Secondhand Lion

Secondhand Lions, directed by Tim McCanlies, and featuring Academy Award winning actors Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, nominee Haley Joel Osment, and Kyra Sedgwick, is a coming of age story that follows the comedic adventures of an introverted 14 year-old boy (Haley Joel Osment), and his cranky, eccentric great-uncles. Although Haley wanted to act with the real lion, the producers decided it was too dangerous, so he had to make do with a puppet. That's where I came in...twenty four hours and hundreds of pounds of refined mud later, this was the result. Not bad for working a second shift until 2 AM. A friend of mine, Matt Jordan (multi-talented salt-of-the-earth guy) got me together with Tony Gardner, owner of Alterian Inc. for the project. (Matt has worked with Tony for years in a multitude of capacities.) Tony and I both lived up in Lake Arrowhead at the time, but never met until Matt. After a talk over dinner, and a look at my portfolio (and liking another lion sculpture of mine), Tony invited me to join his crew and lead sculpt on this project. When looking at the sculpture, keep in mind that, while you may think the anatomy looks exaggerated, it has to show through the fur and backing (like muscles under skin and fur would). Alterian is a great shop, and Tony is par excellence -- one of the best people I've worked for. I found one cynical critic who posted a review on the web about the puppet, but most people don't even notice it when watching the show, so it must have been good enough for the purpose it was designed. Others have commented on the neutrality of the position, but again, there's a specific purpose the sculpture was designed for. The rig and puppeteer bring the lion to life. Had the sculpture been posed, it would have made the puppet susceptible to tearing at the extreme movements. I've done some other work with Alterian, and would have done more, but our schedules were generally unsynchronized. To see a pic of the puppet with Haley Joel and the puppeteer click: http://www.comeawayohumanchild.net/SecondHandLions/DVDontheset.htm