Hi everyone!
With postproduction coming to a glorious end on our bizarre and wonderful little film, it’s time to start spreading some of the love. Expect a flood of new and exciting content catching you guys up on everything that’s happened since filming wrapped, as well as fulfilling those juicy backer rewards. For today though, I thought I’d let you in the loop on one of our casting decisions…
In committing to shoot an all-practical FX film we often came thudding up against the wall of possibility. How on earth were we going to have our man take off his skin? It needed to appear completely photo-real; otherwise it would undermine the amazing job that that Jen and her team had done with the skinless effect. We wanted it to be a little cartoonish too, nothing too brutal, otherwise we risked destroying the overall tone- the idea isn’t that this is all that painful for him, it has to appear to just come off.
So. How do we show someone stretching off his skin? Easy, let’s get somebody who’ll do just that. Enter Gary ‘stretch’ Turner…
Gaz is a professional skin stretcher who holds the world record for skin elasticity. He’s also a truly lovely bloke. Mr Turner’s condition is a disorder of the connective tissues affecting the skin-strengthening collagen that determines its elasticity, resulting in a loosening of the skin. His particular strain is very rare indeed. However what’s so amazing about Gary is that he took this difficult disease and turned it into a rich and fulfilling career. A former plasterer he is now a popular model and stage entertainer. He was off to film a reality show in LA the next day, we were really lucky to get him!
Gary arrived at the end of our first day (typically the most stressful of any day on a shoot) and he immediately lit up the set with his charm and good humour. Touching Gary’s skin is an otherworldly experience. It’s softer, warmer and more elastic than anybody else’s (is that an odd sentence or what). I’d compare it to the touching a dog’s underbelly. Oddly comforting. It was honestly one of the highlights of this film that I got to meet him and his small but pivotal part of the film is totally mind blowing. It's amazing how avoiding CGI forces you to think harder about how you're going to pull off a shot and, in our case, lead to a far richer creative decision.
Check out a few images from his time with us below.
Anywho, expect a BUNCH more posts to come your way hard and fast. I have so much I want to share with you guys and thought it would be more fun to spread it out a bit. I will be contacting you individually re. backer rewards, going from top to bottom. Maria has completed half of the stories she was supposed to write and so half of you guys should already have them, for the other half please keep being as mercifully patient as you are, she’s one of those wonderful creative types, these things take time.
For anything else please do get in contact, I’d love to hear from you.
Ben
