Q: In the episode Eater there are a lot of body parts and a severed head. How demanding was this episode to do?
A: There was an enormous amount of work. As well as the victims we also had to produce the banquet table littered with body parts for the opening shots of the show. The principal effect for us was Boyo's severed head. This was produced by first taking a cast of actor Glyn Morgan's own features and then reproducing this in wax. This was then worked on sculpturally to create the torn flesh look of the neck. The wax copy was then moulded in fibreglass giving us a negative mould from which a skin of silicone was then produced. This skin was then painted using reference photos of Glyn. Eyes for the head were hand-painted to match Glyn's from photographs of his eyes and inserted into the silicone head. The final step was the hair. To make the hair look as if it is growing from the head each hair has to be inserted into the silicone skin with a special needle one by one. The process took almost three days. Even the eyebrows and eyelashes have to be inserted individually to complete the effect.
Q: What was the most challenging effects to create?
A: Those in the episodes Dollhouse Burns 1 & 2. The death toll for these episodes included two cut throats several cut wrists and numerous people being shot in the head. The head - shots are an effect that was originally conceived for Saving Private Ryan. A tiny pyrotechnic is attached to a specially machined aluminium plate that sits on the actors forehead. This is then hidden underneath a prosthetic appliance made from gelatine. The prosthetic has a hole already cut out where the bullet hit will be which is then disguised with a soft wax material that now makes the forehead look natural. A blood tube and firing lines for the pyrotechnic are hidden in the performer's hair and then on cue the charge is detonated. Although only weak the tiny charge easily punches a hole in the wax and blood begins to flow.
Q: Did you do much prosthetic make-up work?
A: Yes, particularly in Dollhouse Burns. I worked closely with Emma Scott, the make-up designer. I created prosthetics for Bendix's scarred face and the clone prosthetics for Ania Sowinski playing the clone version of her character Kali. This prosthetic required me to make and apply prosthetic pieces to Ania's breasts, naval and crotch to create the effect of a nude clone who has no genitalia or physical traits, including nipples and naval, that would suggest she was born naturally rather than created in a laboratory. The first step in producing the prosthetics was to make moulds of Ania's body. The first time I met Ania was when she came to my studio for the body casting. Within ten minutes of her arrival she was set in the make-up room, topless, having moulds made of her breasts. With this kind of job you have to get over the embarrassment factor pretty quickly! The finished make-up was wonderfully bizarre with Ania looking like some Barbie doll from hell. Fantastic!
Biography
Neill Gorton began work in the film industry in 1987. Initially working as a make-up FX technician on movies such as Lair of the White Worm for Ken Russell and Hellraiser II: Hellbound and Nightbreed for Clive Barker.
In the early 1990's Neill diversified into working with physical FX and created models and FX for a huge diversity of projects including Nostradamus Pinocchio, Shopping and TV shows such as Mr Bean and Harry Enfield.
In 1993 Neill was contacted by Gerry Anderson, the producer of such classic shows as Thunderbirds and Space 1999 to head up a crew creating the alien creatures for his series Space Precinct. On completing an eighteen-month stint on this project Neill then chose to form his own company. The first project was the US TV series Tales From The Crypt closely followed by contributions to features such as Mortal Kombat II and Lost In Space. The company's biggest break came in the form of Saving Private Ryan for which Neill and a crew of thirty artists and technicians worked for eight months producing numerous bodies, corpses and FX for the D-Day landing sequences. This was followed by a steady stream of high profile projects including; Gladiator and From Hell staring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham which is due for release autumn 2001.
2001 also saw Millennium FX contribute prosthetics and make-up FX to the new Michael Winterbottom project 24 Hr Party People and Dr. Sleep for Kismet films.
With Urban Gothic Neill has attempted to create feature film quality FX on a TV budget. By drawing on his experience of both worlds he hopes to be able to bring a little something extra to this series.
