You know their
characters, but you don't know their faces. Say hello to the real actors
behind some of movie history's greatest villains, monsters, and ghouls.
1. Xenomorph, Alien (1979)
The Man: Bolaji Badejo
A 7-foot alien is
scary enough without it slobbering K-Y Jelly from its pharyngeal jaws.
Designed by Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger, Alien's "biomechanical"
aesthetic changed preconceived notions about extraterrestrials on film.
Giger and his team were even referred to as the "Monster Department" for
their penchant to use real animal bones in many of their designs.
Desperate to find the perfect body type to play his one-of-a-kind monster, director Ridley Scott decided to cast unknown Nigerian student Bolaji Badejo, who was as skinny as he was tall, and managed to beat out Peter Mayhew (Star Wars'
Chewbacca) for the role. Badejo studied mime to create a believable and
sinister range of motion, which was no easy feat considering he wore a
latex suit with pieces for the ribcage, legs, and tail‚ each attached
separately with wires. And the sets were only about 6'6" tall, forcing
Badejo to exercise caution whenever he had to move or turn quickly.There
were two version of the banana-shaped head Badejo wore: a
non-mechanical version for action scenes and an articulated one designed
by Carlo Rambaldi for effects shots.
Scott would push
Badejo, even though he could stand to be in costume for only 20 minutes
before risking overheating. And one of the most difficult shots never
made the final film - a scene that found Badejo suspended upside down
from a wire 15 feet in the air. Badejo wore a harness around his stomach
that suffocated him when he moved, and even proved too much for the
stuntman brought in to do it, who ended up passing out.
2. Darth Vader, The Original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983)
The Man: David Prowse
You know the voice
to be James Earl Jones. But the man inside the Sith Lord's imposing
suit was David Prowse. Prowse, a British bodybuilder, caught George
Lucas' eye when he appeared in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange,
and Lucas asked Prowse to choose between the fur-covered alien
Chewbacca or the villainous Darth Vader. In Prowse's words, "people will
always remember the villain."
A veteran of several Hammer horror films - he even co-starred with future Star Wars co-star Peter Cushing in 1973's Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell - Prowse
was no stranger to being hidden behind a mask. Still, transforming into
Darth Vader would present a unique set of challenges. The quilted
leather suit weighed 40 pounds. Breathing would fog up the mask, while
sweat would pour down the bottom of the mouthpiece, requiring Prowse to
remove it every few minutes.
Despite playing
such an iconic character, Prowse was never really given his due. He
learned Jones would re-dub his lines only after filming wrapped, and
found out one on the shocking twist (SPOILER ALERT! Darth Vader is
Luke's father.) at the movie's premiere. Audiences don't even get to see
Prowse's face when Vader is unmasked at the conclusion of Return of the Jedi - Lucas
brought in Sebastian Shaw for the scene as a favour to Sir Alec
Guinness. Prowse fought hard for the role of Superman but lost out to
Christopher Reeve. However, he was asked to train Reeve for the film.
3. Leatherface, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Man: Gunnar Hansen
Brutal and
unrelenting, Tobe Hooper's horror classic was a wholly-fictional film
presented as a "true story" that sent shockwaves through America as
viewers took in the deranged, chainsaw-wielding Leatherface and his
perverse, cannibalistic brood.
Leatherface was
played by Gunnar Hansen, a 6'4", 300-pound grad student who had no idea
what he was in for when shooting began in July 1973. The Texas temps
averaged 100 degrees, and the cast and crew endured 12 to 16-hour days
for a month. Hansen provided his own clothes for the film, was was
fitted with a mouth piece designed by his own dentist and 3-inch lifts
to his boots. But it was the grotesque masks created by art director Bob
Burns - and a snarling Poulan 245a chain saw - that made Leatherface a
legend.
A mentally and
emotionally stunted man-child, Leatherface relies on masks made from his
victim's skin to express his feelings. Burns carefully the masks using a
mix of liquid latex and fiberglass. As an added bonus the material
would turn a brownish-yellow, much like real human skin. Unfortunately,
the masks offered little to no peripheral vision, making chase sequences
difficult and downright dangerous, especially with Hansen hauling a
20-pound chainsaw. In time he learned to overshoot his turns to
compensate.
Under such
gruelling conditions, almost everyone got hurt at some point. That
includes the famous scene in which Leatherface falls and cuts his leg.
Despite preparations which included wrapping a piece of sheet metal
around Hansen's leg, covering it with a thick steak to emulate human
flesh, and topping the whole thing off with a blood bag, the saw cut so
fast that it heated up the sheet metal and burned him. It was a small
price to pay. The scene remains a classic, with Hansen grabbing his leg
in real pain while fake blood spews everywhere.
4. Abe Sapien, Hellboy (2004) / Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
The Man: Doug Jones
Standing 6'3" and
weighing a mere 140 pounds, actor, mime, and contortionist Doug Jones
learned to use his body to tell a story early on. But it was working on
the creature feature Mimic and connecting with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro that truly launched Jones' career.
When it came time
for del Toro to bring Mike Mignola's Hellboy to life, Jones was his only
choice to play the beloved fishman Abe Sapien. Jones's work as one of
The Gentlemen on an Emmy-nominated episode of Josh Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer
formed the foundation for Abe's slow, refined mannerisms, and Jones
painstakingly studied the movement of fish to round out Abe's physical
traits.
Becoming Abe would
not be as easy, however, requiring the actor to endure a 6 to 7 hour
make-up process. Spectral Motion created foam latex pieces based on a
full body cast of Jones, including those for his torso, arms, and legs.
Transparent fins made from semi-flexible polyurethane were applied down
his back and legs, and webbing under his arms used thermal-gel.
Mechanized gills created by Mark Setrakian were placed on either side of
his face; they would open and close just as a fish's would. Finally,
everything was painted an aquatic camouflage design created by Steve
Wang, and blended into Jones body by freehand airbrushing.
5. Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th VII, VIII, IX, and Jason X (1988-2002)
The Man: Kane Hodder
On May 4, 1989, Kane Hodder headed to Times Square to film the final scenes for Friday the 13th, Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
His arrival would be met by blood-curdling screams, but not the kind
you're thinking of. Hundreds of people lined the streets just hoping to
catch a glimpse of him. Not bad for a veteran stuntman who was bullied
relentlessly as a child, and channels his past anger in order to get
into character.
Hodder quickly
became a fan favourite for bringing continuity to the hockey-masked
killer for the first time, and giving him a personality onscreen, which
is all the more impressive considering he does so without any facial
expressions or even a voice. Tapping into the rage that motivates Jason
to kill, and laying down several concrete rules for the character, such
as Jason will never run after his victims, he will never hurt children
or animals, and, in the case of Jason X, Jason will never, ever float!
Hardcore fans know
that the signature hockey mask didn't make an appearance until Part 3.
Originally moulded from a Detroit Red Wings goalie mask, it's also gone
through a number of changes over the years. But beginning with Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood,
director John Carl Buechler wanted the mask to reflect the history of
the character. Afterwards, there would always be subtle cracks, cuts,
and chips, to suggest the violence that had been inflicted upon it.
6. Ghostface, Scream (1996) / Scream 2 (1997) / Scream 4 (2011)
The Man: Dane Farwell
Although audiences have never seen his face, or heard his voice, they definitely sensed that someone was missing from Scream 3.
With good reason - it's the only instalment of director Wes Craven's
Scream series without 6' 1" stuntman Dane Farwell. Farwell and Craven
have a long history together, with Farwell appearing in eight of the
director's films including The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker, The People Under the Stairs, Vampire in Brooklyn, and Red Eye.
Even though a
premise of the series is that a different killer inhabits the costume in
each Scream film, Farwell brings a manic energy to the Ghostface
character. Farewell was so methodical that he would subtly alter
Ghostface's mannerisms to match those of whomever played the killer in
that film. He also mastered the trademark mannerism of cleaning the
blood off the knight after each kill by running thumb and forefinger
down the blade in a clean sweep.
The Ghostface
character was described in Kevin Williamson's script simply as the
"masked killer," so Craven faced a dilemma in deciding what the costume
should be. Credit goes to executive producer Marianne Maddalena, who
spotted the Ghostface mask produced by Fun World and saw the
possibilities. The decision didn't win the team any fans at the studio,
with Bob Weinstein going so far as to call the mask "idiotic" and
threatening to replace Craven as the director, but thankfully a
13-minute rough cut of the opening sequence changed his mind.
While Farwell
inhabited Ghostface's flapping cloak, it was veteran voice actor Roger
L. Jackson who provided his cold, menacing tone.
7. Michael Myers, Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007) / Rob Zombie's H2 (2009)
The Man: Tyler Mane
When Rob Zombie set out to remake one of his all-time favourite horror films, Halloween,
he went straight to director John Carpenter who offered him up some
advice: namely that Zombie shouldn't be afraid to "make it his own." The
shock rocker has a well-documented love affair with horror show
pastiche in both his music and his movies, and Michael Myers' meagre
backstory was the perfect blank slate for Zombie to add many of his
trademark touches.
Young Michael
still kills his older sister, but Zombie expands the Myers' clan,
allowing him to kill her boyfriend, and his stepdad as well. Former
wrestler Tyler Mane, who had appeared in The Devil's Rejects, was cast as the adult Michael, and at 6'9" Mane was an imposing figure. Appearing in Halloween and its sequel H2, Mane holds the distinction of being the only actor to ever portray Michael Myers in two consecutive films.
Say what you will
about Zombie's almost sympathetic portrayal of the psychopathic serial
killer; he did right by fans for keeping the mask. Zombie's Halloween uses a visibly distressed version of the mask used in Carpenter's original Halloween,
which was a converted Don Post Studios Captain Kirk Star Trek mask
first produced in 1977, which just so happened to be the cheapest mask
the filmmakers could find.
While rumours of a Halloween 3 have been kicking around since H2 was released, neither Zombie nor Mane have any interest in returning.
8. The Collector, The Collector (2009)
The Man: Juan Fernandez de Alarcon
This lean, mean $3.5-million independent film was buried by blockbusters like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
when it debuted. But the movie achieved a cult status for being much
more than a paint-by-numbers torture fest (even though writers Marcus
Dunstan and Patrick Melton are the men responsible for Saw films IV, V, VI, and VII).
Dunstan didn't
want a hulking goon to play the Collector. Instead, he chose someone who
could convey the movements of a spider. Enter Juan Fernandez de
Alarcon, a Dominicann actor whose portfolio includes modelling for the
likes of Yves St. Laurent - and Salvador Dali.
Envisioning a mask like that worn by Jason in Friday the 13th, Part 2,
special makeup effects designer Gary Tunnicliffe designed a flocked
black mask for Alarcon that laces up the back and creates the illusion
of tiny hairs when viewed close up. The horrific cherry on top - special
contacts worn by Fernandez top give his eyes an eerie insect glow -
creates an unnerving overall effect was unnerving. However, though the
Collector appears on film to have the heightened senses of an insect,
wearing the mask turned out to be a claustrophobic experience. Fernandez
found that the mask completely covered his ears, so that he could only
hear his own breathing. It had only two small holes for sight.
While Dunstan and Melton return for the sequel The Collection,
set to premiere November 30, Fernandez will not be reprising his role
as the Collector, leaving accomplished stuntman Randall Archer with a
pair of big black boots to fill.
9. Pumpkinhead, Pumpkinhead (1988)
The Man: Tom Woodruff Jr.
"Deep in the
Appalachian Mountains they say that an act of evil shall never go
unpunished." So begins Stan Winston's folklorish fright flick Pumpkinhead,
and if Winston's name sounds familiar, it should. Responsible for some
of the best makeup and visual effects in film, the four-time Academy
Award winner's work includes The Thing, The Terminator, Aliens, Predator, and Jurassic Park.
Winston trusted
his creature effects team to oversee the monster's creation, and
enlisted the help of Tom Woodruff Jr. to play the creature. After
Woodruff portrayed the Gillman in Fred Dekker's cult classic The Monster Squad,
Winston thought he'd be perfect as Pumpkinhead, a creature that need to
appear as if it had sprung up gnarled and twisted from the earth
itself.
The finished film
suffered after the original studio, DeLaurientis Entertainment, went
bankrupt, but has since gone on to attain cult status. Woodruff went on
to team up with another of Winston's designer-technicians, Alec Gillis,
and start their own company, Amalgamated Dynamics, which specializes in
make-up, animatronics, and puppeteering for film and TV. Woodruff has
continued to act, playing the Alien in Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, and both Alien vs. Predator films.
10. The Gimp, Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Man: Stephen Hibbert
"Bring out the
Gimp!" In that one stomach-tightening sentence, Tarantino ensures that
we'll never forget the nightmare about to unfold in the pawn shop
basement.
Tarantino's films
have always been a weird amalgamation of dark humour and extreme
violence, but the Gimp scene was originally conceived by Pulp Fiction's
co-writer Roger Avary for a different project. Tarantino liked the
story so much that he asked if he could write it into the film.
Tarantino was
friendly with the Los Angeles-based Groundlings comedy troupe at the
time, and you can spot many of them throughout the flick: Julia Sweeney
appears as Winston Wolf's squeeze, Raquel; Phil LaMarr plays the hapless
Marvin, who Vincent accidentally caps in the face; and Kathy Griffin
pops up after Butch runs down Marcellus Wallace with his car. For the
Gimp, Tarantino cast former Groundlings member Stephen Hibbert.
Although the
performance won't earn Hibbert a call from the Academy anytime soon, the
Gimp's two mute, faceless minutes on-screen - climbing out of a cage
locked inside of a trunk and decked out in head-to-toe leather bondage
regalia - was so inflammatory that it has been removed entirely from the
broadcast version. Unfortunately, Hibbert hasn't been able to parlay
his Gimp-famy into anything more than a few blink-and-you'll-miss-it
appearances in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
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