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| Articles & Interviews with Shuler | |
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Please note : Links to the original online articles may not remain active for long!! It is the first time Van Helsing faces all three of Universal Pictures' classic creatures - Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man - together. It's a device that will undoubtedly upset the purists but one that Sommers hopes to pull off by making each of the monsters emotionally complex, in homage to the vintage horror movies of the 1940s and '50s. Jackman is certainly among friends: in addition to compatriots Roxburgh and Wenham, the cast includes Shuler Hensley, who played tormented farmhand Jud Fry opposite his Curly in the award-winning London revival of Oklahoma!. Hensley takes the role of the monster created by Mary Shelley's Dr Frankenstein. "When (Sommers) rang to tell me, I was like, 'Who else could play it?"' says Jackman. "He's the perfect choice." A clue to the complexity of the director's re-imagined creatures is in their elaborate appearance - thanks to budget that runs to $48 million for costumes alone. Frankenstein's monster looks part man, constructed from the bodies of seven corpses, and part cyborg, with metal segments, frames, hinges and tubes. There is a large hole where his heart should be and a fuel tank of sorts on his right leg.
"After
seeing the monster DVDs again I thought that Frankenstein's monster
was like Lenny in Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men. You feel so sorry for him
because he doesn't know what he's doing. He's also like The Elephant Man
because he's so scary and then you realise that underneath Frankenstein's
monster is a great tragic figure. I told all the actors that there are no
monsters in this movie, they are just people with really bad problems. And
that's what I stuck to. The Wolfman is a man who turns into a wolf,
Dracula is also a man and Frankenstein's monster, well he's seven
different men......... Monsters
Inc - Hugh Jackman pursues gruesome creatures, and the summer's
first smash, with Van Helsing. Sommers
Reveals Man, Monsters In 'Van Helsing' ~ Writer/Director Re-Imagines
Classic Characters Ala 'The Mummy' Bringing
monsters together organically strikes a chord for actor Shuler Hensley
who plays Frankenstein’s Monster : "In this movie, Dracula, the
Wolf Man and Frankenstein are more defined. So you don’t have to play to
the stereotypes, and I think it makes it much more interesting. It adds
something unique to the creatures. We all have this preconceived notion as
to what they are. In this story, they’re all together and
interconnected, that makes their relationships really unique, so it’s
sort of like, ‘We know the creatures, now we’re going to run with
them’." One thing Hensley couldn’t escape from, even in the age
of computer-generated effects, was the tortuous make-up procedure he had
to endure each day to become the hulking creature. "The make-up takes
four and a half hours. It’s mainly the face. I think it was closer to
six hours when we started, and the face consists of 9 to 12 pieces. It’s
really an intricate, detailed piece of work. And then you have the body
suit and leg extensions, so I’m about 7’2". The leg extensions
are great – they were designed by a man who makes artificial limbs for
amputees. So it’s actually a metallic foot and it works like a normal
human foot. It’s real easy. I don’t think I could actually run on
them, but Frankenstein’s fast walk would be a run!" There was no DeNiro-as-Frankenstein gimmickry involved in casting the monsters. Georgia native Shuler Hensley, who plays Frankenstein's monster here, was tapped in part because Sommers and theater buff Ducsay were so impressed by his work in the hit revival of Oklahoma! as roughneck antagonist Jud Fry. (Before reprising the role on Broadway, Hensley costarred opposite Jackman, who played Curly, in London in 1998.) "I didn't know Hugh was even involved in this," says Hensley. "At the audition, I said to them, 'Tell me about the movie.' 'Well, Van Helsing is Hugh Jackman…' And I went, 'Aw, no-from the smokehouse to Transylvania!'" "Shuler would be in makeup for hours, and still be so endlessly cheerful that he'd come by and poke his great big head in the trailer window and sing," Beckinsale recalls. "And not necessarily the butchest tunes either. He and Hugh sang Grease with no worries, which was quite nice of them. And I think that Frankenstein has serenaded my child with Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful' once or twice." Aside from the electrical impulses seen crackling in glass portals in Frankenstein's head and chest, the creature Hensley plays is very much the product of makeup and a set of cleverly engineered leg extensions that boost his height from almost six-four to over seven feet. "You have to find where the balance is to get comfortable with them, so I started practicing with a stunt coordinator in Central Park before going to Prague," he says. "New Yorkers have seen it all, so they don't really gawk at you-but it was great to walk into H & H Bagels and get waited on first, you know?" From Premiere magazine, May
2004 Van Helsing Monster Talks : Shuler Hensley, who plays the Frankenstein Monster in the upcoming Van Helsing, told SCI FI Wire that his character in writer-director Stephen Sommers' film more closely resembles the creature from the novel than the ones on view in earlier big-screen characterizations. "The book was one of my favorites growing up," Hensley, a respected stage actor, said in an interview. "I just found it really interesting that this script and Stephen's take on the Monster were a lot closer to the book than the old films were in terms of the Frankenstein Monster being articulate." The actor added, "He doesn't stomp around screaming and moaning. He's an important part of the story. Like anyone else, though, I'd seen some of the films. I'd seen the Kenneth Branagh version with [Robert] De Niro. Our film, in passing, deals with what's in the book, but because Stephen has thrown all of these characters [also among them Dracula and the Wolf Man, with star Hugh Jackman's titular monster killer on the hunt for them] into a storyline, the storyline is unique. The movie establishes the character from the book and it takes off from there." Hensley went on to note
that he was thrilled to reunite with his friend Jackman. They'd worked
together in the London production of the musical Oklahoma.
"The [Van Helsing] called him to let him know that they were
wanting me to do it, and he was ecstatic," Hensley said. "Hugh
called me immediately. Any time we can work together it's like summer
camp. We have a great time. So it was a lot of fun. I had no clue that
he'd signed on. I auditioned and they told me that Van Helsing was going
to be played by a guy named Hugh Jackman. And I said, 'Oh, you're kidding
me.' It was fortuitous and a total coincidence." I try to look at the character from how he’s described in the book or the screenplay" Hensley elaborates. There’s always such a sense of innocence. He’s basically born anew. He’s a child in a monster’s body. You have a huge beast, but with childlike qualities – which can be very dangerous too. And I guess that’s hinted in the movies. It’s just a matter of putting your emotions in that. The makeup – four and a half hours of watching that every time I get in it is incredible, because by piece six, all of a sudden, my face is lost and, with my characteristics, the monster comes. So I sort of drown into it." For Hensley, simply walking around on the tall legs of Frankenstein’s Monster qualifies as stuntwork. "It was more about getting in shape, because," – he is interrupted by a thunderously loud scraping noise as crew members move something on the far end of the soundstage. "That’s one of my exercises" Hensley quips. "No, the difficulty is just being able to move. I’d say the whole costume and body suit is close to 70 to 75 extra pounds. So moving in it, and living in that, I’ve tried to work out for endurance and increasing my cardio workout". Unlike the Wolf Man and Dracula’s brood,
Hensley’s character is not augmented with CGI. "I’m the one
who’s there". He feels it oddly appropriate to be playing the
Creature on prosthetic legs. "Honestly, it’s the perfect scenario
for a man made up of 7 men to be putting on artificial limbs. You have to
walk differently; it’s a matter of staying on balance". From an article in Make Up
Artist Issue #48 about Captive Audience came aboard the project in June 2002, contributing thousands of designs for various characters before focusing their efforts on creating a new version of Frankenstein’s creation. "It was concerning at the beginning," says Vanderlaan. "What are we going to do to avoid looking like every other Frankenstein that’s been created in the past? We started talking about the realism of it: what would have been available to use in putting this creature together? Would it have been rivets and clasps? Would there have been a glass dome, bits and pieces of metal? What would it look like? And then we started saying, if Frankenstein was piecing body parts together, wouldn’t they be asymmetrical and somewhat mismatched? Yes, of course! He’s a genius in putting this monster together, but there have to be flaws, so that’s really what we focused on. What would the flaws be? Where would the skin not come together properly? Where would it still look deteriorated? Of course, it wouldn’t look fully alive, so there was no reason to use so many of the classic Frankenstein characteristics. There were a couple that were there because I think the audience expects it, and once we knew who the actor was, so much of what goes into the design process is what the actor looks like. Shuler Hensley has a very distinct look, but it isn’t chiseled hard features or anything like that. He looks like a big, Midwestern guy, and we were able to tailor the look of his face to that. For the head and face, we used silicone, and for the torso area, I was concerned that we’ve seen creatures in big foam rubber suits before, and it always looks like a foam rubber suit. I couldn’t live with the idea of doing that again, so we patchworked silicone and foam latex together. And if he’s a patchwork of different body parts, perhaps from different people, wouldn’t the skin tones or flesh qualities be different in certain areas? There are also mechanical pieces across his waist area, down one leg and one arm. The idea was that the muscle structure may not have been completely reattached properly so he’d need this mechanical piece to help motivate or give him strength in those limbs that weren’t completely successful in being put back together." A New Breed of Monsters : Shuler Hensley, who portrays
Frankenstein’s monster, concurs that he also approached his character
“from a Human aspect. Not so much as a monster, but as someone who is an
outcast. The monster label is basically the physical appearance. I think
this is more of a creature you can relate to. If you separate his look,
he’s really just a Human being who wants to be loved and to be a part of
society. He’s more of a tragic hero. In this movie, Dracula, the Wolf
Man and Frankenstein are more defined, so you don’t have to play the
stereotypes, and I think it makes it much more interesting. It adds
something unique to the creatures. We all have these preconceived notions
as to what they are. In the story, they’re all together and
interconnected, that makes their relationship really unique so, it’s
sort of like, ‘We know the creatures, now we’re going to run with
them.’” Filling Boris Karloff's shoes is always going to be a tall order, but it's perhaps the ideal role for 6'3" Shuler Hensley who won a Tony award for his portrayal of that other misunderstood monster, Oklahoma's Jud Fry. Van Helsing also brings Hensley back opposite his stage nemesis Hugh Jackman. "It seems like I always find myself coming back to Hugh at some point" laughs the amiable giant. I heard you had to have massive leg
extensions? How long did it take to get comfy in them? Did people recognise you under all that
makeup? Is it more fun to play the bad guy? STAGE TO SCREEN: Hensley Meets Jackman Again in Van Helsing : In addition to wearing about 50 pounds of padding and prosthetic leg extensions that added ten inches to his usual six foot-three build, Hensley endured four-and-a-half hours of makeup every morning. "That was my preparation," he says of the marathon makeup sessions, which would begin up to seven hours before filming. "That’s why mask work is so liberating: I literally disappeared by the time the makeup was applied." Hensley, whose other musical credits involve a Broadway stint as Javert in Les Misérables, had plenty of opportunities to practice his vocals on the Van Helsing set. He passed the time during a scene where he rows a small raft by singing Ol’ Man River and routinely belted out Sweeney Todd songs while strapped to the slab. He also had a habit of singing Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful while in full makeup, a habit that Kate Beckinsale’s young daughter loved. Hensley’s Van Helsing work is hardly complete; in the 48 hours before we spoke, he had recorded an audio track for the DVD, supplied his voice to the pending video game and seen the Frankenstein’s Monster action figure for the first time. And he’s also contracted for two more Van Helsing movies. What next for the monster, who is last seen rowing off to an unknown location? "It would be nice if he rowed himself to Hawaii. Three months in Hawaii would be nice!"
Creating a monster: Actors do more than look the part :Appropriately, actor Shuler Hensley said his misunderstood monster fashioned from corpses is a hodgepodge of the various Frankensteins of the past. There's a little of the menacing Boris Karloff, some of the intellectual eloquence from author Mary Shelley's original novel (displayed in Kenneth Branagh's movie version with Robert De Niro) and some of the humor from Peter Boyle in the comedy "Young Frankenstein." "It's much more than the grunting, walking creature that we're used to," said Hensley, who won a Tony for playing Jud Fry in "Oklahoma!" "We get that he's a big, scary monster, but he has other qualities." This Frankenstein quotes the Bible and also has to hold his body together - when the stitching starts to come loose. Hensley spent six hours in makeup each day. "I literally sat there and watched my face disappear and this . . . THING appear," he said. "It was literally like becoming Frankenstein's monster because I'm being constructed and put together every time." He also was fitted with a body suit and prosthetic legs attached at his knees that raised the 6-foot-3 actor to 7-foot-2. "It's basically a fiberglass cast that they put your leg in from a pointed position, sort of like wearing high heels. At the bottom is a metallic extension with a robotic foot." While in his grotesque costume, Shuler blew off steam by singing pop songs to his young daughter and the children of co- stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. "I got to sort of dress up as this giant monster and do Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera songs for the kids," he said. "There's some film footage somewhere out there, I think." Shuler said it was easy to slip into the role: "I played him probably seven times as a kid every Halloween."
The actor: Shuler Hensley, who played another monster - Jud Fry - in the recent Broadway revival of "Oklahoma!" The new take: "He's the Elephant Man or Lenny from 'Of Mice and Men,' " Sommers says. "He's sad and lonely and just wants to be accepted like everyone else." Adds Hensley: "Frankenstein is sort of the reverse of Dracula and the Werewolf. They have the beast within. He has the beast outside and the human qualities within. It gives him an awareness of how people are. He doesn't judge from appearances. When you think about it, he's really a nice guy." Upside of being Frankenstein: "He's big and, at least in this movie, pretty agile," Hensley says. "If he could make it out of Transylvania, he'd have a pretty good career in the NBA." Downside: "He wears a size 23 shoe," Hensley says. "That has to cut down on your selection." Pause. "And, of course, there's all those people with pitchforks and torches hunting him. Scary stuff. All that running away from people would probably wear out what shoes he has. He's really in a pickle." Favorite Frankenstein movie: "I love all the takes on him, including Peter Boyle singing 'Puttin' on the Ritz' in 'Young Frankenstein' and Boris Karloff and Herman Munster. This character can work in just about any situation."
Hensley and Kemp, as Frankenstein’s Monster and the Wolf Man/Velkan, respectively, dealt the most – and the longest – with special effects and makeup. Both men credit Sommers with helping through the process of delivering a performance under such circumstances. “Stephen was crucial, especially with all the blue screen work,” Hensley praises. “For me, being the only monster that really wasn’t CG, I think, obviously, I had an advantage as an actor knowing what I looked like and how everything would work and how I would move. But I still had a huge amount of blue screen work and Stephen, as you know, this is his genre. This is what he lives for. He doesn’t have to do it ever again. He does it because he wants to. You get that energy on set to a point where you’re surrounded by blue screen, but here’s Stephen, 30 feet below you, with a foghorn and going, ‘All right, the blinds are going down. Here she comes! She’s swiped you!’ He’s just so into every detail about what’s going on. You think, at some point, ‘He’s crazy.’ Then we got to see it for the first time yesterday and it’s absolutely as he described it to me. That’s invaluable. It’s interesting because he was so involved with the direction of the film, but also, if you got an opportunity to see him watch the playback, it was literally like it was a child who was watching his favorite cartoon. He would play it back a few times and he would know instantly if he had it. It was really amazing to watch.”
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Sommers
drew inspiration from characters in the old Universal horror movies,
including Boris Karloff's Frankenstein, Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Lon
Chaney Jr's Wolfman. "This movie starts where the original
Frankenstein ended, with the monster being burned in the windmill,"
he says. "The whole opening scene is in black and white. The thing
about the monster is that he's such a great character. He's like Lenny in
Of Mice and Men or the Elephant Man. On first appearances he's terrifying,
but he was the one who tore your heart out."
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