Zathura The Movie in Wichita Falls, TX
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Genre: Adventure,Fantasy,Science fiction
Synopsis:
Two young brothers (Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo) play a mysterious game that propels them into an outer-space adventure.
Release Date: 11/11/2005
Running Time: 101
Rating: PG - Parental Guidance Suggested
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/zathura/index.html
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Cast:
Walter Budwing: Josh Hutcherson,Danny Budwing: Jonah Bobo,Astronaut: Dax Shepard,Lisa Budwing: Kristen Stewart,Dad: Tim Robbins,Lead Zorgon: Derek Mears,Voice of Robot: Frank Oz,Zorgon: Douglas Tait
Crew:
Executive Producer: Ted Field,Executive Producer: Louis D'Esposito,Producer: William Teitler,Producer: Michael De Luca,Co-Producer: Peter Billingsley,Director: Jon Favreau,First Assistant Director: Bruce Franklin,Writer: David Koepp,Cinematographer: Guillermo Navarro,Editor: Dan Lebental,Production Designer: J. Riva Michael,Art Director: Richard Mays F.
Production Companies:
Columbia Pictures
Distributors:
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Notes:
Production Notes - Notes Provided by Sony Pictures - An intergalactic world of wonder is waiting just outside your front door in Columbia Pictures' heart-racing sci-fi family film Zathura: A Space Adventure. Zathura: A Space Adventure is the story of two squabbling brothers who are propelled into deepest, darkest space while playing a mysterious game they discovered in the basement of their old house. Now, they must overcome their differences and work together to complete the game or they will be trapped in outer space forever. SYNOPSIS After their father (Tim Robbins) leaves for work, leaving them in the care of their older sister (Kristen Stewart), six year-old Danny (Jonah Bobo) and ten-year old Walter (Josh Hutcherson) either get on each other's nerves or are totally bored. When their bickering escalates and Walter starts chasing him, Danny hides in a dumbwaiter. But Walter surprises him, and in retaliation, lowers Danny into their dark, scary basement, where he discovers an old tattered metal board game, "Zathura." After trying unsuccessfully to get his brother to play the game with him, Danny starts to play on his own. From his first move, Danny realizes this is no ordinary board game. His spaceship marker moves by itself and when it lands on a space, a card is ejected, which reads: "Meteor shower, take evasive action." The house is immediately pummeled from above by hot, molten meteors. When Danny and Walter look up through the gaping hole in their roof, they discover, to their horror, that they have been propelled into deepest, darkest outer space. And they are not alone. So begins an exhilarating, sometimes frightening, but always unpredictable adventure. Danny and Walter realize that unless they finish the game they'll be trapped in outer space forever. With every turn, they confront one incredible obstacle after another: They accidentally put their sister Lisa into a deep cryonic sleep, are chased by a crazed, malfunctioning six-foot robot, rescue a stranded astronaut (Dax Shepard) and are besieged by lizard-like, carnivorous creatures called Zorgons. With the help of the astronaut, Danny and Walter begin to put their petty fraternal differences aside, work together to overcome the obstacles they encounter and attempt to finish the game so they can go home. But all their efforts may be in vain when they face their biggest challenge of all - a battle against an intense gravitational pull into the void of the dark planet Zathura. Columbia Pictures Presents A Radar Pictures/Teitler Film/Michael De Luca Production Zathura: A Space Adventure starring Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart and Oscar® winner Tim Robbins. The film is directed by Jon Favreau from a screenplay by David Koepp & John Kamps based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. The film is produced by William Teitler, Scott Kroopf and Michael De Luca. The executive producers are Ted Field and Louis D'Esposito. The co-producer is Peter Billingsley. The director of photography is Guillermo Navarro, ASC. The production designer is J. Michael Riva. The film editor is Dan Lebental. The costume designer is Laura Jean Shannon. The special effects are by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. The visual effects supervisor is Joe Bauer. The special Robot and Zorgon effects are by Stan Winston Studio. The music is composed by John Debney. Zathura: A Space Adventure has been rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for Fantasy Action and Peril, and Some Language. Zathura: A Space Adventure will be released nationally by Columbia Pictures on November 11, 2005. BLAST OFF! Prolific children's book writer, Chris Van Allsburg (Jumanji, The Polar Express), and his partner, producer William Teitler, initially showed the general idea for Zathura: A Space Adventureto Columbia Pictures just after he conceived the book. "We brought it to Amy Pascal, Matt Tolmach and Amy Baer and they flipped. They absolutely loved it," recalls Teitler. "Once Chris finished writing the book, the screenwriters David Koepp & John Kamps read it and felt they had a very clear vision of how it should be adapted it to the screen." "Jumanji took seven years from the first time we optioned it to the time it actually got released," Teitler continues. "Zathura went so much faster because everyone immediately recognized what a great concept it was for a movie." The challenge of adapting Zathura to the screen was the exact opposite of most literary works, which have to be compressed to accommodate a running time of about two hours. Van Allsburg's books follow a time-honored format for children's literature: Each book is extremely concise, 32 pages long with 14 illustrations. It makes an excellent blueprint for expansion into a full-length motion picture, giving the screenwriters a clear outline, while also allowing them a great deal of creative latitude in expanding on the source material. "When I first read the script, I was immediately taken by how sincere the depiction of the characters was," comments Favreau. "David (Koepp) and John (Kamps) preserved a great deal of the emotion and imagery of Chris's book." Producer Mike De Luca agrees, adding, "It's a wonderful screenplay. It expands on the book's themes and turns it into an exciting, breathless adventure built around the story of these two bickering brothers." There were several reasons Favreau chose Zathura: A Space Adventure as the follow-up project to his recent holiday hit, Elf. He was he looking for a film that would be a technical challenge, but one that still enabled him to tell a rousing, spirited story with a meaningful message at its core. "I wanted Zathura to work first and foremost on a visceral level," says Favreau, "very much in the way Steven Spielberg's early Amblin movies did. Films like E.T. and Close Encounters and George Lucas' Star Wars movies are the kind of sci-fi stories I grew up loving and that's something I was eager to explore with this film. I also thought it would be fun to work with special effects, miniatures, robots, computer graphics - areas I haven't had a chance to play with in the past. After working on Elf and having a small taste of that kind of filmmaking, Zathura seemed to be the next logical step for me to challenge myself and grow as a filmmaker." Another reason for taking on Zathura: A Space Adventure was more personal, Favreau continues. "I have two children now, I watch a lot of movies that are geared towards kids and this one really appealed to my sensibility. As a filmmaker, a big part of your job is to put energy into getting a message out into the world that you believe in. I like stories that offer hope and films that have responsible themes. When you're making a movie for young people, there should be a little aspirin in the applesauce. There should be a nice message at the core." For Teitler, one of the rewards of being a producer, he says, is hearing that a director like Favreau, who was coming off a huge hit like Elf, was interested in taking on his project as his next directorial assignment. "As a producer, you work really hard on a project, because you love it," says Teitler. "Part of the process is getting a strong director attached who feels as passionately about it as you do. When we heard that Jon really wanted to do the movie, it was like 'Yes!'" Since Favreau had worked as an independent filmmaker for years, Teitler and his fellow producer De Luca sensed that he would bring a different perspective to the material. "While I'm too old to say I grew up on the Amblin movies from the '80s, such as Back To The Future, E.T., Gremlins and Goonies, they had enough adventure in them to please the whole family," says De Luca. "In Zathura, Jon retained that kind of wholesomeness while at the same time bringing his own special brand of irreverence to the project that makes it interesting for adults." Adds Teitler: "We all know that Jon has this great instinct for comedy. But he also has a great feel for the emotional heart of the story. The script already had a lot of heart and as Jon continued to develop it with the writers and the actors, he found all the emotional and comedic moments that exist in the midst of the action and adventure." Favreau agrees that his preparation as an actor and independent filmmaker was useful in helping him recognize that the emotional connection between the characters was a great way to move the story along. "I'm good at understanding the relationship between people," says the director. "My background as a writer and as an actor helps me create a situation where I can work with the actors to achieve something that's true and real. And the more real the situations - even in an extraordinary set of circumstances like a house in space - the more you can ground this story in reality. That helps the audience relate and experience the adventure along with the characters." Once the script was ready, the arduous task of casting began. The filmmakers knew that they needed two extraordinary young actors to pull off the roles of the two central characters, Walter and Danny. "We had to find kids who would make you believe in this incredible flight of fancy," says De Luca. "So the casting was a critical, critical part of the process." Though they are brothers, Walter and Danny, have strongly divergent personalities, mentions Teitler. "Walter, the older boy, doesn't really hate his younger brother, but won't give him the time of day. Still, Danny looks up to his older brother and really wants his attention and respect." "I wanted young actors who could improvise and react in an honest way to the circumstances," says Favreau. "I didn't want kids who were just going to hit their marks and scream when the monster arrived. They had to be able to expand on what was written and find the reality in it. When you're entrusting an entire film to two young boys, you have to find the very best actors out there." The search was far-reaching and comprehensive, covering five cities across the U.S. and live auditions with more than 500 young boys for each of the two roles. In addition, casting director Avy Kaufman received tapes from across the country and Canada. But it was in New York City that the production found their two leading men. Twelve year old, Kentucky-based Josh Hutcherson was cast as Walter, the older brother who is annoyed by his younger attention-seeking sibling and reacts with predictable irritation. "Josh is as good an actor as any I've ever worked with," says Favreau. "He came in after we had seen hundreds of other kids his age and it was like getting to drive a Ferrari after having only been behind the wheel of Volkswagens. He was able to incorporate even the most subtle direction." Favreau was no less impressed by his other choice, seven-year-old New York-born Jonah Bobo, who was cast as Danny. "Jonah is pretty new to acting," the director states, "but he already has a presence and a core of honesty. You can teach acting, but presence and honesty cannot be taught." Before signing the two young actors, Favreau made sure that both they and their parents were aware of what lay ahead. Not only would they be called on to act, but they would need to possess the physical stamina to handle the rigors of a long and complicated three-month shooting schedule. Their time on the set would be spent in harnesses, swinging from wires, running from robots and Zorgon creatures, as well as being tossed around on sets that tilted and shook. "I wanted to make sure that everyone was aware that there would be real stuff chasing the boys, that dust would be flying, wood shattering and there'd be fires on the set," Favreau says. For Hutcherson, the realism was exactly what made appearing in Zathura: A Space Adventure worthwhile. "It was pretty easy on the set because there really were Zorgons there chasing you," he says. "There were real explosions and meteor showers. Because everything was so real, it was easy to get into character." Following her highly praised performance as Jodie Foster's daughter in David Fincher's suspense thriller, Panic Room, 14-year old Kristen Stewart took on her first comedic role in Zathura: A Space Adventure as Lisa, the boys' older sister. "It was unlike any other role I've ever played," says Stewart. "Teen angst is kind of my genre right now, so it was great to get a chance to do comedy." In addition, Stewart also had to establish a believable relationship with the young actors who would be playing her kid brothers. "I have an older brother, so I'm not really used to dealing with smaller children," she confesses. "When you're so used to being the younger sister, being bossed around and doing everything for your older brother, it's an interesting swap to be the one in charge. And I have to say, I kind of liked it," she laughs. Favreau acknowledges that Stewart was not anything like the character he'd originally envisioned when he first read the script. But once she read for the part, he quickly changed his mind. "She was just so luminous," recalls Favreau, "and so very talented as an actor. She was so wonderful, that you just couldn't take your eyes off of her. I knew she had to play Lisa." The role of the astronaut called for an actor who could not only bring humor to the character, but also demonstrate a serious, heroic quality when he has to help the boys out of their predicament. Favreau, himself an improv-trained actor, turned to Groundlings alum Dax Shepard for the job. Shepard, a product of the highly respected comedy troupe The Groundlings and a relative newcomer to films, was a little nervous about taking on the responsibility of being a hero. "I was scared," Shepard admits. "I do comedy, so I'm comfortable with that. But being a hero, looking into the camera and saying, 'This way,' and 'Follow me,' I wasn't so sure about. Fortunately, Jon was able to put me at ease. He told me that a hero doesn't have to be Tom Cruise conquering the world. Since I think that Tom Cruise conquering the world is the definition of a hero, I'm lucky that Jon is a little more flexible in his interpretation," he laughs. Favreau had wanted Oscar® winner Tim Robbins for the role of the family's dedicated, if somewhat distracted father right from the start and was thrilled when he agreed. "Tim was our first choice," the director recalls. "He's got a family too so I think the film was appealing to him. And when he does comedy, he always brings a lot of heart and soul to it." The overall quality of the script and the specific family dynamics it addresses, were important factors in Robbins' decision. He recognized that although the film was first and foremost a space adventure, it was also about the journey the family goes on - one that leads to better understanding among them. "For the fantasy to work, it has to come out of a believable situation," comments Robbins. "There have to be issues like in any great family movie. There has to be a path the family has to take to discover, to evolve, to change. The first 20 pages of the script are really about problems and what's going on at home." "This is a story about how the boys come to grips with their competitive natures," says De Luca, "and how they eventually team up and work to get themselves back home. I think all of that plays real, which allows you to buy into the fantasy elements. Part of casting Tim was an effort to maintain that verisimilitude, that reality quotient, where you feel like it's a family struggling with real issues." Another reason that Robbins responded so positively to the script was its universality in regards to children and their imaginations. "In your imagination you're always going other places, but you're still in your house," according to Robbins, "imagining everything from cowboys and Indians to soldiers to space adventures. But all of that is done from the safety of your own home. In Zathura, the idea that a house travels through space taps into a common childhood fantasy, which gave it a universal quality. It's something that almost every kid has fantasized about. We've all gone through this journey at some point in our house, in our living room, in our mind. This adventure actually takes them out there, and I think that's really cool." SPACE SHIPS, ROBOTS AND ZORGONS, OH MY! To create the film's robots and Zorgons, Favreau called upon multiple Oscar® winner Stan Winston. With more than 40 years of experience and a treasure trove of memorable screen creatures from the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park to the to title character of Edward Scissorhands, Winston claims, "Zathura had everything I always say is most important about any motion picture: First and foremost is a good script. I read the script and loved it. It was a chance to do something special and it was fun family fare. Secondly, is the importance of the director. And Jon Favreau is one of the most imaginative directors I've ever worked with. He's come up with some exciting concepts and ideas. Not only is he a fan of new technology, but also of the kind of work we're known for here at the studio." Crucial to the success of a film of this scale is mutual understanding and a shared philosophy among all of the participants. The filmmakers, Winston along with the various department heads Jon G. Belyeu (special effects), Joe Bauer (visual effects) and J. Michael Riva (production designer) all shared a similar viewpoint. Everyone agreed that whenever possible, the creatures and other sci-fi elements should be real. After further discussions and meetings the production outlined specifically which elements would be real, which would be added later using computer generated images (CGI) and which would utilize miniatures. "We storyboarded a great deal," remembers Favreau. "We built models. We went back and forth and had meeting after meeting about how each shot in each scene was going to be shot." According to Favreau, "We used digital effects here and there to help move the story along and help smooth out the rough edges. But at its core, we wanted the main set pieces to be based in the real world, in a practical environment. It feels more realistic to people of my generation who grew up before digital effects were so pervasive. To me, movies with too many digital effects look a bit like a video game." Co-producer Peter Billingsley agrees that the inventiveness of digital effects has its place, but in a limited way. "It's pretty amazing what you can do with CGI," he explains. "But at the end of the day, you don't always connect with what you're seeing in CGI, because your brain can sometimes register it as fake and the movements don't seem completely real. In this film, anytime there's an explosion, it's real. Anytime something is set on fire, it's really on fire. We've burned things, we've blown things up, we've pulled off roofs and walls and shot at miniatures. Jon has used a very smart combination of old and new technologies to create a very inspired and nostalgic look for the movie." "Jon (Favreau) wanted to do as much in camera as we could," asserts special- effects supervisor Jon G. Belyeu. "He wanted it up front and personal, so it seemed physically possible. In the real world, things have a real look. In the digital world, if you see it for too long, it doesn't have the saturation, the depth and the quality of what we're doing in camera." Adds Winston: "I embrace the (CGI) technology, but I like to use it so that it is magic. I always say that if you can do it live, do it live. When you can't, do it digitally." Favreau's vision was consistent throughout, whether it was for live action or any of the film's various other elements. He wanted the film to reflect and pay homage to some of the most innovative and meaningful films and art of the past. "If you look at the robot," he explains, "It's very derivative of early sci-fi. And the Zorgons remind me a lot of Frank Frazetta's paintings from the John Carter Of Mars serial books. We screened a lot of movies, like Forbidden Planet and other early sci-fi classics." Production designer Riva also cites the animated Iron Giant as an inspiration. "Jon and I both loved that film very much," he says. "But again, we did not want to repeat that, so we approached it differently. It was originally drawn in storyboards by a wonderful artist, Eric Ramsey." All these influences were incorporated into the concepts and designs that Riva and his art department produced. With the plans in hand, Winston and his group moved ahead to bring the robots and Zorgons to life. Heading the team for Winston Studios was Shane P. Mahan, makeup and animatronic supervisor, who along with his crew, went to work taking the sketches of the robot and interpreting them from a mechanical standpoint. "The inspiration for the robots really came from Jon's wanting to capture the golden age of Hollywood horror films," recalls Mahan. "For instance, Jon was really taken with Ray Harryhausen's animated characters. It's an era that I love as well. So it was fun for me to create something with that retro feel." "When the broad concept of the robot was done," Mahan continues, "we changed some angles, under J. Michael Riva's supervision. There was a bit of back and forth between the design and the practical aspects of making the robotics actually work." Ultimately, several versions of the robot were needed to create the one character. The "baby-bot" is the smallest, measuring 10 inches high. It's the toy-sized robot that Danny and Walter first see after Walter pulls a card that reads 'Your robot is defective.' At first, the robot looks innocent, hardly big enough to cause any damage. But then it begins to grow. To accomplish this, a second version of the robot was built, the "grow-bot." This version was constructed with parts and pieces that pop out and extend until the robot stands an ominous six feet, eight inches tall with a shoulder width of five feet. The grown up robot brandishes a retractable saw blade and has jet packs attached to its feet and back. This version is rod-puppetteered and radio controlled. The rods were kept at a minimum so that there were as few to remove in post-production as possible The third and fourth versions of the robot were full-sized puppets. One was a complete robot that was puppeteered with rods by Winston's puppeteers, who made the character move and come alive. The other full-sized puppet was built to fit a person inside and was aptly called the "performer-bot." For the scenes during which the robot chases Walter and needs to move throughout the house, performer John Alexander was inside the suit making it come to life. "John Alexander's job is to wear uncomfortable things and create a performance," comments Winston. "And he's one of the best at it." To protect the performer and to make the robot more manageable and flexible, it was made primarily of fiberglass, which was kept as thin as possible. The metal pieces were reduced to the bare minimum. Inside the suit, the performer wore a complete body harness to help equally distribute the weight of the suit so that his whole body bore the heavy load, not just his shoulders or legs. The "performer-bot" was a clear example of how the various departments coordinated their efforts to successfully create each element. The suit consisted of the robot's head and torso as well as its feet. Alexander's legs, covered in black tights that don't reflect light, were exposed during shooting. In post- production, the human legs were removed and replaced by CGI robot legs at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Similarly, the arms were digitally added on. Or if they were attached during shooting, the rods holding them up were later digitally removed. After the "performer-bot's" movements were recorded, visual effects supervisor Joe Bauer and visual effects producer Joseph B. Conmy IV, both of whom worked with Favreau on Elf, utilized motion control to create a "clean plate," which was used for removing those parts of the performer not covered by the suit pieces. Those areas were then replaced by the CGI robot parts. In preparing and planning each shot, Bauer coordinated with the pre-visualization group Pixel Liberation Front (PLF), who initially worked with storyboards and blueprints provided by the art department. In the computer, PLF created exact replicas of each set and the motion control units that worked them. "This allowed us to create accurate models of the motion control rigs," explains Bauer, "so we knew that the shots we wanted could be achieved. Favreau and director of photography Guillermo Navarro reviewed the material, made any changes, and then we took it all apart. We decided in advance which ones we could actually shoot on set and which needed to be shot off the set." Bauer continues, "We were using motion control, which is a computerized way of controlling the camera and repeating what the camera does. So if we had a camera that was panning with the "performer-bot," then we'd replay the camera move without the actor and have just the background. This gave us the matching piece we needed to erase the parts of the actor we didn't want to see. A mid-step of creating the shot would be just the torso or the head and the feet of the robot crossing the room, but no connecting pieces. Then Imageworks would create computer graphics to fill it in." Visual effects producer Conmy adds, "After we'd do a take, we'd then repeat the camera move exactly. The computer recorded it and repeated it, so that you had a clean plate. So if, for instance, you have the performer's legs visible, they are blocking a portion of the set behind him and we have to paint that part of the set back in. Because the robot's legs aren't the same width and scale and placement as human leg, we had to have that background plate in order to recreate it." Preparing for the shots required hours of tests. "During pre-production, we did a series of tests," recalls Conmy. "We shot the man in the suit as he ran and walked through the set. Then we added CGI arms and legs, just to see how they integrated with the motions of the puppeteer Jon had envisioned. Stan Winston Studios conducted these tests and we were happy to find out that it all worked." By having an experienced and skilled performer inside the suit, Favreau was able to get the movements and action he desired. In addition, he was able to elicit reactions from the cast as they faced a charging, menacing 6 foot, 8 inch mechanical creature. "When you're working with two kids, as we primarily are in this movie," says Favreau, "it's nice to have something real for them to react to and not just a blank green screen. The gait and the weight of the robot's body movement made it come alive and was really menacing for them." When the robot was required to crash through a doorway or into the fireplace, the "bam-bot" was put into motion. Whereas the performer robot was designed with lighter weight materials, the "bam-bot" was sturdily built to serve as a battering ram. It was made with a combination of materials including heavy fiberglass, urethane, epoxy resin and steel armature. To create the robot's spectacular crash into the fireplace - jet pack ablaze as pieces of the fireplace shatter and scatter around him - the visual effects, production, construction and special effects crews all had to work together to achieve the desired effect. "In order to get the robot to go through the fireplace," explains Belyeu, "the first thing we had to do was build a very specific fireplace that would allow us to do that. It needed to be constructed in a way that it would come apart without destroying the entire set in the process. The bricks were made of a substance we call pyracell, a very soft form of plaster-like material. Construction used it in conjunction with balsa wood to make the set look as if it was built of masonry and real lumber. Actually, it was soft all the way through. "Then my crew came in," Belyeu continues. "We loaded it with high explosives, set up a track, mounted the robot on the track and used high-pressure air cylinders to move the robot from its start mark through the fireplace. The high explosives allowed us to create an element of energy that wouldn't necessarily be there. Then, with the way the sets were constructed, we could jam the robot right through it. At the point of impact, the explosives were ignited so that it looked as if the robot created the damage." Through careful planning, each scene was pieced together in post-production by matching up all the various elements. "The robot and the camera were controlled by a computer," according to Belyeu. "As we did each pass, everything was in the same place, at the same time, every time. We could run a pass with the children charging through the doorway, take the kids away, do exactly the same camera move and then set off the explosives. Then we could start over and run the robot through. When all of this is put together, we've got the interaction of the explosives, we've got the kids and the robot in the same shot and no one has been placed in jeopardy." Special effects technician Chris Burton spent more than three months building the robot's rocket pack. The prep time was necessary to create a pack that shoots real fire reaching temperatures of 1,500 degrees, as well as to allow for enough time to test every aspect of the apparatus. Only by fully testing the device was the effects team assured there would be no dangerous or costly surprises and they would be fully prepared when it came time to fire it up on the set. Another carefully tested effects-driven scene occurs when the Astronaut first arrives at the house. Floating through space, he appears upside-down at the front door. Stunt man Mike Justus was fitted with a swivel harness with a yoke and rigged to the end of a Zeus crane for this spectacular entrance, which enabled him to gently float into the scene and rotate 180 degrees into an upright position. Burton created a second jet pack for the astronaut's arrival, one that emitted CO2 instead of fire. Since the weight of the astronaut's flight suit was already more than enough for Justus to handle, the 25-pound jet pack was attached to a flying rig arm and only appeared to be on the astronaut's back. The marauding aliens, the Zorgons, were not fully realized when the Stan Winston Studio team went to work, though Riva says Favreau did come up with the initial version of the creatures. "Actually, Jon is an accomplished sketch artist," says Riva. "I'd never admit this to him, but he's actually a better sketch artist than I am. Anyway, he did a little drawing early on of what he wanted the Zorgons to look like - a kind of cross between a crocodile and an iguana with a little of Steven Spielberg's T-Rex thrown in. I still have the sketch in my office - it contains a lot of the flavor of the final product." Winston and Mahan took the initial drawing and embellished on it until they achieved the final look. Favreau made it clear he wanted a performer in the suit with his head exposed - though it would later be digitally removed. "When you look at the Zorgons in the final film," comments Riva, "you will be a little fooled by it and you'll wonder where the puppeteer's head is hidden. For a moment, you'll think maybe the head is way out in the front, but after a moment you realize it couldn't be there because anatomy doesn't work that way. If we have people guessing like that, even for a brief moment, then we've done our j
