Who's behind the Wilberforces?

BY CHRIS SCHULZ

Steven Boyle spends his time designing creepy creatures, crazy creations and stuff that is designed to scare audiences witless.

The creature technician, designer and makeup effects artist for Weta Workshop has worked on films ranging from King Kong to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

But Boyle jumped at the chance to work on Under the Mountain - a new film directed by Jonathan King based on Maurice Gee's famous 1979 book about an alien race living underneath Auckland - even though he didn't know much about it.

"I knew that it was based on a New Zealand book, and that's it," he told Stuff.co.nz during a promotional event for the film.

"I was sent the script and loved it. So I bought the book, read that and loved that. So I said 'yes' straight away."

He also sought out the 1981 Under the Mountain television series. It creeped out audiences at the time and became a cult hit, but it's fair to say it hasn't aged well.

As luck would have it, it was released on DVD just weeks after Boyle received the script.

"If I saw that when I was 10, I would have gone ballistic," he said. "I would have loved it. It was kind of like New Zealand's Dr Who. I thought it was great."

Boyle designed all of the creatures seen in Under the Mountain, from individual members of The Wilberforces to a giant underground lifeform called a Gargantuan.

His team tried to create something completely new for The Wilberforces, he said.

"We didn't take anything visually from the book in terms of the creatures. We really tried to come up with something different.

"Jonathan wanted them more tentacled, made up hundreds of slugs that could come together and wrap around each other to form a human body. So we just went nuts."

But his biggest challenge was designing the make-up and prosthetics for Mr Wilberforce, the head of the family who was played by Oliver Driver. He has nothing but praise for the actor and host of TV3 morning news show Sunrise.

"That makeup on Oliver Driver was a big ask. (He came in) at crazy hours like three or four o'clock in the morning. They glued a second skin on him, a silicone face, then added ears, a wig, dentures on his teeth (and) contact lenses - and that's when his day started.

"It's a big day for anyone who has to go through that."

Boyle said he was encouraged to push things as far as he could on Under the Mountain.

"We had to hold back on the gore, no blood or anything. But in terms of the intensity, the scare factor, the slime, it was, 'Go as far as you can'.

"There's nothing worse as an artist to get offered an opportunity and then be hit by all these limitations but there were no limitations on this.

"We were only limited by our imagination. "

* Stuff.co.nz will run interviews with cast and crew all week leading up to Under the Mountain's release on Thursday. Check back later for interviews with the stars of the film.

Under the Mountain
Director: Jonathan King
Starring: Sam Neill, Oliver Driver, Sophie McBride, Tom Cameron, Matthew Chamberlain, Michaela Rooney
Trailer: Flicks.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News