character named “Sock Head” and wore an animatronic “head” above her own, mounted on a skullcap.”
“This is a photo of Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson on the set of Hocus Pocus. His weathered skin and gaunt look was created by using one single foam latex appliance to cover his entire face and neck. I thought it was the easiest way to keep the prosthetics as thin as possible, and be able to have the wrinkles and folds line up and move well over the entire surface of his head. Because it was so thin and delicate, it took two makeup artists to apply it every day: myself and Margaret Prentice. The stitches were glued into his facial appliance every day, and between shots I would disconnect them on the bottom lip so that Doug could talk and eat. It wasn’t a flattering look though – he looked like a cross between a walrus and a skinny teenager trying to grow a mustache.”
“This Hocus Pocus photo was taken when Doug Jones‘ lovely wife, Laurie, came out to hang with us on the graveyard set on the Disney Studios lot. She was literally the picture of serenity sitting next to her husband on set while Margaret Prentice touched up Doug’s makeup. I seized on the opportunity to make the photo more memorable for her, and photo-bombed it pretending to be yelling at Doug.”
“Who doesn’t want a photo of themselves with their favorite zombie and favorite actor, Doug Jones? This was taken on the cemetery set for Hocus Pocus, which was built on Sound Stage #2 on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Doug wore foam latex gloves instead of hand appliances to save time during the prosthetic makeup application process, and also allow us to add some additional length to his fingertips. The gloves had acrylic fingercups inside them so that the extra length of the fingers was solid instead of floppy, and the fingercups were sculpted with long nails on them that were cast in a translucent grey dental acrylic. Given how physical Doug was as Billy, it was also nice to be able to change out his zombie gloves if they were torn up on set, as opposed to having to stop and spend valuable time repairing prosthetic hands.”
“Makeup Artists Margaret Prentice and myself touching up Billy Butcherson (actor Doug Jones) on the set. Doug’s prosthetic makeup took a little over two hours to apply, including the wig. The hands were foam latex gloves and were not worn until just before the camera was rolling. Doug wore a full-body spandex suit underneath his character’s wardrobe, which had foam latex “zombie” arms and legs, which were visible through the character’s tattered wardrobe. After the first makeup test, it was agreed upon that Doug’s big brown eyes were the soul to the character, and as a result, no contact lenses would be used.”
“There were many steps involved with bringing the character of Billy Butcherson to life – or reanimated life. We spent a day at Alterian doing a complete headcast and bodycast of Doug Jones, and also cast his teeth (so that we could build a rig inside his mouth to house some moths and dust for him to cough up on command). A month or so later we had Doug back out to try on his full body spandex suit, which included foam latex arms and legs – so that Billy’s zombified body could be visible through the tattered wardrobe, and we did our first glue-down test of the facial appliance makeup. That’s when actress Karyn Malchus came onboard to play the part of “Headless Billy.” In the first photo, we have Karyn and Doug side by side, both wearing the legs for the character. From here we figured out the best method to build Karyn’s upper body up proportional to Doug’s, and still allow here a range of movement with her arms to be able to carry her head around as well as crawl around the ground. The second photo is of Doug’s first wardrobe fitting at Alterian, with his skin color adjusted per the lighting on set, and his hero wig on and styled. The last photo in the series is of the completed look on set.”
“This behind the scenes photo was shot right after Doug Jones had had his zombie makeup touched up, and he had gotten settled into his coffin for his resurrection scene. The ground in the area where his grave was located was built off of the stage floor high enough to allow for the pneumatic rig that Terry Frazee‘s physical effects crew had built that would make the earth rise and fall, and also push Billy’s coffin up and out of the ground. Doug was fine will doing this stunt himself – which was good, because his makeup would have looked pretty humorous on anyone else. Once Doug was settled into the coffin, it was lowered down into the ground, a breakaway coffin lid was laid down over Doug, and then loose dirt, moss and leaves were piled on top of that. Once we got the “all clear” and the machinery started up, Doug was on his own. I think they had their shot on the first take.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot, Doug Jones (in full Billy Butcherson zombie makeup), leans in so that Margaret Prentice and I can reference his makeup while matching up the look of his character’s severed head. This was prior to the scene where Omri Katz (as Max) knocks Billy’s head off with a tree branch. Karyn Malchus played the headless version of Billy Butcherson, and would be wearing this dummy head on top of a skullcap strapped to her own head, while looking through the lace of Billy’s collar. The fake head had magnets mounted in the base of the neck, and there were corresponding magnets inside the neck stump that Karyn wore on her head. The tree branch was metal covered in foam, and the only protection Karyn’s real face had was just the fiberglass skullcap covering her face from the nose up, so there was a lot of rehearsal to make sure that Karyn’s false head was at exactly the right height for the branch to take Billy’s head off and not her own.”
“In this behind-the-scenes shot from Hocus Pocus, Director Kenny Ortega (in grey shirt) lines up the scene where headless Billy Butcherson (on the left side of the photo) has just had his head kicked off by Winnifred Sanderson’s fly-by on her broomstick. Actress Karyn Malchus is wearing the “Headless Billy” rig, and that red dot in her hand is actually the base of a small fan that she’s pointing at her own face through the lace of the character’s collar. In the background behind Ortega you can see a zombie in a tracksuit: Doug Jones wearing his zombie prosthetics and wig, but regular sweatpants and shirt. That outfit was pretty much Doug’s uniform when he wasn’t in wardrobe, and he still wears that same outfit to work 25 years later.”
“Besides the real cats that played Binx in Hocus Pocus, there were a few versions of the cat that were built by the Binx crew at Alterian, supervised by Bill Sturgeon. In addition to the hero animatronic Binx, there were floppy cats, posable stand-in cats, and inflatable versions of Binx. After the animatronic Binx had been built and film-tested, it was decided that the cat’s long fangs were a bit too threatening, so we had to shorten the acrylic teeth on the animatronic Binx…a delicate operation considering the already-completed fur work and the small size of the cat’s mouth.”
“In this photo, I’m gluing Doug Jones‘ pre-cut mouth stitches back together with a prosthetic adhesive so that he can drag a blunt knife across his mouth, open his mouth up, and cough up some dust and some live moths. Alterian’s Vance Hartwell was in charge of fabricating a “mouth rig” that was essentially a latex pocket attached between upper and lower dentures which completely blocked Doug Jones’ throat. There was a small hole in the very back of the pocket so that Doug could cough some air through it and force the fuller’s earth and the mouths up and out of his mouth. Once the pocket was loaded with the Fuller’s earth, an animal wrangler would place several moths in the pocket with tweezers, under the supervision of a representative from the Humane Society. Then the stitches would be glued shut, and we’d run out of frame so that they could get to the shot as fast as possible. Unfortunately, it took a few takes to get this just right, but Doug was a real trouper! Those moths gave it their all as well. (Remeber, this was pre-CGI …there was no option other than figuring out how to do it practically with real moths.)”
“In these behind-the-scenes polaroid photos from Disney’s Hocus Pocus, Actress Karyn Malchus is fit for her Headless Billy Butcherson wardrobe for the very first time, while wearing the prototype body rig for the headless version of Billy. The sleeves for this version of the character had to be modified so that the area where they attached to the body of the jacket was a much larger opening, to allow for Karyn’s arms to go into the false arms at her shoulder height, which was midway down the false torso. Weird to see everything clean and white, prior to the final fabric choices and the dying and aging of the material. Karyn was working in an extremely limiting body rig, and with limited vision. She and Doug Jones were two peas in a pod – neither of them ever complained about anything and were so much fun to work with.”
"In this shot, actor Doug Jones (in costume and makeup as character Billy Butcherson) poses with (from L to R) Makeup Effects Designer/Artist Tony Gardner, Writer/Producer David Kirschner, Director Kenny Ortega, and Producer Ralph Winter. Doug and David Kirschner are standing in Billy’s grave on set inside Disney Studios’ Stage #2. This grave was dug separately from the grave Billy rose out of, so that there was enough depth to hide a stunt mat in the bottom of it so that Doug could fall back into the grave and completely out of shot.”
PLAIN DEALER: Double Tap - Bringing Back the Infected Zombie Hordes at Alterian, Inc.
North Olmsted’s Tony Gardner gives life to the living dead in ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’ with makeup and effects
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Zombie apocalypse movies always seem to start somewhere in rural America. Someone gets infected, someone gets bitten and presto! Global gore.
For Tony Gardner, who created the zombies in the current “Zombieland: Double Tap” and its 2009 predecessor, “Zombieland,” “rural America” was North Olmsted.
“I’ve always been involved in making films,” said Gardner in a call to his special effects company Alterian Studios in Irwindale, California, outside Los Angeles. “A bunch of us in the [North Olmsted] neighborhood would make movies almost every weekend just for fun.
“They were usually effects-type films, with stop-motion or creatures or makeup or something in them,” he said. “Something that was perceived as weird stuff back then. It was not a career choice in Ohio back in the ’80s.”
It is now.
During his career, which began working with seven-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker during the making of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video, he’s done the effects makeup for “Shallow Hal,” “127 Hours,” “Cult of Chucky,” “Bad Grandpa,” “Return of the Living Dead,” “Addams Family Values,” “Hocus Focus” and more, as well as music videos for Daft Punk and the Foo Fighters.
“I’m responsible for the design of the creature or character for a film and the development of the character and testing of it,” Gardner said in explaining the responsibilities he holds as head of a makeup effects department and makeup designer, posts he held on the new “Zombieland” movie.
Makeup and effects designer Tony Gardner works on a zombie-to-be in the original “Zombieland,” back in 2009. Gardner reprised his role as head of makeup effects and design in the sequel out this Friday, “Zombieland: Double Tap,” as well as scores of other horror-type films and even a Foo Fighters video.Alterian, Inc.
But he’s one of those hands-on bosses, too. On the set of “Zombieland” and other films, he’s one of the artists applying the makeup and prostheses, the fake blood, the gore, all the fun stuff.
“The highest count on any given day was about 350,” Gardner said, when asked how many zombies he and his crew had to “do.” That volume came during crowd scenes, which featured various zombies and stunt zombies. “We spent two weeks doing all the crowd stuff. We had to bring in an extra dozen makeup artists to get all those scenes. The makeup department grew to 28 people.”
Then there’s the challenge in this film of people either becoming zombies, or seeming to. (Warning: Spoiler alert!)
“With Madison [actress Zoey Deutch’s vacuous blond character], there were very specific points where she changes her look,” Gardner said. “The day was scheduled around them stopping [filming] and giving us an hour to add swollen eye bags and a swollen upper lip.
“But with Flagstaff and Albuquerque [two hilarious doppelganger characters for film stars Jesse Eisenberg’s Columbus and Woody Harrelson’s Tallahassee], it took two days,” he said. “The stunt doubles had to change as well. It was kind of ‘let’s stop, let’s go’ because they tried to shoot in continuity order as much as possible.”
So, for a guy who loves Halloween and gets paid to create costumes, makeup and effects that scare the pants off the rest of us, what scares Gardner?
“It’s funny because the things that scare us are the weirdest things,” said Gardner, who once was investigated because one of his effects — a bullet traveling through a body in the George Clooney film “Three Kings” — looked so real that authorities feared he’d used the body of a real homeless man.
“We had a body of a character for show and the question has always been storage [at his shop],” he said, which prompted an interesting solution.
“We strapped it to a rolling office chair, so it looks like it’s sitting up, and everybody just moves it out of their way and rolls the chair over to someone else’s table,” he said. “At the end of the night, when you’re getting ready to lock up, you look up and somebody’s sitting in a chair staring at you.
“We have severed heads of different people and use them as actors in shows,” Gardner said. “We’re kind of blase about the whole dismembered body-parts thing.”
You might think that would be a weird environment for kids, and in some ways, you’re probably right. But Gardner’s three children have embraced it, both as occasional performers — eldest daughter Brianna and youngest daughter Kyra were both zombies in this latest movie, and played the same character at different ages in a Daft Punk music video — and in their own career choices.
His son Austin is a medical student and is working toward his doctorate in forensic pathology and forensic anthropology.
By the way, Gardner has a bit of an unusual twist on the old “take your daughter to work day”:
“I’ve got Brianna’s [severed] head from the Netflix series ‘The Mist’ mounted on the wall in our sculpting room as a reference tool,” he said.
Have to wonder if Foo Fighters founder and frontman Dave Grohl saw that before signing up for Alterian to do the makeup for the band’s video “Run,” in which all the musicians were made up to look like Methuselah’s ancestors. If so, it probably would have been the deal clincher.
“Doing the Foo Fighters video, Dave Grohl and the others were so excited to be able to play in the prosthetics we did for them that they were disappointed when it was over,” Gardner said.
Grohl directed the video, and did it in character, even.
“Dave wore his old man makeup from early in the morning till the end of the day,” he said, and in an odd way, it apparently made it easier for others to take direction from such a “senior” character.
So that leaves one challenge for Gardner, who lives to do the difficult: Do the makeup for a video for Rock & Roll Hall of Famers the Zombies. Hey, he’s got the resume.
original article: https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/10/north-olmsteds-tony-gardner-gives-life-to-the-living-dead-in-zombieland-double-tap-with-makeup-and-effects.html
STAN WINSTON SCHOOL: Double Tap - Bringing Back the Infected Zombie Hordes at Alterian, Inc.
ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP - BRINGING BACK THE INFECTED ZOMBIE HORDES AT ALTERIAN, INC.
By Michael Martin
A ZOMBIE MOVIE WITH ATTITUDE
It has been ten years since the original Zombieland was released. An irreverent tongue-in-cheek film that took a fresh look at what the survivors of a zombie holocaust (including Bill Murray playing…Bill Murray!) could get up to.
Now the original cast has returned in Zombieland: Double Tap. Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin, and Jessie Eisenberg are all there. Plus there are some new characters and a fan favorite. Also returning are original writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Deadpool) along with original director Ruben Fleischer (Venom). What more could you want? How about some more zombies created by original Zombieland makeup and effects artist Tony Gardner and his Alterian, Inc. crew? Check!
(Alterian, Inc. founder Tony Gardner at work on actress Zoey Deutch for Zombieland: Double Tap. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
With a career that spans from the classic Aliens, The Blob, and Darkman to the more recent 127 Hours, Bad Grandpa, and his ongoing work with Daft Punk, Tony sat down at his Alterian, Inc. studio with SWSCA to speak about Zombieland: Double Tap.
IT’S TEN YEARS LATER
According to Tony, the film looked like a lot of fun from the start. The script was similar to the original, “…it was definitely one of those laugh out loud kind of reads…” The dialogue is sprinkled with what are sure to be new catchphrases, and the film delivers on bizarro doppelgängers, and an explosive finale.
SLO-MO ORGY OF KILLING
(Jessie Eisenberg, as Columbus, and Woody Harrelson, as Tallahassee, blast zombies in front of the White House. Image courtesy Columbia Pictures.)
Our favorite zombie hunters, Tallahassee, Wichita, Columbus, and Little Rock, are reintroduced in a hilarious slow-motion orgy of zombie killing outside a dilapidated White House. Tony says the complex scene was accomplished on the first day of the shoot. Three camera units rolled as the four heroes blasted several different groups of zombies that spew blood and vomit everywhere.
(Emma Stone, as Wichita, and Abigail Breslin, as Little Rock, reload in front of the White House. Image courtesy Columbia Pictures.)
In order to simultaneously handle the different groups of zombies as the filmmakers tried to stay ahead of the moving sunlight, Gardner broke his makeup crew into several small teams. There were groups of zombies interacting with the lead actors, as well as the “second” and “splinter” units. Tony says that it was a schizophrenic way to start a movie but that it was, “…really good ‘cause it kinda set the tone.”
ZOMBIE INSPIRATION
(A zombie makeup test on Alterian crew member Meghan Reilly with a bloody silicone cheek appliance and mismatched eyes. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
The zombie designs created for the original film were drawn from real life. References used included actual diseases such as hoof-and-mouth and skin conditions like bed sores. “There had to be a genuine horror to the experience,” said Tony. These afflictions reflected an infected, decaying situation where the skin and tissue appeared to be melting and leaking. The zombie wounds would be abscessed, leaking puss with white and yellow colors mixed in. “A sort of hot, sweaty, drippy mess.”
THAT SIGNATURE ZOMBIE LOOK
For the sequel, ten years later, Tony and the artists at Alterian, Inc. would follow a similar approach. At first though, they considered giving the zombies a more desiccated look as an alternative to the wet look developed for the original.
The Alterian team did makeup tests right off the bat, taking the zombie looks from the first film and projecting them out ten years into the future imagining that all of their juices would have leaked out. The dried-out looks would highlight skin pulled back over the teeth, a tighter bone structure underneath the taut skin and sun-dried flesh. The skin tones would feature more reds and browns with a little blistering thrown in, or, as Tony called it, “…not quite barbecue chicken.”
Yet in the end, it was Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer who insisted on bringing back the juice. Though he agreed that the dried-out look made logical sense, he noted that there was a signature Zombieland look, “…and these things need to be true to that look.” That ‘Zombieland look’ consisted of open wounds, discolored and caved-in skin, plus mismatched eyes with brown and black fluids leaking from every hole.
(Makeup test bust of a ‘T-800’ zombie played by Ari Loeb. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
A WORLD OF ZOMBIES
The Alterian crew created a wide array of zombies. Including one variety who our heroes, in a delightful reference to the Terminator films, call the ‘T-800s’. These zombies are fast-moving and can take a lot of damage. They may be missing limbs or part of their heads, but they just keep on coming.
(Ari Loeb as a ‘T-800’ zombie in the makeup trailer with Thom Floutz and Tony Gardner. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
Other zombies included the heavy-set, slow-witted ‘Homer,’ a cleaner-looking, smarter zombie called ‘The Hawking,’ and the super-fast, nearly impossible to see ‘Ninjas.’
(John Dixon as one of the ‘Homer’ zombies on-set. Note the comb over and ‘exploding cornea’ contact lenses. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
ZOMBIELAND APPLIANCES
Though many shows have stuck to the tried and true foam latex for their zombies, the prosthetics in Zombieland: Double Tap were primarily run in silicone. This choice made it easier to achieve the depth to the skin that they were looking for and to give it, “a sick sort of translucency,” said Tony. The zombie appliances ran the gamut from little blister appliances to big jagged wounds, many of them layered all together. A minimal number of Pros-Aide appliances were also used for some of the zombie makeups.
(Zombies! Images courtesy Columbia Pictures and Alterian, Inc.)
Playing one of the primary ‘T-800’ zombies, performer Ari Loeb would have more than twenty appliances applied, including little blisters on his ears, inside his ears, and even inside his nose.
(Ari Loeb made up as a ‘T-800’ zombie with over 20 appliances. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
To add depth, so that they didn’t just look like Halloween makeups, several of the performers playing zombies had sections of their beards or hair shaved off. Wounds would then be applied to these open areas.
(A nice look at the details on a ‘T-800’ zombie makeup on Tony Gardner’s daughter Kyra. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
The main exceptions to the silicone rule were the exploding heads. These were made from rigid foam with a foam latex skin. As Tony explained, the positions in which the heads were required to be supported, with the skin and skull underneath, would have been too heavy if constructed from silicone.
(‘T-800’ zombie Ari Loeb sandwiched between foam latex copies of his head built for smashing. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
(Sequential shots of Ari Loeb’s head getting stomped on. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
THE JUICY DETAILS
What would a zombie movie be without a bunch of blood and goo? Tony revealed that there were some cold and sticky nights on the set for the fluid-soaked actors portraying zombies so heated tents were provided, with the lead actor zombies provided with showers.
(Makeup artist Bart Mixon touches up a zombified Robert Shavers in one of the large tents used to keep cast and crew warm. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
The makeup crew used Skin Illustrator for the foundation colors, sometimes applying the airbrush colors with a brush so that the drips running down the performers’ faces, arms and legs would stay in place. Hair gel was used to keep the zombies’ hair looking wet and spray bottles filled with watered-down Methocel were kept on hand for slimy touch-ups.
(Bill Corso and Thom Floutz apply a zombie makeup to Kevin King. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
The blood and goo covering the Zombieland: Double Tap zombies came in all types of colors, viscosities, and flavors. For blood, there were several combinations including coffee, chocolate sauce and Karo syrup in different proportions. Each concoction would be used for specific shots and effects. Makeup artists applied the blood and slime in layers, with the darker stuff leaking from the nose, mouth, and ears while lighter colors were used around the eyes to avoid a ‘raccoon’ look.
(Andre Freitas details the eye area of a shredded zombie makeup on William Greenfield. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
Working with the wardrobe team, Alterian artists smeared and splattered their blood and goo concoctions all over the zombies’ clothing to create the illusion of bodily fluids leaking out everywhere, making them as gross as possible. The performers had “no way out,” Tony laughs. “If you were going to be a zombie, there was no way not to be gooey.”
(Sue LaPrelle adds depth to a forehead wound on a zombie security guard played by Troy Butler. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
Because of the large number of zombies required for the film, many of those in the background were created with the help of tattoo transfers derived from flat artwork. According to Tony, “drawing all of the blistering, especially on the ‘T-800’ zombies, would’ve just been horrendous.”
(Alterian crew member Meghan Reilly in one of the zombie makeup tests. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
VOMIT APPROVAL
According to Tony, all the returning Zombieland: Double Tap stars had script approval. But actor Woody Harrelson also had vomit approval! In the scene where Zoey Deutch gets sick, Harrelson requested a chunkier spew. The Alterian crew happily obliged by mixing up a delicious blend of vanilla pudding, a little honey, some almond milk, and hunks of granola for bulk.
FIGHTING ZOMBIES
(Actors Thomas Middleditch and Luke Wilson stir things up with our favorite zombie hunters. Image courtesy Columbia Pictures.)
When two new characters, doppelgängers of Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg played by actors Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch, succumb to the infection, director Fleischer wanted them to transform from human to zombie right in front of our eyes. Both actors were made up with prosthetics and had, as Tony says, “all of this stuff leaking out of them.” With each cut, the characters move further along in their zombification. Stunt doubles were also made up to match the two actors as they changed, sometimes switching out as the camera moved past during a take. “The good part,” says Tony, “is that we had two actors (Wilson and Middleditch) that were really gung-ho about doing all of it and wearing the lenses and just spitting up junk and having no problems doing it.”
AN ARMY OF ARTISTS
(A few of the Alterian, Inc. crew assemble between takes on set, from left to right: Lens Tech Sean Kinney, Matt Sprunger, Kaylee Kehne-Swisher, Barney Burman, Ralis Kahn, Mark Nieman, Sue LaPrelle, Bart Mixon, Tony Gardner, Andre Freitas, Thom Floutz. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
Zombieland: Double Tap would require an army of artists both in L.A. and in Atlanta where the film was shot. There were trailers full of people and for the big finale, Tony was able to bring in even more makeup artists from Los Angeles for the last two weeks of the shoot.
(Left to Right: Barney Burman applies “infected” makeup to Katie Eischen, Bill Corso gives Jordan Salmon an undead makeover, Laura Dandridge and Barney Burman zombify Tony Gardner’s daughter Brianna. Images courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
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(Alterian, Inc. makeup artists applying zombie makeups for Zombieland: Double Tap. Images courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
ZOMBIELAND 3?
Tony Gardner clearly loves what he does. Reuniting with many of the cast and crew from the original Zombieland created a real comfort zone. “We had the same writers, the same director, same producer, same visual effects, same makeup effects,” said Tony. “You know everybody’s name.”
Thinking about the future of makeup effects, Tony has noticed a return to practical effects and makeup effects live on-set, both in film and television. “It’s refreshing to have something that could have been done digitally go the practical route,” said Tony. “Having live makeup on-set for the actors to interact with lets the actors go nuts and express how great it is to actually work with a creature.”
As to prospects for another return to Zombieland in the future? Tony told us that Emma Stone suggested that they make a new Zombieland movie every ten years to see where these people are every decade. Tony agrees with her, “I think that’s a pretty great idea.”
(Zombieland: Double Tap‘s head zombie maker, Tony Gardner. Image courtesy Alterian, Inc.)
ALTERIAN, INC. ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP CREW
LOS ANGELES
ALTERIAN, INC. PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Bryan Christensen
ALTERIAN, INC. PRODUCTION MANAGER: Jack Santry
- SCULPTORS:
- Lilo Tauvao
- David Smith
- Barney Burman
- FX TECHNICIANS:
- Andre Freitas
- Vance Hartwell
- MOLD MAKERS:
- Ken Banks
- J. Michael O’Brien
- HAIR WORK:
- Denise Baer
- Justin Stafford
- SILICONE SPECIALISTS
- Aaron Romero
- James Issacson
- Meghan Riley
- EYES:
- Cristina Patterson
- Jessica Nelson
- SEAMING:
- Alison Kellerman
- PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS:
- Brianna Gardner
- Austin McCormack
ATLANTA
MAKEUP EFFECTS DEPARTMENT HEAD: Tony Gardner
MAKEUP EFFECTS LEAD ARTIST: Thomas Floutz
MAKEUP EFFECTS KEY: Andre Freitas
MAKEUP EFFECTS THIRD: Laura Dandridge
- MAKEUP EFFECTS ARTISTS (alphabetical order):
- Barney Burman
- Bill Corso
- Jessica Gambradella
- Eric Garcia
- Tim Hays
- Ralis Kahn
- Kaylee Kehne-Swisher
- Sue LaPrelle
- Bill McCoy
- Bart Mixon
- Devin Morales
- Mark Nieman
- Mark Ross
- Duane Saylor
- Greg Solomon
- Matt Sprunger
- Adam Walls
- Kyle Yaklin
- BACKGROUND MAKEUP EFFECTS ARTISTS:
- Stephanie Anderson
- Heather Benson
- Tara Dipetillo
- Andy Fowler
- Jason Hodges
- Brie Puneky
- Kate Marlette
- Missy Nyberg
- Jan Rooney
- Isabella Scuffle
- Andrew Valentine
- Deryk Wehrley
- Roy Wooley
- Darla Wigley
original article: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/zombieland-double-tap-zombie-makeup-effects-behind-the-scenes-with-alterian-inc-tony-gardner
DREAD CENTRAL: Cult of Chucky – FX Designer Tony Gardner Speaks!
Cult of Chucky – FX Designer Tony Gardner Speaks! Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Video and Images!
Tony Gardner is one of the most accomplished special effects designers in the biz. He has designed and created effects for Zombieland, 127 Hours, Smokin’ Aces, Hairspray, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, The Addams Family, Shallow Hal and many more. Not the least of which are the last three Child’s Play movies. With the newest one, Cult of Chucky (review), out now we caught up with Gardner at his studio, Alterian Ghost Factory, and picked his brain about all that went into the latest installment.
Dread Central: When did you first get to work on a Chucky movie?
Tony Gardner: We had met David Kirschner (producer of the Child’s Play franchise) on Hocus Pocus; we did Billy Butcherson and the animatronic cat. When he was going to pitch Bride of Chucky to the studio, he wanted to go in with a display presentation. So he had us build Chucky carrying Tiffany, sort of like the classic bride and groom over the threshold kind of pose. And we built an arch, they were full size, and did a presentation piece for that. And that was sort of our first taste of Chucky. It wasn’t until Seed of Chucky – it wasn’t until three months before they were supposed to pack everything to ship to Romania, that I was contacted and asked if I’d be interested in doing some animatronic characters for a film. It was so vague at first, because I think they were trying to work stuff out still, and then three months prior to them needing to ship out, they were like, ‘okay, we need three animatronic characters that need to be able to do full dialogue, get in fights with each other, throw things,’ and I don’t know what I was thinking but I said ‘sure, that sounds great, let’s go for it,’ and we did. So my first professional experience I didn’t really even have time to think about what we doing. We just had to do it. We were matching photos and trying to be as accurate to photos as possible. There were no physical items to be had. So it was just a constant scramble and literally throwing things into boxes and getting on a plane. Then sorting it out for a week or so before filming in Romania.
DC: Chucky’s gone through a few different incarnations.
TG: Yeah, it’s interesting because when we did Seed, we were trying to match everything to Bride, but at the same time they wanted to reference the characters had a little bit of a Hollywood makeover because this was a film inside of a film. So there was a slight shift there and some things were sort of tweaked or cleaned up in a way. And then when we came to Curse, the idea was that the Good Guy doll face was actually a fake face stretched over the scarred Chucky in disguise and I think we took it a little too literally and I think that wasn’t such a great idea on my part….. But then when we went into do Cult, I was really adamant that we got everything really right, one hundred percent accurate – like start over and start with the Good Guy doll, let’s start with the original and go back to what everybody wants to see. So I was really sort of a little obsessed with hand size and body proportion and the face, even the eyes. And the eyes change a bit in the first three films and I really got analysing the first three films and the scenes that Don [Mancini, director] liked the most and trying to mirror his look there but then there were a couple concessions to the location this time. Where because there was such a white stark background the idea was to amp up the color of his hair, so that it popped a little bit more against the white. So, it wasn’t quite so auburn but it was a little more vibrant. So that’s why his hair is a little bit more intense than it should be. And then there was the idea here with him being able to go back and forth between the Good Guy doll and an evil version in kind of, an instant. The question was, he’s not turning human so what can we do to mix it up a bit and get a little bit more of the humanity of Brad Dourif into it. One of the ideas was sort of a sense of eye bags underneath the eyes, which goes against what to doll has, so that’s something people found interesting. So that also allowed us to be able to have the eye lids track more with the eye balls when he looked around so we could make them a bit more human and a little less doll like. So, he’s sort of evolving as time goes and a lot of times it’s kind of, at least lately, what serves the story better.
DC: Which Chucky is your favorite?
TG: Wow, tough one. I like him in almost every film in different scenes for different reasons, and I know that sounds kind of weird. Child’s Play Two he’s on a dresser, completely inanimate and his body posture and everything looks like a doll and when he comes to life and he straitens up and he suddenly possesses an attitude, the performance in that to me, is just as inspiring as the animatronics – like that’s the kind of stuff that we’re trying to push him to now, albeit on a budget one fifth of what all those original films had but that’s a challenge as well in and of itself. But I have to say I think I like – I honestly like him in all his incarnations. I think the scar Chucky was pretty fascinating just from the sort of Frankenstein perspective, you know, I really enjoyed that. I feel that in the new film now that we have multiple versions within the same film, I have to say my favorite at the moment, is really the new Chucky, buzz-cut Chucky, the guy with the haircut. Because he’s new to all of it but he’s so excited by everything and the idea of putting that enthusiasm in his face, in his mannerisms and then Brad actually having his voice crack when he does that character. I mean that was the most enjoyable of all of them to do. And there’s a lot of stuff buzz cut does that isn’t in the film that – maybe it’s in the deleted scenes, I don’t know, but it’s a very humorous character – so he’s my favorite right now.
DC: What’s it like to collaborate with Don Mancini?
TG: It’s interesting working with Don, because essentially Don is the franchise. He’s written all of them, he’s directed the last three, he knows the cannon, he knows how everyone’s story fits, he’s followed everything tonally, he’s directed it on paper tonally for seven films, he’s actually directed the last three. So you go to Don with a question and you get an answer that’s immediate and specific and he’s not hemming or hawing or wondering about options. He knows all of this stuff inside and out. And that is so rare and it’s kind of what makes this whole thing amazing and what gives this whole franchise it’s longevity is the fact that Don is behind it and he steers the boat with the big picture all the time. Every character motivation, every bit of dialogue, every angle choice, he’s just really amazing.
DC: What’s it like watching Cult of Chucky with an audience?
TG: The first time the film screened was Fright Fest in London. It was over a thousand people and they’re all horror fans so all the reactions and responses were huge. So it was interesting to watch it and see where the audience was willing to go and then also how extreme their responses were to some of the stuff and how much they actually really enjoyed it. And what was nice there was were able to talk to a lot of people beforehand and then afterwards and hear their feedback and how positive everything was and how much they enjoyed that it wasn’t re-hashing stuff. It was keeping things fresh, incorporating new characters and that was exciting to hear because you don’t know how people are going to respond to a lot of that stuff. And the end itself, the end of the movie is such a huge surprise with suddenly the ability to sort of, do the split your soul up and spread it out to a couple of different places. It just opens up so many doors for the future as far as possibilities of what could be done. How many story lines could go on at the same time in different places, how many off shoots could you do. Could you take the Star Wars universe idea and you’ve got one through line with the main characters and then every other film that comes out, is somebody shipped a box off to Japan or to Germany or to a specific person that was referenced in another film. It seems like there actually really is a Chucky universe, in and of itself, that could be tapped into and I think this film made that really obvious.
Written and directed by Don Mancini, Cult of Chucky stars Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Michael Therriault, and Elisabeth Rosen. Cult of Chucky is available NOW!
Synopsis:
Confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for the past four years, Nica (Dourif) is wrongly convinced that she, not Chucky, murdered her entire family. But when her psychiatrist introduces a new group therapy tool — a “Good Guy” doll — a string of grisly deaths plague the asylum and Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn’t crazy after all.
Andy (Vincent), Chucky’s now-grown up nemesis from the original Child’s Play, races to Nica’s aid. But to save her he’ll have to get past Tiffany (Tilly), Chucky’s long-ago bride, who will do anything, no matter how deadly or depraved, to help her beloved devil doll.
Special Features:
- Inside the Insanity of Cult of Chucky — Viewers will discover what it was like to film inside an insane asylum and the challenges production faced on set. They’ll also hear from the cast and filmmakers as they discuss why they were attracted to this story and how the filmmakers’ vision brought this fun-filled horror film together.
- Good Guy Gone Bad: The Incarnations of Chucky — This featurette offers a peek into Alterian’s workshop, the studio behind Chucky’s puppeteering, to see how the magic is created and focuses on how the look of Chucky has evolved over the years.
- Feature Commentary with Director and Writer Don Mancini and Head Puppeteer Tony Gardner.