BT Ad Followup
Matthew Delieu was the Gremlins consultant on the BT ad and came to the project as a huge fan and supporter. This is a note he sent me a couple days ago:
"I really respected what the movies did for cinema and I thought both Chris Walas and Rick Baker created some of the best movie creatures ever. Dante's direction was perfect.....
When I worked on the ad I had to provide as much advice and material to help them create the Gremlins on a really tight schedule. Next to the worlds most famous prop owner, Bob Burns, I own a pretty large collection of original Gremlins props.
They borrowed my Gremlin puppet from the first movie and all my paperwork and puppet designs and blueprints and throughout the design stage asked me to comment on the look. They pulled off a miracle. This was effectively a mini sequel.
The special effects team worked day and night to produce around 20 puppets to interact with Peter Jones during the ad. Peter was a natural at acting and everybody got on really well with him, a true professional. His image has done wonders for BT, so lucky them.
Vince Abbott worked hard to produce some of the puppet mechanics such as the ear mechanisms. Vince and I got to operate Gremlins on the set and became good friends. Vince was no stranger to puppets, having worked on the Muppets Treasure Island and helping to bring the Gremlins to life on camera. We puppeteered together like two kids who had found their Dad's gun. It was just like being on the set of the original movie. Seeing a Gremlin operated by a professional, face to face, is something very rare. These things came to life.....Imagine being an Elvis fan and then getting to sing with him. Well, thats close to how I felt.
A lot of people saw the ad as the official return of the Gremlins, looks like somebody definitely fed Gizmo after midnight this time..........
So what can I tell you......Gremlins are back.......and hopefully, they are here to stay.
Im proud to have been involved in the return of the Gremlins....and have one thing to say to anyone wondering what will be next.......WATCH THIS SPACE."
Matthew is a good guy, and as you can gather, excitable and enthusiastic. I'm not sure I'll break any major stories, but if I hear something, I'll be sure to post it.
posted by Zach at 1:56 PM
8 Comments:
Wonder if Matt has had the chance to meet Joe Dante, maybe Matt could convince Joe to give another film a shot! Dante seems pretty set on not doing a third one...unless of course you know something that you're not telling us, Zach! lol!
Later,
J.D.
Thanks for the great suggestion JD, feel free to message me at Delieuc@aol.com, id love to talk....MD
Hey!
Greetings from Brasil here.
I was just seeing gremlins video on youtube and i got pretty nostalgic, this movie is so famous, people here in my country just loves it. So by that time i saw it i was 6 and i was a huge huge fan. Too nice that you have a blog. I have one too, but i guess you wouldnt understand cause its in portuguese. Anyways, if you wanna chat heres my msn/email fae2000@hotmail.com
Hi Zach, I´m from Argentina.
I just fell down here because the wikipedia.
Gremlins are really back?
Cheers!
Hi Zach,
This is Kyle from RI. I met you a couple days ago at the Rock and Shock horror convention in Mass. I appreciate all the advice you gave me and I hope you will like the script I passed on to you. Even if you don't read it, I appreciate the fact that you took it. My e-mail is MorbidlyAmusing@aol.com.
Thanks very much,
Kyle Cerilli
I have to wonder why Mr. Dante is not so willing to go wth any kind of CGI? Perhaps he feels it would stifle that classic Gremlins feel that you get from the puppets. Or, perhaps as Sacha Feiner said in one of his videos, he too finds it ugly. I wonder if Joe Dante would consider doing the movie with the puppets but "sprucing" them up a bit with green screen and minimum CGI to the faces or more animated movement such as falling or running like Sacha Feiner did. Of course I would have no trouble with an all puppet/animatronics film as I too prefer the puppets over totally CGI renderings. My concern is simply the reception it would get with "modern" moviegoers who are less about substance and story and more about the latest pop culture standards of hollywood. This is why I propose the meeting ground between the original animatronics with some of today's upgrades. This is all of course only if another movie is ever made at all. I, and many others have been, and will, keep our claws...fingers...crossed.
Hi Zach,
thanks for sharing these stories. I'm a huge fan of the Gremlins and it's so good to read things like that. I wouls love to see a "Gremlins 3" someday...
Friendly yours,
Fred
Joe Dante made the good best choice hiring Rick Baker for the Mogwai and Gremlin special effects in the movie "Gremlins 2." Rick Baker's Gremlin and Mogwai effects had the better characteristics than Chris Walas's effects. Rick Baker made the mogwai Gizmo even real, sweet, and 20X cutier in the Second Gremlins film. Mohawk the Spider Gremlin and the Brain Gremlin are the most challenging work. Many many crew have to operate on the spider legs while others operate on the mohawk gremlin's upper body parts, and as for the Brain Gremlin most of the crew have to operate on the Brain Gremlin's lips and tongue but others have to work on the screen tests to help Brain Gremlin's lips move perfectly, now THAT'S what I call the best puppeteer team work. And I give Rick Baker, Joe Dante, and the rest of the crew five to twenty stars and Grade A+++++ for their best Gremlin and Mogwai puppetry work in the sequel "Gremlins 2: The New Batch." NO CGI effects can beat the realistic Puppetry effects or even the stop-motion effects, because the puppetry effects are lot lot better. Oh, and by the way "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" is my favorite movie.
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