(dramatic music playing)
HOWARD BERGER: To be able to create so many characters that are tangible,
because nowadays there 's so much CG! involved
in fflmmaking and television shows
that we would actually have practical make-ups,
and creatures and puppets, and mechanical heads.
We were trying to do the count of how many prosthetic make-ups
we had done, and it's over 5,000.
Playing every single day was more exciting than you could ever imagine.
When we first started designing things, all I had was the script.
The descriptions were different than how the creatures turned out.
Bortus had a big evolution.
The initial design process was pretty long for Bonus.
It was at least a five-month period.
Once Peter Macon was hired, we brought him into KNB,
and we life cast him, so we had his head, and we could sculpt on that.
And we went through a couple different versions.
We never quite hit it. I came down here, set up a little sculpting area,
and I just sat and sculpted for, like, three or four hours with Seth,
and we finally hit on what Bonus' look was.
We went ahead, and we designed it pretty simple,
Peter would come in the morning, and we'd get him prepped.
And there was a cowl, his face would be exposed,
then we'd glue his chin on, and then he'd have the whole front of the face.
What remains Peter is this whole area here and his eye area.
And the pieces are very soft and they were thin,
so he was able to maneuver his face.
The first time we had done it, we had him sit in front of the mirror
and just move around and do expressions,
'cause you have to exaggerate your facial expressions to some degree,
and Peter was really great with it, and as a make-up designer you want that.
You don't want to have this giant make-up on somebody, and they can't act.
He's just such a great actor, and he brought that make-up to life.
(theme music playing)
'