Brent Armstrong : special effects artist
Special Effects Artist Brent Armstrong
By J. Jekyll
March 2010
Goremaster.com
Mr. Armstrong was first inspired by the movie monsters he saw on TV as kid. He became an avid reader of Famous Monsters of Filmland and decided he wanted to become a makeup artist. He has gone on to have a successful career creating creatures and makeup for such films as Starship Troopers, Big Trouble in Little China, Alien Nation, and Army of Darkness. |
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GM:When did you make your decision to enter the field?
BA: Well, if we're talking about the film industry, I saw my 1st horror film on tv when I was 6 - the Cyclops, with Lon Chaney Jr. After that, even though I was inviting nightmares, I was glued to the tube (B & W, back then). Like most baby-boomers interested in this stuff the time frame was perfect as all the old Universal horrors, along with the great 50's “schlocks” (my personal faves) were being released to tv for the 1st time, so my youthful youth was barraged with tons of great and creepy images that have never, thankfully, diminished. I wandered around for about a year wondering just where they found people that looked like that!! THEN I found my 1st monster magazine – Famous Monsters of Filmland (FM) # 35. I started collecting any and all mags of this type. Notably, FM had ongoing articles named “The Men Behind the Monsters”. THAT'S where I clued in and THAT'S when I decided, at the age of 7 that I wanted to be a makeup artist. It wasn't helpful, though, that I was born in the wrong country - Canada - so I spent many years dreaming, experimenting with what few materials and info I could get my hands on. Dick Smith's makeup mag that was offered thru FM in the 60's and Richard Corson’s Theatrical Makeup book were the most helpful and at the time the most authoritative sources.
GM: What or who inspired you to start?
BA: Answered partially above, my influences were Dick Smith and Jack Pierce, the makeups of the 30's, 40's and 50's - any and all!! I was a sponge!!!!!!! Let's not forget the Don Post masks of the 60's. Inspiring stuff!!
The Mummy
GM: Favourite early special effects memory?
BA: Well, I guess one of the strongest images that has stuck with me was a closeup shot of Tabanga's face from "From Hell It Came". I had nightmares for weeks!!!! It was a magazine called Monsters to Laugh With (Marvel, authored by Stan Lee!! no less) where I first saw an image of The Alligator People makeup on the lead actor. For some strange reason I'll never figure out, that image ALWAYS pops up in my head when thinking about monster mag images. Go figure!!! TV show? The original Outer Limits, to be sure. The Man Who Was Never Born, The 6th Finger, Feasibility Study - I could go on and on. At the time, along with Way Out, which I sadly missed out on and to a lesser extent The Twilight Zone, these makeup enhanced shows were what we (Baby Boomers) grew up with. They were brilliant, goofy, iconic, memorable and when we look back on them with affection, somewhat laughable.
GM: Top 5 Special Effects Movies?
BA: Not necessarily in this order - Moby Dick ('56), Bride of Frankenstein ('35), The Thing ('82), Godzilla ('54), The Matrix ('99). It's a tough question to answer. I can't just stick to 5!!!!
GM: Favourite Sp FX scene?
BA: Man...............................................................................! OK, the one that comes to mind, AT THE MOMENT, is the whole spider-head creation scene from the Thing. Now THAT'S a real tour de force!!!!!!!!! As soon as I'm finished all this, about 15 other scenes from other movies will flash forth!!!
GM: Who is you favourite SPFX person?
BA: Well, for as much as I admire the raw talent and innovative ways of the grand old techniques of Jack Pierce, I would have to say Dick Smith. He taught us ALL how to behave!
Frankenstein
GM: How did you get started?
BA: Long story. I got accepted to USC in '78 into the film dept. as a grad student. I blew it all off except for Bill Tuttle's makeup class. Thru his friendship (that lasted until his death) and expertise I was taught everything I needed to know about on set makeup. He even taught me how to lay a beard and moustache, trim it and curl it in less than half an hour!!! That same year, on my own I'm sorry to say, I found Elegance International Academy of Makeup. Well, Greg Cannom went there too. Good experience overall. Got laid a lot and managed to do a few on set jobs. But it was thru the USC class I got my first real taste of how the other half lives. A girl in my class was working on this little no budget movie and asked me to replace her for a few weeks while she took off to work on a movie with her boyfriend. Of course I said yes. This ‘lil movie turned out to be one of the 80's (took 2 and a half years to complete!) biggest underground cult films, a ‘lil opus known as Forbidden Zone. Oh, my Gawd!!!! My 1st day on set was making up 20 nude babes from UCLA. We're talking NUDE!! Sorry, it was my very 1st time on a set of any kind. I stayed a few weeks and it became my responsibility to keep Hervé Villechaize out of the men's bathroom with other women. Every time he was needed on the set and couldn't be found, it was my "job" to go pull him off some chick in the men's can!!!!!!! He had a schlong that would put most of us to shame. Yeah I know - too much info!! But this stuff sticks in my head, I have to share! From there, I went back to Canada and resumed my fledgling career as an illustrator and graphic designer, something I did for about 15 years total, and also started pounding the pavement introducing myself to every production company in Toronto. It was a real struggle. Moving on, I eventually found myself in LA again in '84 - to stay this time and the 1st place I landed was Stan Winston's. They were just finishing up Terminator and had another project, much smaller and insignificant, from Canada called The Frankenstein Factor or as it was released The Vindicator (1986). It was important to me because it was my 1st time in a shop working with other people. From there I went to work with Lance Anderson on Captain EO and then to John Beuchler's in Italy for 4 months on Troll and Terrorvision…and on it goes.
GM: Whose current work do you admire?
BA: Well, except for Mike Elizalde's shop, there's no real creative work coming out. He seems to find the top people and the most innovative. Of Course, it doesn't hurt to get the primo budgets to go along with. I don't really care for Baker's new Wolfman makeup, even less because all the transformations are computerized. There are aspects of it that are awe-inspiring, like the hairwork, teeth and colouring, but I don't really care for the design. Don't get me wrong. Baker's work is state of the art. But for sheer genius and creativity, my vote would have to go with Rob Bottin and Steve Johnson. The work that had consistently come out of those 2 shops were the very best I've ever seen. I miss the level of insanity that they reached were responsible for on the screen.
The Phantom of the Opera
GM: How have you gotten work in the industry?
BA: Calling on the telephone, day after day and networking thru friends, partying, being available to socialize. After a while, if you’re good at what you do, you start getting calls back. Work friends will tell you about stuff coming up and so on. This was before computer networking took over a lot of the now more prehistoric approaches. I never really warmed up to computers until around the time I was ready to retire from the industry.
GM: What was your toughest job?
BA: I can't recollect ever having a "toughest job". I really did enjoy the bulk of my time in the industry. I learned a lot, made some great, lasting friends and made some grown up money. I think the toughest thing about STAYING with it were the attitude changes towards the work itself that filtered down from the producers to our immediate bosses to us. It ceased to be AS fun as it could have been and became alarmingly corporate. It was about that time, in the late 90's, that I started thinking about leaving and pursuing fine art sculpture.
GM: What was your favourite job?
BA: I have a few. Starship Troopers, Ninja Turtles 3, Army of Darkness, Alien Nation the series, Mouth of Madness, 300, The Santa Claus, Virus, Big Trouble in Little China, Tremors 2. All very fun, all full of giant growth, giant laughs, giant checks!!
GM: How do you pick out materials?
BA: Well, when I was in the industry, most of the time the materials were all picked and in place for us. Now, with my own projects, it depends on how big and complex the piece will wind up being. I don't always have a fixed idea of the end product. A big part of the fun is letting a project morph beyond your initial mindset. The downside is that I've wound up with some finished pieces that have almost bankrupted me!! Like my 4 and a half foot tall King Kong that eventually grew to 12 and 1/2 feet!!! With materials I have to also consider the strength and longevity of the finished product. I do shows all over the country, so my main consideration is getting the pieces shipped to where ever in 1 piece. Always include a repair kit in case of scratches and the like, but since I build my own crates and pack everything myself, I'm usually pretty confident that everything's bullet-proof. I have recently discovered an epoxy casting material that makes some of my more delicate pieces very strong. It ain't cheap, so I have to pick and choose what I use it on, but it works beautifully. It's the Adtech 707 plastic system, coupled with their Epoxy resin and cloth, and it's incredibly strong. My molds are done with Walco 1065 silicone and fibreglass jackets - nothing startling, just knowledge based on my years in the shops.
The Wolfman
GM: Are there any new breakthroughs in the industry that excite you?
BA: Since I'm really not an active member any more, I guess not.
As far as my personal work goes, I'm finishing up the Rondo Hatton relief you see as my profile pic on facebook. I have a ton of projects to get thru in the next year. After this, I’m doing a somewhat larger than life bust of Vincent Price's House of Wax makeup, after that, self portrait # 2. I have yet to cast up the first one. It's been divided up into 18 individual molds. I've been recently commissioned to do a bust of Steve McQueen. I've been asked to do a Wolfman bust for the Wolfman Legacy Univesal release coming out in February 2010. And so on and on and on.....................No movie work in my future, although I do get asked on occasion to go in to Optic Nerve and sculpt appliances for Heroes and CSI NY.
Rondo Hatton relief
GM: Any advice for beginners?
BA: Target KNB. They're always looking for new talent. Don't go in acting like a know-it-all. You'll find yourself BY yourself very quickly. Just be nice!!!!!!!! and show your willingness to learn their way of doing things. Nothing will land you on the pavement faster than insisting your way's the best way.
King Kong
GM: Best advice?
BA: None. I was on my own.
GM: Best Training?
BA: My best training was always on the job. You learn fast and once or you're out. They can only teach you the academics and procedures in school. No one can teach you how to get along with people in a shop. There is an endless variety of misfits and surprisingly conservative people who inhabit these places. Do your job and observe - with your mouth shut and your ears and eyes open. Remember that what you've learned as far as the job itself is concerned may get you the job, but it won't help you keep it if you turn out to be a boorish egotistical ass. Just get along.
GM: How do you envision the future of makeup fx?
BA: I now, having been away for awhile, see it as an ever increasingly relaxed marriage. It wasn't always that way. Back in the 90's when CGI came on like gangbusters it was considered a very serious threat to our end of the industry. To be sure, it has crushed some of the more hands-on professions like matt painting and diminished to a great extent hand drawn cell animation and stop motion. Thankfully there are certain pros out there that refuse to let these incredible art forms die. These days however, there seems to be a developing calm between both worlds as they relax and meld together. I think the recent Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Chronicles of Narnia series proves this. Yes, it seems that the wind has been knocked out of makeup fx, even to the extent of shutting down a lot of the smaller shops, but when I see such grand work coming out of places like Spectral Motion, KNB, Baker's (whenever he chooses) Optic, etc., I have to admit that it comes down to just another chapter being added in the history book of film, and that eventually this will morph into something else, yet again.
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