3. Making The Make-Up

"When I was 21, the first feature I directed was Schlock, which was appropriately named," Landis told the Monster Talk Podcast. "The 20-year-old Rick Baker did the effects for that and I gave him the screenplay for American Werewolf in 1971."

"I was pretty confident that Rick could do it. In 1972, I went to meet with John Whitney, who is the father of what we now call computer animation. He was a fine artist who worked with the department of defense! His work evolved into flight simulators and weapons systems.

"But I said, 'is it possible for a computer to help the make-up process?' My idea was that Rick would do three stages or four and then the computer could morph the middle part. He said, 'no, John. It's totally possible, but we don't have the technology yet. But we will…' Now, of course, you can do it on your laptop!"

"After years of telling Rick I wanted to make the movie, he'd already figured out a technique he called 'Change-O-head', the stretchy heads that he used. He showed it to me and I said, 'great', but I couldn't get the money."

"Then, after Kentucky Fried, Blues Brothers and the others made so much money, I got that negative pickup deal and called up Rick. 'We got the money!' And he said, 'oh, s**t!' I asked him what the matter was and he said, 'I'm making a werewolf movie!' He had just started working on The Howling for Joe Dante. I was so upset!'

"So Rick's assistant, Rob Bottin (who would go on to make The Thing and RoboCop and more), took over on The Howling and Rick came to work for me."

Baker informed Landis that he needed the actors who would wear the various makeups - both werewolf and zombie - six months in advance of shooting in order to perfect molds. That led to the director and his casting team taking a real risk, as they tracked down leads without having the final budget in place.

Having got his start making monsters and makeups in his bedroom as a youngster, Baker was uniquely qualified to tackle the complicated transformation and wolf models that Landis needed to ensure that the film worked.

"John wanted it not to be a 'wolf-man' at the end, but an actual four-legged beast," recalls Baker. "There would be pain and movement in this transformation, unlike anything that had been done before."

"I said, 'at one point, we should switch to a fake head.' I figured that if we did a piece with the hair punched in and reverse-printed it, it would look like the hair was growing out. It would look much cooler. And I could push a fake head in weird dimensions, which meant we could shoot parts of the process without any camera trickery. 

"So we made a head, a back, various bits. And we put the guy's body in the set and created a fake body to let the transformation take place on camera."

"It would take us months to make one of the Change-O-Heads, but it would be quick to shoot. So John, being a smart filmmaker, shot the transformation in post-production. They kept the set up, had the wrap party for the main film, and the next day started filming the change."

"We laughed that the head parts took so little time on camera. It would be, 'action!', the thing does its job. 'Cut! We got it!' seconds later. I'd be, like, 'What? Is that it? Don't we need another take?' And John would ask, 'Does it do anything else?' 'Nope…' And that would be it. All that work and it was over in a blink!

But when the movie came out, I took my crew to see it and when the transformation came on screen, people stood up, clapped and cheered…"

The result was so impressive that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided it had to create a new awards category specifically for the film - and Outstanding Achievement In Makeup was born, with Baker the first recipient.

But that was afterwards. Back before the film could be made, Baker and Landis needed someone to wear - and react to - the stuff. They needed a cast…

Next: Casting Some Victims