Category: Industry work

Categories
Industry work

Sculpting the Predator Suit for Predator: Badlands at Weta Workshop

In 2023, I was invited to join the team at Weta Workshop to help build the practical creature suits for a new entry in the Predator franchise. This time the story went back to the saga’s origins with a prequel — one that went on to become the highest-grossing film in the series, taking $185 million worldwide in its theatrical run.

That’s not a bad result, but it fell short of covering the $105 million production budget plus marketing, leaving Disney in the red on the project and putting plans for a follow-up film on hold. None of that changes what it was like to make the movie, though — and making movies is what we love to do.

A Franchise Nearly 40 Years in the Making

If the name Predator doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve almost certainly seen the image: Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of his 1980s stardom, squaring off against a dreadlocked alien hunter. The franchise began in 1987, pitting soldiers against that creature, and has spawned a sprawling series since:

  • 1990 — a sequel continues the story
  • 2004 & 2007 — crossover films merge the series with the Alien franchise
  • 2010 — Robert Rodriguez reboots the series with Predators
  • 2018 — Shane Black directs The Predator
  • 2022 — prequel Prey is set in 1719
  • 2025 — the animated anthology Killer of Killers leads into Predator: Badlands, which shifts the perspective to a young Predator protagonist

Building the Suits

On Badlands, I worked within the sculpting team led by Simon Rose. Alongside my colleague Gong, I sculpted the suits for two characters: the young Predator lead and his father. Jamie Bestwick handled the head sculpts, and Pepe Mora — a fellow Spaniard — joined the team to apply prosthetics on set. Partway through production, that on-set application shifted to a digital process instead.

Sculpting a creature suit starts with plasticine, built up over a cast of the actor’s body. Getting the thickness right matters enormously — too thick and it reads as fake once it’s cast in foam latex and moving on camera. Because it’s a creature rather than a human likeness, there’s real creative freedom, so long as the result convinces. As a sculptor, that freedom is always welcome — though working in this industry also means remembering you’re serving a much bigger plan than your own vision.

It was weeks of long, focused sculpting alongside good company. Probably one of the most enjoyable projects and that was thanks to the amazing team I was part of. Getting to do this kind of work as a kid was the dream; doing in my 40s, feels a bit different than what I anticipated, but that is life — still very enjoyable and still something I feel lucky to do as a professional.

Once a sculpture is finished, it moves into the hands of many other departments. The molding team, led by Will Tofft with eight to ten people, makes all the negatives needed to cast the piece in foam latex or silicone, depending on the character. From there it goes to the prosthetics department, led by Karyoon, and then to painting — while, in parallel, the rest of the costume takes shape in the leather room, where the full suits and fittings are built. Accessories and props are split between the 3D department and the props department. What you see on screen is the result of many hands working together, and that’s only on the manufacturing side — the number of people it takes to make the film itself is on another scale entirely.

Working Alongside Industry Legends

Projects like this carry real weight in the history of creature-effects filmmaking, and this one gave me the chance to work with Alec Gillis, who co-founded Amalgamated Dynamics (ADI) with Tom Woodruff Jr. in the late 1980s. ADI became one of Hollywood’s defining creature workshops, with credits including Tremors (1990) and Jumanji (1995), and an Oscar nomination for the latter. The studio also built the creatures for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and X-Men: First Class (2011), and took over creature effects for the Alien franchise starting with Alien 3 (1992), continuing through Alien Resurrection (1997), Alien vs. Predator (2004), and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) — which is exactly why Alec was brought in to supervise the effects work at Weta.

Full Circle

Growing up immersed in 1980s sci-fi film culture, I dreamed of one day being part of it. Getting to stand in this position now feels, in many ways, like a mission accomplished. Along the way I’ve learned that dreams are just dreams, and reality rarely matches the picture in your head — but the experiences you live through become the stories you tell, and they help build the narrative you were once fed by others.

I love this side of the industry, and I know I’m lucky to work in it. But if you’ve read this far, you’ll also know my interests as an artist go beyond film work. I love sculpture in all its forms — the human form especially — but what really moves me is turning energy into something tangible.

 

If you want to read more about my work in the industry, check out my article “Ghost in the Shell.” I’ll keep sharing more as I go — if there’s something specific you’d like to hear about, leave a comment below and let me know.

And if you’re interested in workshops, online courses, or more sculpting tips and behind-the-scenes stories, sign up for the newsletter.

Categories
Industry work

Industry work. Gosht in the Shell

Ghost in the shell intro screen shot

Sculpting for Film: Behind the Scenes of Ghost in the Shell

Working on Ghost in the Shell was an incredible opportunity — not only because it’s one of those iconic films you end up watching several times, but also because of the creative challenge and collaboration it involved. Like many projects at Weta Workshop, you rarely get to see the full picture until the very end. That’s part of the magic, and part of the chaos.

In the early days of a project like this, you get hints that something big is coming. You hear whispers in the studio — someone’s working on a sketch, a model is getting prototyped, or a new render pops up on a screen. But unless you’re a supervisor involved in the core planning meetings, the details remain scattered. It’s a bit like that game where people draw on each other’s backs and try to pass the drawing along — by the time it reaches the last person, the original image is nearly unrecognizable. That’s not exactly how things work at Weta, of course, but the analogy captures how fragmented the flow of information can feel. With so many departments and overlapping workflows, it’s easy to lose track.

Despite that, the outcome is often stunning — a patchwork of hundreds of skilled hands and eyes working toward a shared vision.

Printing the Future

When I joined the Ghost in the Shell project, 3D printing technology was just starting to become more widely used at Weta. They were heavily investing in new printers, building up what would eventually become an entire farm of machines. For anyone who hasn’t seen a 3D printing farm in action, it’s wild — dozens of machines humming away, printing out precise components with microscopic levels of detail.

At the time, the mock-ups were usually printed using PLA or ABS filament — good enough to test out fit and function. But the real deal came from high-resolution powder printers that could capture detail down to 50 microns (that’s 0.05mm). For Ghost in the Shell, they used this tech to print the internal skeleton of the main character, played by Scarlett Johansson. Since her character is an android, the goal was to achieve a complex, futuristic, mechanical look — all digitally modeled and then printed, later finished and assembled by hand.

That’s where our sculpting team came in.

Traditional Meets Digital

Our job was to sculpt the outer “skin” of the printed skeleton — to create the physical representation of Scarlett’s body based on digital scans. The initial scan, done in LA, was delivered to Weta’s digital department. From there, it was milled into clay using a CNC machine. What we found in the sculpting room was a rough version of the body in two large clay blocks — disconnected, misaligned, and missing the subtle organic shapes of a real figure.

Together with Masa, my sculpting partner, we set to work rebuilding and refining the form. That meant restoring anatomical accuracy, adjusting curves and volumes, and addressing proportion — especially where the milling was too rough or lacking resolution. We were asked to make multiple tweaks, including enlarging the breasts at the request of the art director. Later we heard that Scarlett herself was upset about that particular change. It’s a reminder of the strange intersection between craft and politics in this line of work.

In the background, our colleague Daniel Cockersell was working on refining her facial scan. Between the three of us, we had our hands full. Sculpting the body in plasticine, refining the face, and prepping everything for mold-making was a massive undertaking. But seeing the final product on screen — even knowing how different it was behind the scenes — was incredibly rewarding.

🔗 Here’s a behind-the-scenes link on Weta’s website with some amazing insights.

The Magic and the Shift

There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes unnoticed. The things you see in the movie often look metallic, heavy, or high-tech, but in real life they’re made of plastic, foam, or 3D-printed resin. Weapons don’t shoot, blood is syrup, and android exoskeletons are often painted PLA. The illusion is the magic of practical effects, and Weta is a master of that.

Still, it was during this project that I began to feel a shift — both in the industry and within myself. The role of a traditional sculptor was changing. As technology advanced, our tasks became more about cleanup and final touches than original creation. The real sculpting was happening in the computer. Artists who once spent their days elbow-deep in clay were now sitting in front of screens, working in digital environments that were sterile, clean, and efficient.

It’s not worse — just different. But for those of us who came up through hands-on methods, it feels like something essential is being lost.

I realized then that if I wanted to stay creative and fulfilled, I needed to carve out a path for myself. That decision led to the creation of my workshops, my personal projects, and everything I’m doing now. Sculpting for film taught me a lot — but it also showed me that I needed to keep evolving to stay true to the kind of work that feeds me.

Final Thoughts

Looking back, Ghost in the Shell was a highlight — not just because of the scale or the visibility of the project, but because of what it taught me about collaboration, adaptation, and the balance between tradition and innovation.

👉If you’re interested in the creative process behind movie sculpting, check out also the article Predator:badlands for Weta Workshop. If  you want to receive sculpting tips, watch tutorials or keep an eye on our online or In person workshops, Subscribe to the newsletter and I’ll keep you in the loop.