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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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Quick sculpting exercises vs. finished, rendered sculptures — what each one teaches you, and why you need both to master the human figure.
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 – Predator: Badlands.
If you don’t have much experience, you might be tempted to mix materials. Before you do, read this article—it might save you some serious headaches.
This book is essential for learning more about the human figure as it is very complete. Includes proportions based on eight heads ( be aware that we are using 7.5 heads), bone structure explanation, balance and range of movement of the joins. The anatomy applied to the figure is not necessarily as accurate as in the Paul Richer book. This book also includes pictures of models for an applied explanation.
This book is excellent for learning anatomy from a medical perspective applied to art. Here we also find his 7.5 cannon explained. The illustrations are accurate, giving the precise location of muscles, layers and mapping of the human body. This book is used in official academies like the Florence academy.
In this book, Michel Lauricella presents both his artistic and systematic methods for drawing the human body–with drawing techniques from the écorché (showing the musculature underneath the skin) to sketches of models in action. In more than 1,000 illustrations, the human body is shown from a new perspective–from bone structure to musculature, from anatomical detail to the body in motion.
This small, portable book presents a unique perspective on the human body for artists to study and implement in their drawing work. In this book, artist and teacher Michel Lauricella simplifies the human body into basic shapes and forms, offering profound insight for artists of all kinds, sparking the imagination and improving one’s observational abilities. Rather than going the traditional route of memorizing a repertoire of poses, Lauricella instead stresses learning this small collection of forms, which can then be combined and shaped into the more complex and varied forms and postures we see in the living body.
This book provides a simplified and practical vision of the human skeleton to help all artists in their drawing studies. Here you will find the most common and useful approaches to the body’s underlying skeleton and bone structure, which will fuel your imagination and enrich your observational skills as you draw the living form. In this small, portable guide, artist and teacher Michel Lauricella focuses on the essentials you need to know.
This book is excellent for the quality of the drawings; very expressive, fresh and accurate. This book is recommended as a reference for the quality of work we can achieve in the art standards mostly applied to drawing. It is also a good source of images of bodies and living anatomy.
