{"id":9952,"date":"2015-03-16T20:06:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T00:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.puppeteers.org\/?p=9952"},"modified":"2015-03-16T21:15:42","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T01:15:42","slug":"the-best-gorilla-puppets-and-suits-that-nobody-knew-they-saw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lacquiparledesign.com\/pofa\/2015\/03\/16\/the-best-gorilla-puppets-and-suits-that-nobody-knew-they-saw\/","title":{"rendered":"The best gorilla puppets and suits that nobody knew they saw…"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you saw the film \u201cGorillas in the Mist\u201d<\/strong> you watched scenes of mountain gorillas in the wild.\u00a0 However, you might not realize that alongside footage of actual mountain gorillas, you were looking at one of the greatest feats of realistic puppet and creature making ever executed by a special effects crew.<\/p>\n

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Warner’s publicity photo, Sigourney Weaver and John Alexander in the “Digit” suit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In\u00a0 1985 I was the costume shop supervisor for make up effects artist, Rick Baker.\u00a0 We were finishing up work on the film Harry and the Hendersons<\/strong> when news came that primatologist, Dian Fossey had been\u00a0 murdered.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember I was sitting with several crew members when Rick brought us the December 29, 1985\u00a0 article from the LA Times with the headline \u201cNaturalist Dian Fossey Slain at Camp in Rwanda<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 I was somewhat familiar with Dian Fossey and her work with mountain gorillas from National Geographic and from working with Rick Baker who was known industry-wide as the authority on film gorillas.<\/p>\n

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Dian Fossey and mountain gorillas – National Geographic<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rick had built the gorilla for the 1976 version of King Kong<\/strong>, and the apes in Greystoke, Legend of Tarzan<\/strong> and was known industry wide to be the best artist to go to if you needed a gorilla built . Within weeks of Fossey\u2019s death, Rick and his shop was retained to make gorilla suits and puppets for a film about Dian Fossey\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Rick Baker had a lifelong fascination with gorillas. I remember him saying that he had always been bothered that by matching the proportions of a gorilla head to the human inside the suit, the faces were necessarily disproportionate. The director of the film wanted to intercut film of real gorillas with shots of actors in the gorilla suits. If the gorilla suits were to be successful then the eyes would have to be mechanized.\u00a0 This resulted in a realistically\u00a0 proportioned head for the first time on a gorilla suit.<\/p>\n

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Rick Baker and Angela Alexander grooming “Digit” head – John Alexander in suit Photo by Camilla Henneman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rick\u2019s shop\u00a0 spent the next several months making prototype gorilla suits and puppets while drama raged about which production company was going to produce the film. Universal and Warners were in a court battle over the rights and Dian Fossey\u2019s family was giving their support to an independent filmmaker. Eventually Universal and Warners jointly produced the film.\u00a0 Meanwhile, in Rwanda the search to find someone to officially blame for the murder raged on.<\/p>\n

Michael Apted was chosen to direct the film, which was to star Sigourney Weaver as Dian, and co-starred Bryon Brown and Julie Harris.\u00a0 The plan was to shoot Sigourney Weaver at Karasoke, Dian\u2019s research station in Rwanda with real gorillas, and edit in shots of suits and puppets to match the gorillas they got wild footage of.<\/p>\n

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“Digit” death scene – Photo by Camilla Henneman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rick was told that there would be no acknowledgment of gorilla costumes and puppets, or of the crew that built them. He was given a producer credit.\u00a0 I heard it said many times, that \u201cif we were successful, no one would know that we had done anything at all\u201d Publicly, the producers were claiming that all of the film was done with real gorillas.\u00a0 There was some scrambling later\u00a0 to explain how they shot scenes where gorillas were killed. The production company then admitted that some gorilla costumes were used, but only for the death scenes. They then were able to assure the public that no gorillas were harmed in the filming.\u00a0 In actuality, about half the footage of gorillas used in the film was of gorilla costumes, or puppets.<\/p>\n

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“Digit” costume, worn by John Alexander – Photo by Camilla Henneman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As we worked on suits and puppets back in the shop, Rick Baker traveled to Rwanda with the producers to do some research of the mountain gorillas. When Rick returned, he gathered everyone in the shop together.\u00a0\u00a0 His first words to us were,\u00a0 \u201cMountain gorillas are not black, they are brown\u201d.\u00a0 The shop had purchased large amounts of black yak hair and had custom\u00a0 fur fabric created from real yak hair. We scrambled to change the hair order.<\/p>\n

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Crew carrying “Digit” through the mist – Photo by Camilla Henneman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A small film crew went to Ryanda to film the mountain gorillas with Sigourney Weaver.\u00a0 While the production team was in Rwanda, we were building the suits and puppets back at the shop in LA.\u00a0 Every few days video would arrive with rough footage of the real gorillas interacting with Sigourney.\u00a0 There would be notes about what sequences might form the basis of scenes.\u00a0 Rick would then guide his crew in recreating specific gorilla costumes that matched the real gorillas in feature, color and size.\u00a0 Much of the reason this succeeded was due to the brilliant editing of Stuart Baird. The script was built around the footage they shot of real gorillas interacting with Sigourney.<\/p>\n

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Sigourney Weaver with baby gorilla puppet – Photo credit to Warner’s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

There were several different approaches for the gorillas we built. Adult gorillas would be portrayed by actors in gorilla suits.\u00a0 The actors wore muscle suits constructed from Scott foam, and covered in spandex.\u00a0 There would be two adult gorillas that would play a large part in the story. One was Digit, the silverback that Dian developed a close bond with, and whose death was a pivotal event in the story concerning\u00a0 her war on the poachers. He was played by John Alexander.\u00a0 The second was an adult female named Simba. Peter Elliot played Simba.\u00a0 The hair for these suits was individually hand tied by a team of wigmakers into spandex skin that I had dyed and painted. I believe the team of 6 wigmakers worked for about 5 months tying hair.<\/p>\n

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Camilla Henneman fitting Simba suit on Peter Elliot – Photo by Larry Hamlin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some of the gorillas would only be seen in the background.\u00a0 It was decided to use custom made fur fabric fabricated from yak hair for the bodies of those suits.\u00a0 Baby gorillas were either puppets or\u00a0 chimpanzees in tied hair suits with make up on their faces.<\/p>\n

In the next blog, I will go into more detail about the process of building the suits and puppets, and the filming.<\/p>\n

The following clip is of Sigourney with an actor (John Alexander) in a gorilla suit. The only real gorilla is seen 2:07 for a fraction of a second.<\/p>\n