![]() It was a great pleasure to do the picture,' she said it’s kind of like looking through a keyhole with blurred vision, so it was difficult seeing.My pleasure: 'And of course, indeed it was. “I didn’t wear any goggles or facemask and the eye of the suit sat about an inch from my eye. “Vision was the hardest part,” Browning said of his experience playing the Gillman. Restricted Eyesight Became a Big Challenge for the Creature Performers. Due to the height disparity, there are a few subtle differences between the outfits (Chapman’s, for example, came with an extra chest plate). So full-body molds of both actors were made, which formed the lowest layer of each man’s creature suit. This presented a few technical challenges: While Browning stood just under six feet in height, Chapman was an imposing 6’ 4”. How would you like to be the creature from the Black Lagoon?”īrowning said “yes,” but soon learned that portraying the monster would be a two-man job: While the Floridian did all of the Gillman’s underwater scenes, Ben Chapman played him on dry land. As Browning reveals on the DVD documentary Back to the Black Lagoon, Jack Arnold said, “We like the way you swam. A few weeks later, the young man received a fateful phone call. At the site, he also agreed to swim about for some underwater test shots. Two Slightly Different Suits Were Built.ĭuring the pre-production stage, Florida native Ricou Browning was asked to show the filmmakers around Wakulla Springs. He falsely claimed that he was the beast’s sole designer and made sure that Patrick’s name stayed out of the opening credits. But makeup artist George Hamilton “Bud” Westmore, didn't want to be upstaged. The Gillman gave her an opportunity to really shine, as Patrick was responsible for designing every inch of the creature’s body.Īs part of the film's ad campaign, Patrick posed with Gillman masks and sketches for some publicity shots. Before Creature from the Black Lagoon, she’d sketched various monster body parts for Universal. Her talents were numerous: Patrick acted in 21 films, drew concept art for countless others, performed as a concert pianist, and became the first female animator that Disney ever hired. Millicent Patrick’s huge contributions to the horror genre have been largely forgotten, even by die-hard fans. The Gillman’s Designer Didn’t Get Her Due Credit. Years later, the studio tapped him to play their web-footed “Gillman” in Creature from the Black Lagoon, but because swimming wasn’t his forte, Strange declined the part. From 1944 to 1948, Strange terrified audiences in Universal’s House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. When Boris Karloff retired from playing Mary Shelley’s reanimated monster, Glenn Strange took over. Monogram Pictures, Public Domain // Wikimedia Commons A Former Frankenstein Actor Turned Down the Main Role. Though Creature from the Black Lagoon was mainly filmed in Hollywood, several river and underwater sequences were shot at Wakulla Springs State Park. Observant viewers may have noticed that the film's Amazon looks a lot like parts of the greater Tallahassee, Florida area. Part of the Film Was Shot on Location in Florida’s Panhandle. These were later enhanced to give the monster a more menacing appearance. Slick and streamlined, the outfit didn’t come with much in the way of fins, ridges, or body armor. I said, ‘If we put a gilled head on, plus fins and scales, that would look pretty much like the kind of creature we’re trying to get.’ So they made a mold out of rubber, and gradually the costume took shape.” At first, the creature had what leading lady Julie Adams (credited as Julia Adams) described as an “eel-like” physique. ![]() ![]() Īs Arnold told Cinefantastique magazine in 1975, “There was a picture of the Oscar statuette on it. The little card would go on to become an unexpected source of inspiration behind the scenes of Creature from the Black Lagoon. Though he didn’t get the Oscar, Arnold kept the souvenir certificate that the Academy always mailed to its nominees. Universal managed to snag an up-and-coming filmmaker with a prestigious resume to direct the film: In 1951, Jack Arnold’s documentary With These Hands had received an Academy Award nomination. The Creature Was Modeled After the Academy Award. More than a decade later, still intrigued by the concept, Alland dramatized it by producing Creature from the Black Lagoon. ![]() While there, Figueroa shared a story he had heard during his travels of a race of amphibious beasts-half man, half reptile-that stalked the Amazon River. One night during filming of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles invited one of the movie's actors, William Alland, over for dinner along with a cinematographer named Gabriel Figueroa. RKO Radio Pictures, Public Domain // Wikimedia Commons
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |