#puppetproblems
One of the challenges faced by the filmmakers was posed by the puppets used for the portion of the story where Luke is turned into a mouse.
52. Sometimes, size does matter
One of the films puppeteers, John Stevenson, explained that three sizes of mouse were used.
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They ranged from life sized, to a medium proportioned cable controlled version, to a large hand puppet.
53. Keeping things in perspective
Jim Henson explained the difficulties entailed in this:
“We had to shoot it in such a way that this gigantic mouse still had to look like it was only two-inches big. It was complicated to do that as it meant whenever we were shooting this we needed to have very large pieces of scenery to keep it in scale, but at the same time, this version of the mouse is most expressive.”
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Whilst dramatic types often struggle to keep things in perspective- hence the phrase “I’ll be in my trailer”- this kind of pragmatic problem is one experienced by many directors. Just think of Peter Jackson, trying to make Ian McKellen look three foot taller than Aiden Turner in ‘The Hobbit’.
54. Give her a big hand
Bigger wasn’t better in Anjelica Huston’s eyes, however, as her large prosthetic hands gave her some issues during filming. Having to use her fingertips as knuckles proved tricky. I can barely text after having acrylics on, so I feel her on this one.
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