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underskull. These were detailed and finished in Canada by
Kyle Huculak, Kalynn Kallweit and Brittney Bolzan. The
molds and castings had been made in Los Angeles at our
MEL satellite shop. Several of the masks were converted
to fully animatronic characters by mechanical artist Tim
Ralston and were all shot in Dubai. Rob Hinderstein made
some incredible eyes for these characters. He is truly the
master of lifelike eyes.
Other creature effects items included a full-body shriveled
corpse, replacement heads, CG scanning models and a large
creature puppet which required two puppeteers inside of its
body to operate it. This creature was called the "Elephant
Slug" and was built partly on producer JJ Abrams' request for
a practical creature that was also non-humanoid. Brian Blair
and Don Lanning headed up this project and was filmed in
Dubai.
Top: The Los Angeles crew. Above, clockwise from top left: Joel Harlow creates the make-up and prosthetics for alien Natalia;
Richie Alonzo applies make-up; Lenny MacDonald and Harlow create another alien look.