WWDITS Monster Maker Paul Jones

This week the boys welcome prosthetic makeup legend Paul Jones to discuss his long and amazing career. From behind the scenes stories of classics such as Nightbreed (actually a lot on Nightbreed) and his early Vestron Video films, to his most recent work on Poor Things and of course his amazing run on the What We Do In The Shadows series. Buckle up as Paul goes in depth on what it takes to create so many different and highly detailed creatures week to week!

Also in this episode, the boys review Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, A2's Tuesday, The Watchers, Dad Movie on Planes double feature of Con Air and Air Force One, All Car Series at the New Bev, talk about how great Meryl Streep is, Junesploitation, and The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film on Correia's Book Corner. It's all new on EYE ON HORROR!

Follow us on the socials: @EyeOnHorror or check out https://linktr.ee/EyeOnHorror
Get more horror movie news at: https://ihorror.com

Transcript

James Jay Edwards: 0:25

Welcome to eye on horror, the official podcast of ihorror com. This is episode 128 otherwise known as season seven. Episode Nine. I am your host, James Jay Edwards, and with me, as always, is your other host, Jacob Davison, how you doing? Jacob?

Jacob Davidson: 0:40

Doing? Well. Had a fun. Father's Day yesterday. Father's

James Jay Edwards: 0:43

Day. Yeah, we'll hear more about what you did. But before we get into that, here's your other, other host, Jon Correia, how you doing? Correia, doing pretty

Jonathan Correia: 0:51

good. I got, I got invited to a live recording of a an episode of Critical Role, part of their Bells Hells campaign. And my partner, Lindsey, they're very into Critical Role. I'm not. I can't sit and watch people play tabletop games, but Critical Role is, you know, it's, of course, their voice actors, and it was at the Greek theater, so they really put on like a show with the and it was, it was a lot of fun. I don't think I could sit and watch episodes, but to experience it live was, was really, really great if you don't so, yeah, I highly recommend it. You.

James Jay Edwards: 1:28

It sounds like watching the episodes of The Big Bang Theory, where they're playing. DND,

Jonathan Correia: 1:33

Way more entertaining.

James Jay Edwards: 1:36

What's been going on? You guys see anything new? I saw a couple new things. Yeah, have you heard of this movie called Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person? That's what the movie

Jacob Davidson: 1:48

is. Right? No, but the title is incredible, and pretty much tells us everything we need to know.

James Jay Edwards: 1:53

It pretty much does. Yeah, it's about, it's it's about a reluctant vampire. She looks teenage, but it turns out she's 68 years old, but you know, vampires, and she doesn't her parents and her family are all on her they're like, Oh, you have to make your first kill. We're tired of, you know, killing for you and feeding you. And she thinks that she solved her problem because she meets this suicidal guy who's willing to die for her to keep her alive. But it gets a little messy, because she makes friends with him, and then there's other things that happen. But it's a, you know, what it does? It does for vampire movies, what WARM BODIES did for zombies, you know, it kind of, it doesn't really turn it into like a rom com kind of a thing, because it's not really romantic. It's more like they are. They just become like best friends. They don't, you know, but it is. It kind of humanizes the monsters, you know, if that makes any sense, because clearly her name's Sasha, the girl reluctant vampire, is clearly the hero of this even though, you know, she's one of the most age old monsters in movie history. But yeah, it's it's fun, it's a it's a really dark movie, both esthetically and humor wise, and got some cool little surprises in it. So yeah, sounds

Jonathan Correia: 3:07

like a nice double feature with Let The Right One In.

Unknown: 3:10

It could be Yeah. It could be Yeah. As

Jacob Davidson: 3:15

for me, yesterday was Father's Day, and the Cinematheque had a fantastic double feature that I felt exemplified the spirit of fatherhood more than anything, and by that they had a double feature of the 1990s action movie classics, Con Air and Air Force One, because nothing says fathers did a more than action. Dads on airplanes fighting criminals and terrorists and stuff.

Jonathan Correia: 3:39

Get off my plane!

James Jay Edwards: 3:42

put the bony in the box. Um, Con Air, dude, Nicolas Cage is Cameron Poe is the father that we all want in Conair.

Jacob Davidson: 3:49

He waited eight years to see his daughter because he didn't want her to see him in prison. That is dedication and like, it is just crazy how stacked those casts were because, like, yeah, like, you got Nicholas Cage and John Cusack leading Con Air. Then you've got Harrison Ford and William H Macy leading Air Force One. And then you got classic bad guys with John Malkovich as Cyrus the virus in Con Air, and Gary Oldman, as I forget his name, but you know, the terror, Russian terrorist in Air Force One, and, yeah, just they both really exemplify cinema of their times. And that's when, actually, when cinema was very fun, because, like, it was a very rowdy show, because, like, people were applauding and laughing and yelling at a bunch of the scenes between both movies. Yeah, they get off my plane got a lot of applause. And also just kind of, also Con Air so weird to me, because there's that whole subplot with Steve Buscemi being the notorious serial killer. What was it? Grissom green, yeah, he's

James Jay Edwards: 4:57

Hannibal Lecter. Basically

Jacob Davidson: 4:59

exactly. Really, Steve Hashem. He's Hannibal Lecter, and he doesn't even really do anything in the movie. He's just sitting there menacingly,

James Jay Edwards: 5:06

except escape. He's the guy who gets away. But I think it's

Jacob Davidson: 5:10

like he reformed, like, because there's kind of a through lines, like, Can criminals reform? And he has that Tea Party little girl, but he leaves her alone. And he's, he seems kind of chill, chill about murder. Now, I guess, even though he wore a person's head as a hat while driving across state lines,

James Jay Edwards: 5:27

I don't think he's reformed. The last thing you see of him isn't he yet like a roulette table or a black Exactly.

Jacob Davidson: 5:33

Yeah, gambling. He's got a he's got a martini. It's

James Jay Edwards: 5:37

a Hannibal Lecter moment. I'm having a friend for dinner. I mean, he's, I don't think he's reformed. I think we they should make a movie about him, his own movie. That whole

Jonathan Correia: 5:46

scene with the little girl in Steve Buscemi came off like Frankenstein's monster and the little girl in, oh yeah, comparison the pond side scene like that whole time you're just saying they're going, the fuck is he gonna do to that little girl? Oh, dear God, but way more menace, because, like Frankenstein, at least, it's like, oh, there it's, this is fun, whereas Con Air, it's like something horrible is going to happen to this very adorable, very innocent child. And I'm terrified,

Jacob Davidson: 6:12

thankfully not, but it definitely kept you on edge. But yeah, no, both movies truly exemplified the spirit of fatherhood in that a real father would be willing to fight his way through terrorists airborne to see their child again and say and save their families.

James Jay Edwards: 6:32

That is an awesome Father's Day double feature.

Jonathan Correia: 6:34

Speaking of children dying in movies, I king of segways, welcome to Correia's book corner, I just got this amazing book from Vinegar Syndrome, the The Sweetest

Taboo: 6:45

An Unapologetic Guide to Child Kills in Film, written by Erica Schultz with an introduction by Zach Carlson. And it is a the Go To step by step, or film by film, guide on children dying in movies. And it's, it's a lot, it's very similar to, if you, if you ever got the the punk punks in movie book as well, where they basically go film by film. They give you a little bit of a setup. They talk about the kill and its relations to it. So just flipping through it, they have it set up in sections and chapters such as, like, you know, whoopsie is chapter one. There's when animals and insects attack vehicle Vehi-kills like vehicles, but v hick hills, the hand that kills, so on and so forth. But it's a very interesting book. I highly recommend it. They only made 1000 copies of it. So go to Vinegar Syndrome and get it, because these type of books, they're super limited run. And then they,

Jacob Davidson: 7:50

well, it's sold out, like the website sold out right now.

Jonathan Correia: 7:54

Ah, well, maybe, maybe I'll post some sections later. I don't know. I did also get some Satanic Panic books that I will be reviewing on our on our social medias at some point, because they are ridiculous

Jacob Davidson: 8:07

and real quick. Uh, any, any movies that popped up from the book that feature child murder? That's the whole book. But, yeah, I know. But can you name a few examples? Oh, few examples. Let's

Jonathan Correia: 8:17

open a random page so we have, uh, Where the Red Fern Grows is

Jacob Davidson: 8:22

one. I read that in elementary school, and they and they

Jonathan Correia: 8:26

rate it to the movie by stars and the child death. They rate it. It's one. I think it's one out of four for both. But see, I

James Jay Edwards: 8:34

see there's a big poster of When A Stranger Calls,

Jacob Davidson: 8:36

oh, yeah, I saw that. Uh,

Jonathan Correia: 8:39

Jungle Holocaust, Killer Crocodile 2. That's the one. One section I read was The crocodile or Killer Crocodile 2. And they talked about how there was a lack of child kills in the first one. And so they made it up. Made up for it in, like, the opening of the second one. It's, it's really tongue in cheek in a fun book. Uh, highly, yeah. So sorry. You're gonna have to get a second hand market unless they do a repress. Speaking

James Jay Edwards: 9:01

of dying kids king I said with segways, I saw this movie. It's one of the weirdest movies of the year, and it's actually inspired me to make a top 10 weird movies list this year. It's called Tuesday. You

Jonathan Correia: 9:15

guys hear about Tuesday? Yeah? With Julie Louise Dreyfus, right?

James Jay Edwards: 9:18

Julie Louise Dreyfus, yeah, love her. It is. It's basically, it's an A24, movie. So that kind of tells you how weird it is. But it's basically death. It takes the form of a bird, like this Macaw, parakeet, kind of a thing. But it's also kind of a shape shifting bird, because it like, grows to the size of a person, or it can get, like, super tiny. And it comes Julie Louis Dreyfus's Daughter is terminally ill with something, and this bird comes for her, and she ends up making friends with the bird. So the bird doesn't want to take her, but he knows he's like all I have to this is my job as death to take you. And you know stuff happens, and you know it gets kind of horrific, because. As the kid is trying to buy time so that she can see her mom over time, because it happens when her mom's not home. So the bird is neglecting its duties as death, so people who should be dying are not dying. So you've got, like, telephone pole repair guys cut in half crawling around who aren't dying, because death isn't there to take them. It's, it's, it's a crazy movie, but what I've been telling people is I did not have terminally ill teenager get stoned with death in the form of a bird on my 2024 cinematic bingo card. But that happens in Tuesday. So yeah, it's if you like weird movies, and more importantly, if you like weird A24 movies. Because this movie screams A24 you know what you're getting into with it, but yeah, it's a it's a crazy one. That's

Jonathan Correia: 10:46

awesome.

Jacob Davidson: 10:47

And speaking of weird movies, I had a good repertory run at the new Beverly last Friday, like they were doing kind of all car movies, because they were doing a midnight of Deaf Proof over the weekend. But what I did was I went to the Friday matinee of Repo Man, and followed that up with their double feature of Vanishing Point and Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, uh, latter, two of which I had never seen before.

Jonathan Correia: 11:13

That's such a great triple feature. Exactly,

Jacob Davidson: 11:16

Vanishing Point? yeah, they really play well into each other, and they're all great commercials for the Dodge Challenger.

Jonathan Correia: 11:24

Those were also the two movies that one of the characters mentioned in Death Proof when they were exactly

Jacob Davidson: 11:29

why they get the Dodge Challenger. So it all ties together. And Repo Man, it's a different car, but it's still one of my all time favorite movies. And it was perfect timing, too, because they just announced from the Criterion Collection that they're going to be putting out a 4k version of Repo Man coming this September, which I

Jonathan Correia: 11:48

am pre ordering. I don't pre order Criterion anymore. I wait for the sales, but I need Repo Man in 4K. That and the Greg Araki Doom Trilogy

James Jay Edwards: 11:57

gonna say they're doing the Araki trilogy as well. Which,

Jacob Davidson: 12:01

yeah, no, they're really lining them up. And, yeah, no, I was really in the mood too, because I also got the Repo Man vinyl soundtrack while I was at MonsterPalooza a few weeks back, and is still one of my all time favorite scores, especially, or soundtracks, especially with just the sheer amount of punk music on there from Iggy Pop, Black Flag, the circle jerks. You know, it's just great listening music,

Jonathan Correia: 12:25

let me tell you, in college, the rotation on my record player was Repo Man, soundtrack and Return of the Living Dead just non stop, those two. And occasionally would put on Top Gun for danger zone, okay, yeah. I

James Jay Edwards: 12:38

mean, not mighty wings, yeah.

Jonathan Correia: 12:40

It was, it was all, it was all Logins. It depended on how much I had to drink that night. If I came back drunk, it was Danger Zone blasting, yeah, what

James Jay Edwards: 12:48

was the other login song on that plane with the boys Volleyball, volleyball scene.

Jonathan Correia: 12:53

I don't, I'll be, I don't know Top Gun that well, which is weird, because that was what my senior thesis in college was about, was the RE release of Top Gun in 3d

James Jay Edwards: 13:03

you know, you were blasting. Take My Breath Away. Every chance I was probably

Jonathan Correia: 13:08

out cold by the time that song record skipping, you know, um,

James Jay Edwards: 13:15

have you guys ever seen that that? It was an HBO series called Big Little Lies

Jacob Davidson: 13:20

that. No, I never really got into that one, the Reese

Jonathan Correia: 13:23

Witherspoon one. Yeah,

James Jay Edwards: 13:24

it's Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern. It's got a stack cast. Zoe Kravitz and Shaleen Woodley are the, basically the leads, so to speak. But, I mean, there are, there are men in the cast. Adam Scott is in there, and one of your Skarsgard, not Bill Alexander, Skarsgard maybe, oh, one of the Skarsgard. And it's basically, there's two seasons of it. And I got it because it was one of those sales on Vudu, where you get, like, the whole series for eight bucks. And I'm like, okay, cool. And it's a pretty quick watch. There are 14 episodes total for the season for that series. And the first season basically deals with, you know from the beginning that there's a murder, and it basically deals with leading up to and then the end of the last episode of that season is the murder. And then the second season is them dealing with the murder. And I don't really want to spoil anything and tell you who gets murdered, or, you know, anything like that. But let me tell you, I have never wanted to punch someone through the TV screen more than Meryl Streep in season two, because she pops up, yeah, as Nicole kidman's character's mother in law, and she does things that I mean. It's a testament to how great an actress the woman is, because she literally, I wanted to strangle her through the TV screen because she's such a b word I was

Jonathan Correia: 14:45

gonna say, if you, if you, if you want to meet up back, we could fight if you want to punch Meryl Streep step in front of that punch for

James Jay Edwards: 14:52

her. No, I do not want to punch Meryl Streep in the face. I want to punch Mary Louise in the face. Yeah, I want to punch her. And actually, I. It. Someone actually does not punch. It's a slap. But, yeah, somebody does what the audience wants to do to her in this So, but yeah, it's, it's, it's not really horror, but there is a murder involved, and there the one thing that kind of took me out of it, we're gonna go back to Big Bang Theory, kind of Shaleen woodley's kid in it is the kid who plays Sheldon in Young Sheldon. And I could, whenever I'd see him, it would kind of take me out of it. Because I'm like, oh, that's freaking Sheldon. That's about Ziggy, that Sheldon. I couldn't get it out of my head that this was not Sheldon Cooper as a kid. So that was kind of that kind of took me out of it. It's that role is going to follow that poor kid around for the rest of his

Jonathan Correia: 15:41

life, probably, I mean, but here's the thing, Meryl Streep is such an amazing actor, and I love it when she plays villain or villain esque roles, because, I mean, come on, Death Becomes Her? Icon, but also Jonathan Demme's Manchurian Candidate. I know I talked about the original last episode, and I watched Jonathan Demi's version. Meryl Streep in that is so good. She plays like Bush era politician to a T like she could be, you could have been a Senate. She could go for Senate. I would have believed it. I wouldn't have voted for her because she terrible person, that character. But I would have believed it.

James Jay Edwards: 16:19

Doesn't she play the president in something. I want to say Mars Attacks, but it's not Mars Attacks

Jonathan Correia: 16:24

my dreams. I

Jacob Davidson: 16:25

think it was, Don't Look Up. Yes, yes, it was. It

James Jay Edwards: 16:27

was Don't Look Up. Okay, yeah. So it's not that far fetched that she does play the president and

Jonathan Correia: 16:32

then she was vice president in in Air Force, one, right? Jacob, or was no, that was Glenn Close. That was going close. Oh, got it. Oh, that. How could I do that to them? But no Manchurian Candidate. There's this, I got, I have to talk about this. There's this. There's this plot in the in the book, where the mother is fucking the kid in the brainwashed candidate, right, played by Liev Schreiber the new one in the first movie they there's no mention of it, except for this one scene where she has them hypnotized, and then they just basically make out, and it's so left field, and the movie just goes on without addressing it, and it's just like, No, no, no, go back. What the fuck was that kiss? And so with Jonathan Demme would which is also fantastic, Jonathan Demme's take on it. I it was advertised as like a normal, 2000s big budget thriller, which it's not. He does some really weird and uncomfortable things with that movie that I can't say I enjoyed, but I really appreciate the staring down the barrel of the camera with the actors in a lot of scenes was really uncomfortable, and I love that he put the viewer in that state. But Meryl Streep, when it gets to that scene, I'm like, Oh, are they gonna make out? Is Meryl Streep about to kiss Liev Schreiber, are we about to get uncomfortable? Worse. She like, has him sitting and has him sit like she he's sitting, and she's like, kneeling from him, and she's like, telling him how much she loves him and how she did it all for him. And Meryl Streep gives this look, and that look just tells the whole incestual story. And she just leans it just leans in just a little bit, and then it cuts away, and it's just like, like you like, Meryl Streep is such an amazing actor that she gave this entire story of like that she's fucking her son.

James Jay Edwards: 18:12

She didn't need the kiss.

Jonathan Correia: 18:13

She didn't need the kiss. She didn't need to say shit. She just showed it. And like I was I had to pause, I didn't run out of the room. I was like, no, no, the power of the power of the Streep. Man, yeah, and oh, when is Mamma Mia three coming out? Seriously,

Jacob Davidson: 18:30

I feel like it's we're overdue. Every time

Jonathan Correia: 18:33

the trailer for Speak No Evil comes out. I get pissed off about two things. First thing I get pissed off about is that I think it's Mamma Mia three and it's not. And the second thing is, they show the entire fucking movie in that trailer. Anyways, another new movie I watched recently was The Watchers. Did you guys get a chance to check that out yet? No, the watchers is the first film from Ishana Night Shyamalan, M Night Shyamalan's daughter, and it's about this 28 year old American artist who finds shelter after getting lost in the woods in Ireland. And it's, it's, it's solid. There's some really interesting stuff that happens with the with the camera, some really interesting lighting work. She may have inherited her father's inability to end a movie, but I did see The Watchers with my partner, who read the book that it's based on, and the director also wrote the screenplay. Lindsey said that they stuck too much to the book, like almost too a fault, and that's kind of how it plays out in the book as well. There's not really an ending, and it just kind of keeps going for some reason, but it's solid. It was. There was a parts of it that were a lot of fun. I really liked how they got into some of the, I don't want to spoil out too much, the folk horror aspects of certain Irish folklore that are very different than other culture's interpretations of these beings and some but. Some of the dialog was just like a bit rough. There's a bit too much exposition, too much characters saying rather than showing. But all in all, I still had a lot of fun with it. I highly recommend, especially if it's on streaming and you want to watch something to kill an afternoon. I'd recommend The Watchers. It's fun.

James Jay Edwards: 20:15

It's got my girl Dakota Fanning in it to go. She's

Jonathan Correia: 20:18

great.

James Jay Edwards: 20:18

I love Dakota Fanning.

Jonathan Correia: 20:20

When is she not like, I

James Jay Edwards: 20:21

know, yeah, she's, she's awesome. But

Jonathan Correia: 20:24

it also has Owen, I'm going to mess butcher her name, my apologies. Owen foray, who was in the last Texas Chainsaw movie, she played the character who came back from the first some really good acting on those, you know. But yeah, the dialog did not help. I

James Jay Edwards: 20:44

caught up with a couple of things that we've already talked about. So I talked too much about them, but

I finally saw Godzilla X Kong: 20:48

The New Empire.

Jonathan Correia: 20:52

Yeah, boys are back in town.

Jacob Davidson: 20:54

Bad Boy Kaiju

James Jay Edwards: 20:56

It's exactly what you guys were saying. It's a WWF Smackdown there is a suplex, which I literally got off the couch and cheered. It was so awesome. Oh, and between, between that and The Fall Guy kiss is getting paid for that damn disco song that they all hate because it is I was

Jonathan Correia: 21:17

I made for loving you big Hey, that's a great album. I love the kiss disco album.

James Jay Edwards: 21:25

But the other thing I saw that that I'm catching up on is Immaculate. And all I can say about Immaculate is that ending. Oh, my god,

Jacob Davidson: 21:34

yeah,

James Jay Edwards: 21:36

it's one of those endings where you're like, Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do Oh, you did that. Real

Jacob Davidson: 21:40

jaw dropper. Oh, my God,

Jonathan Correia: 21:42

this is, this is a good year for cinematic guttural screams. Between immaculate and I Saw the TV Glow,

Jacob Davidson: 21:50

I would also say First Omen, yeah, and First

Jonathan Correia: 21:53

Omen, yeah. We're getting some real good guttural screams. Maybe that should be another list, guttural screams of 2024,

James Jay Edwards: 21:59

best guttural screams. Yeah, you

Jacob Davidson: 22:02

just got to have your primal screaming.

Jonathan Correia: 22:05

Oh, man, it's great. And then just wait for MaXXXine, because we all know that Mia Goth is, is an amazing screamer as well.

James Jay Edwards: 22:12

I cannot wait for MaXXXine because I, yeah, I just revisited Pearl and X for for a piece I was writing. And, yeah, I'm pumped for MaXXXine.

Jonathan Correia: 22:24

I just saw on Instagram. They're advertising a lot, and there's that clip of her just like, walking past the audition line, and she's like, Y'all better go home, because I just fucking showed up or something like that. And I was just like, Yes, ICON let's go. All right. Oh, she's

James Jay Edwards: 22:39

awesome.

Jonathan Correia: 22:39

I already pre ordered my tickets, and we did. We're going to the Alamo Drafthouse, so I pre ordered the they're having this thing where it's like a VHS shell, and the artwork is for a movie that Maxine's in. In it, like something like that, but there's no tape inside. It's just like stickers or whatever. But I need more space in my apartment filled up with garbage, so let's do it.

Jacob Davidson: 23:00

Why not? And just in terms of activities this month, one other thing I've been doing has been Junesploitation. Are either of you familiar?

Jonathan Correia: 23:08

I'm used to getting exploited in June, if that counts

Jacob Davidson: 23:12

aren't we all but yeah, no, June exploitation is this thing that I was started by F This Movie, and it's basically just to have a calendar for June of a different type of movie to watch each day of the month. So, you know, like the first of the month was the Roger Corman tribute, so I watched The Haunted Palace, and the other day was ozploitation. So I watched Stone and see for the free day. A couple days ago, I revisited one of my favorite John Waters movies, Cecil B. Demented, because, turns out it's on Tubi, uh, Cecil

Jonathan Correia: 23:45

B. Demented. You know, again, I the the realization recently on how much of my personality was shaped by mid 2000s Comedy Central, just showing the most unhinged movies. Oh yeah, middle of the afternoon. It was just like constant rotation of Cecil B. Demented and Wet Hot American Summer, and

Jacob Davidson: 24:03

that's how I saw Big Trouble in Little China. Big trouble.

Jonathan Correia: 24:05

Little China. Oh, man, I just can't that was so irresponsible, and is so responsible, like they're they're responsible for how fucked I am. It's great, and

Jacob Davidson: 24:15

that's why cable TV is good, yes, yeah, no. But doing this also makes me excited for Hooptober Because I never managed to do it. But I really do want to join up with Jonathan this year and give it a go

James Jay Edwards: 24:27

real quick. If you guys were characters in Cecil B. Demented, which director would you get a tattoo of, and how would it see, mine? I would do Cronenberg in the civic TV font from Videodrome. You know, the rainbow letters going down to be Cronenberg. Oh,

Jacob Davidson: 24:41

easy. I do John Carpenter in the John Carpenter font on my on my wrist.

Jonathan Correia: 24:46

Oh, no doubt it's Penelope Spheeris as and it's gonna be punk rock as shit with, like, probably, like some spray paint and, like, clothes pins or something. You know, there's,

James Jay Edwards: 24:57

there's no a in Penelope Spheeris for you to put the. Anarchy around though? Ah, yeah, that's true. You could put an A in the O in Penelope.

Jonathan Correia: 25:05

Oh yeah, the O and then, like, the A on the inside, yeah, for anarchy, yeah, dude, let's do this. Are we doing? You know, I'm

James Jay Edwards: 25:13

in, you know, who

Jonathan Correia: 25:14

has a Cecil B. Demented director tattoo like that is friend of the podcast, Benji. Benji Man, and he has a Sam Peckinpah tattoo. Peckinpah, yeah, he went with Peckinpah, which the one of the first times I saw it. I went, Oh, you like Convoy.

James Jay Edwards: 25:31

He's all, know, I like Straw Dogs, Yeah,

Jonathan Correia: 25:33

apparently Convoy isn't the one that gets everyone into Peckinpah. But whatever, I fucking love Convoy.

Jacob Davidson: 25:40

My favorite Peckinpah is The Wild Bunch. I

Jonathan Correia: 25:42

mean, Convoy is not my favorite Peckinpah but I will say that. But I do love Convoy. How could you not catchy song? Uh, but

Jacob Davidson: 25:49

yeah, while we're focusing on it, it is just kind of funny with the whole premise of Cecil B. Demented of film terrors, getting sick of the studio system and literally fighting against it in a guerrilla war while making a gorilla film. And I feel like it could be done again today.

Jonathan Correia: 26:05

Yeah, I rewatched it not too long ago, and I was like, Man, this movie was way too far ahead of its time, but it was also very relevant of its time, but also, like forever, just a lot of that sentiment. And I just

James Jay Edwards: 26:17

think it's great. They took the Patty Hearst story and made it. He's actually in the movie.

Jonathan Correia: 26:23

Patty Hearst is in a lot of John Waters films I

Jacob Davidson: 26:26

never understood. Serial Mom,

Jonathan Correia: 26:27

oh yeah, she she wore white after Labor Day. Fashion has changed. No, it hasn't. Icon, and

James Jay Edwards: 26:38

now let's bring in our special guest for the episode. This episode, we've got Paul Jones, who is the effects creator for What We Do in the Shadows, among a lot of other things, and we really want to talk to him. But how you doing, Paul?

Paul Jones: 26:52

I'm doing great. Guys. Thanks for having me

James Jay Edwards: 26:54

on. Oh, thanks for being here. The question I always like to start off with is, how did you get started doing what you do? I'm

Paul Jones: 27:01

still doing it the same way. It's basically been a hobby since I was 14. The only difference now is I get paid to do it, you know. So if as soon as I lose the as soon as I lose that joy, then I need to go and move on to something else. It was literally that I just did it on my friends and family, you know, Halloween, you know, usual. I live in northern England. So it's not really a big not really one of those hobbies that graduate to Northern England is doing prosthetic makeup. But, you know, by by the age of, like, 16, I'd amassed enough pictures to kind of put together a nice little portfolio, you know, just kind of all these goofy makeups that I either done myself or copied from other people. Somebody, friend of a friend sent some pictures down to London, to the guys that did Hellraiser, which I hadn't seen at the time. And I got a call from Bob Keene, and they said, you want to come down for an interview? And I was like, Yeah, sure, whatever Shepparton Studios, and you could be down next Thursday. It'll be great. And I'm like, I'd never been to London, you know, and here I am gonna in Shepparton studio. So walked in the door, and it was like, yeah, yeah. I'm Bob keen. I did Hellraiser, and I'm like, I hadn't seen it yet, and I seen the posters. I just hadn't, hadn't seen it. And he goes like, what kind of a horror fan are you? And I guess, sorry. Anyway, like two weeks later, I was working on a commercial. I was doing that for a couple of weeks, and then the commercial ended, and Bob said, so we got another show coming up in a month. And I said, Honestly, Bob, I'm so like, homesick and kind of like, you know, this weird, kind of weird kind of, like, London is such an intense place if you come from a small town. And he said, Well, go home, sort yourself out. If you ever want to come back, there'll be a job waiting for you. So I took the train home, walked out the train station and went, Wow, what a dump. Can I, can I come back to London? He goes, Well, we don't start for two months. Two months later, I moved to London, and that's that was the beginning of my career.

Jonathan Correia: 28:55

I love it. That was a Hellraiser three that they that, you

Paul Jones: 28:58

know, no, no, that. That was the early days. That was the first movie I worked on. Was Waxwork one, and the movie called The Unholy with Ben Cross. That was 1986-87 I've been told Neil Gordon, who does, who was one of the early image animation guys, told me that I actually started in 87 I thought it's 86 I thought he was 87 I have a terrible memory. So anyway, I was really, I was like

Jacob Davidson: 29:26

70 IDB, it lists those movies as 1988

Paul Jones: 29:29

88 so we did them in 87 There you go. Yeah. Looking for your

Jacob Davidson: 29:33

IMDB, it looks like a lot of your early work was a lot under the Vestron Video banner with, yeah, like Waxwork, The Unholy, Lair of the White Worm, Waxwork 2, Warlock The Armageddon,

Paul Jones: 29:46

yeah, they seem, they seem to be a bit of a pattern there.

James Jay Edwards: 29:51

Well, that led to one I, I speak for me only, but I'm pretty sure that the other guys are also in agreement. You worked on Nightbreed, yes, we love night breed and night breed, even for the time 1990 the the effects and the prosthetics were way ahead of their time. So what was that like working on something like Nightbreed? That was just so amazing.

Paul Jones: 30:17

Well, I mean, I was lucky to, you know, get in with image animation when I did, because it was they, they'd had some success with, you know, Duran, Duran video, that was one of their first original, original shows. And then they got the Hellraiser movie, and then a couple of other bits and pieces. But really, you know, you know, they got, like, Waxwork, Waxwork 2. But really, Lair of the White Worm moved us to Pinewood, and that kind of set us up in a bigger space. So when Nightbreed came along, we were kind of set up for it. And yeah, it was, if I was running that show, I would have been incredibly intimidated, because it's not like today. I mean, we'll get into this later, but now you have the reliance of having another department to help you, like digital effects back then, you didn't. So it was like, Okay, we're gonna do this movie that's entirely filled with a like an army of creatures, and you're doing all of it. So we're all looking at Bob, like, Bob and Jeff, who were the two owners at the time, like, how are we gonna do this? And they're like, ah, we'll figure it out. And that's exactly what it was. It was just we threw everything at the wall to see what would stick. I mean, some things were straightforward prosthetics. Some things were scratch build. Some things we would do out of the kit. We would just come up with different materials and slap them on the skin see what they look like. I mean, it really was kind of like balls to the wall, because we got to a point where we realized that Midian is a much bigger place than we'd realized, and everything we'd envisioned just didn't fill it. I mean, that was what happened with the original shooting, because we shot the movie and then who was the production company behind it? You guys should know, I should know. I can't remember.

James Jay Edwards: 31:57

That's a Jacob question. I

Jacob Davidson: 32:00

think that was Morgan Creek. Morgan Creek,

Paul Jones: 32:02

that's the one. Yeah, there

James Jay Edwards: 32:03

he goes. New week account on Jacob.

Paul Jones: 32:07

Yeah, he's the brains of the organization.

Jacob Davidson: 32:10

Thank you. Thank you.

Paul Jones: 32:12

They came back and said, Clive, we need, we need better understanding of the story, and we need a lot more creatures. So after we wrapped the movie, we had, I think, three months of prep, and came back and shot for a whole nother month. And that's when we brought in Lylesburg. He wasn't in the original cut, the Berserkers, the close up stuff with the berserkers. They weren't the original cut. Shuna, sassy Leroy gone. These were never in the original shoot for Nightbreed. We had no concept of them at all. They came afterwards. Three months after we wrapped the entire movie, we came back and just shot all these little sequences and just kind of peppered them in. So really, I was on Nightbreed for almost 11 months total. Wow, even though we shot it, prepped it, shot it, prepped it, shot it. So yeah, it was, it was a big part of my life. And it's I bump into people now. I bump into Oscar winners. I bump into Emmy winners and BAFTA winners, who watch Nightbreed as when they were, like, 11 years old and it started their career. And they're like, this was my touchstone. Like, my touchstones, like, you know, 7 Voyages of Sinbad or, you know, a little bit later would be like Star Wars, and then, like, American Werewolf in London, or The Thing for them, it was like, Nightbreed. And I was like, really that had such an impression on you? Because I look back at the stuff now, and there's a few things I personally would have done differently with my work, and I know a couple of the other guys would have said the same thing, but as a as a movie fan, it would have done the same thing with my career. It would have just kick started me into into the next realm to say, this is what I want to do for a living. You know, in

James Jay Edwards: 33:44

college, I had an effects makeup course, and there was a whole unit on Nightbreed. So would you say, you know how influential it is, it really is. And that's why, when I saw it on your IMDB that we were interviewing you, I'm like, oh yes, Nightbreed, yes. It really is amazing work. It really is. It was, yeah,

Paul Jones: 34:03

it was, it's fun and it's nice because, because I'm still friends with a lot of the guys that I worked with. In fact, I just spent two summers ago, I spent about 10 months working with Mark Coulier on a couple of things back in the UK, and he was one of the original Nightbreed guys. So it was nice to kind of keep in touch with those guys. And we still have the same stories, and, you know, the same kind of love, hate relationship with Nightbreed, because we did some of our best and worst work. That's how we describe it. I

Jonathan Correia: 34:29

mean, still proud it comes out effectively. And with the new transfers and the new multiple cuts that are out now, of it, the effects shines. So, yeah, such a special place.

Paul Jones: 34:43

Excellent. I'm glad to hear it.

Jacob Davidson: 34:44

Yeah, and I, and as I was saying before, a lot of your early work was with Anthony Hickox, and I wanted to ask, what was it like working with him across several movies?

Paul Jones: 34:55

Oh, he's, I mean, he's, he's, like, the world's biggest nerd. But also. The same time, the coolest guy, I would say, alive. And fortunately, he passed, passed away. He was, like, every kind of schoolboys inspiration, because he was this kind of just amazingly kind of sophisticated guy with tons of talent, always surrounded himself with, like, amazingly attractive people. And he loved monster movies. He loved horror. So that was my first time actually going to LA. Was flying to Los Angeles to shoot Waxwork 2, there was me, a guy named Steve, guy named Mark, guy named Martin and Bob Keane. And we basically all kind of crashed in a place in Burbank and got to work on Waxwork 2. And if you watch the courtroom scene when Zach Galligan sits down, I'm sat right behind him, a very, very young looking Paul Jones. Also I also I'm the bookend to the movie. Whenever you see a severed hand come running in and then kill Buck Flowers, that's me. I'm actually in the credits as the hand, I still have a scar here from the carpet burn of me running along the thing like this, being dragged through carpet. Oh, the good old days where you could just go, I want to be in a movie. You know? Yeah, sure. There's no sag. There's no no union rules. We didn't have any 706, and you know, it was just like fly by the seat. In fact, I didn't think we had work permits. It was basically just, get off the plane, say you're here to drop some stuff off, and the next thing you know, you're working at a studio in the valley. It was like, okay, whatever it's 1980 88 or whatever it was, who cares? You know, that was, it was it was, it was amazing experience. So Anthony was just, he just really knew his stuff. He just knew his stuff, like inside and out. So working with him, there was, like, this shorthand right away. He'd always reference other shows, but he had his own style. Yeah, it was, it was, it was like, again, it was the beginning of my career, and it's been kind of an inspiration ever since. Really,

Jonathan Correia: 36:54

really enjoy his movies, Full Eclipse, especially that, that for me, is such a cool movie. I remember seeing scenes from

Paul Jones: 37:00

no one's seen it. No one's seen Yeah, they will put it on a chase scene, on the cars when the cops running roof to roof. It's like, this was done, like, 40 years ago, or something stupid. It was crazy. Yeah,

Jonathan Correia: 37:13

I have a VHS of it. Like, the DVD is so hard to find these days. I don't know why. Oh yeah,

Paul Jones: 37:19

no, but yeah, you can't, you can't find Jill Ripper. Just occasionally.

Jonathan Correia: 37:23

Oh, who did Jill? Jill rip, or

Paul Jones: 37:27

Joe Rips? Okay, was the show that he that was a show that was a show Tony shot in Toronto that I couldn't work on. He actually, he actually did that old director buddy thing, and says, Hey, man, it's Tony. I'm in town, so I'm doing this movie, and you got to work on it, and I'm like, what? I'm right in the middle of a show, and he's like, no, no, no, just take some time off and come and do this little movie for me. I couldn't do it. It was like, I was gutted, but it was like, I'd already established myself in Toronto at that point, and I was right in the middle of a series. I couldn't Earth final conflict or something. And, and he was just like, and he was, he was a little miffed I couldn't do it. But, you know, when I wasn't working for Bob keen, so I couldn't spread myself that thin. Unfortunately, happens, it happens. I hear you well, I

Jonathan Correia: 38:13

mean, we definitely love your older stuff, but your works. You never stop working. Just go, you know, seeing your name pop up in so many different things. And most recently, you know, Poor Things, which looked amazing.

Paul Jones: 38:27

That was the 10 months I spent in the UK working with Mark Julia. We did the first trip out. We did Asteroid City, Poor Things, and a thing called Blood Origin, which was the Witcher prequel. Oh nice. And then the second trip out for five months. Was just the Witcher with Cavell his last season. So it was, it was great. It was great. It was like, I was between. I was offered season four of Shadows. I did Season One, two and three. What We Do In The Shadows, And they said, We're doing season four, but we're starting in like, like six weeks. And I said, Guys, I'm exhausted. I'm burnt out, and I've just been offered this really excellent chance to go back to the UK and work for a buddy of mine who has a couple of Oscars, and work with people I haven't, I've just been admiring for years, and I really have to take the opportunity. So they said, Okay, fine, you can go. You can go. So I went out there, and it was, it was great. It was like being surrounded by people that I been following on Instagram, and I'd been kind of following their work for years. And then Mark stair, who I've known since I was 18 years old, he was one of the first guys I met in the industry. And, yeah, that was a great experience. I mean, you know, doing alien suits on Jeff Goldblum, and, you know, being on set with back, you know, Henry Cavill. And it was like, it was like a whirlwind. It was like, great. And I've done some stuff, it's not like I was like, but it was like, I was like a 15 year old kid again, because I wasn't in charge, so I didn't have to be the grown up so I was able to regress a little bit and be this kind of fanboy on set while doing this kind of, like grown up work. You know, it was, it was actually a perfect situation. Thing, it was like all the glory, but none, but none of the stress. It was really, I was actually going

James Jay Edwards: 40:05

to ask that, what did you do for Asteroid City? Because there's not, it doesn't look like there's that much makeup effects, but it would be the alien on Jeff Goldblum.

Paul Jones: 40:13

That was it. That was, that was for I came in at month three on that, and it was about five months of work with that bloody suit. It was originally all the alien in the movie. All the alien was supposed to be Jeff in the suit. But then with, with, with Jeff and the mobility of the suit and the leg extensions and the coming down a ladder and doing all these kind of weird poses, they figured it would be best suited to switch it to stop motion. So then they limited his, his live action to him walking out, walking down the aisle. Of all these a list stars, which, by itself, was surreal, because I'm there with Mark and like one other person in Spain, and they built this little set, and I'm like, stood on stood on set, holding Jeff's head. And it's like, Jeff Goldblum behind me is like Willem de Poe, Willem Dafoe, God like Scarlett Johansson was there. Matt Dillon was there, Brian Cranston was there. And they're all just sat there. It's like, everywhere you look was a person's face who can greenlit a movie. And they were all there. And then, when they were waiting between takes, they were just sitting in a tent chilling. There's no entourage, no nothing. It was like, it was like, it was like, kind of guerrilla filmmaking, almost even though it was like a proper set and the proper producers in LA and everything, I mean, Bill Murray was there just hanging out. He was just there to hang out. It was like, again, I've done a lot of shows, but to be in that situation, I was able to kind of like, stand back and just enjoy it as a fanboy, as well as be responsible for the work. Because I wasn't responsible responsible. I was just responsible to my boss. It was like one of the one of the most surreal experiences. You know, it's amazing.

James Jay Edwards: 41:55

Jeff Goldblum is the punchline to that whole alien thing, because when they go through the behind the scenes, and he's talking about his character, that just killed me, like, the knowing that it's Jeff Goldblum at that point just killed me. I'm

Paul Jones: 42:08

doing as a metaphor. Yeah, exactly ridiculous. Well, it's funny because you don't see until the very end of the movie. So I'm watching the movie, and I'm loving it, and I'm like, we're gonna see the suit. And it was like, 12 minutes before the end, and I was like, Oh, my God, they cut the suit out. And then it was like, boom, there he is. And I was, oh, thank heavens. You know, I was really worried all that work was going to be gone. But no, it was, it was really fun. It was, it was amazing experience. It really was

James Jay Edwards: 42:33

another one of your more recent ones that I wanted to ask about, is Bo is Afraid, right? Tell me you did the penis monster. In Bo is Afraid Well,

Paul Jones: 42:43

I can't, I can't claim fame. I can't claim ownership of anything in that movie, because it was actually I was working for a buddy of mine named Steve Newburn, AA Effects company. You should look up his website. He does amazing work where Steve was originally an LA guy and his wife's Canadian. He moved to Toronto, and I was one of the first people who hired him, and then over the years, he kind of evolved and set up his own shop. And I'm actually working for him right now on his new movie, which I can't tell you about, because I just signed an NDA, but it's going to be really cool. So Steve, Steve got Bo is Afraid he's kind of Ari Aster's guy, and it was kind of funny, because I bid on Hereditary way back when, and then it left Toronto and it went somewhere else, and Steve ended up doing it, because Steve's a US citizen, so he was able to kind of do that and bridge the gap between Canada and US. And ever since then, he's been kind of Ari's guy. So he got Bo is Afraid, and right when Shadows ended and before I went off to do Poor Things that I had, like, I had, like, a three week window. So he's like, we're sculpting this giant penis. Can you please come and give us a hand? So I came in and me and like six other people basically got to sculpt. I sculpted the shaft and some of the balls. I never touched the head, and I never did anything else after that. I walked out right when they were getting too ready to mold it, but literally, this thing was massive, like I could have lived inside one of the testicles, no problem.

James Jay Edwards: 44:11

I'll bet that's a phrase you didn't think you're going to be saying in this interview. I sculpted the shaft and the balls,

Paul Jones: 44:18

some of the balls, not all of them, because they were too bloody big. Yeah, it was, it was crazy. I just I started seeing the movie. My kids have seen it. I have a 17 year old and a 21 year old daughters, and they've seen it and I haven't, and they were like, Oh, it was so crazy. And I saw your name at the end. But if you watch one of the Resident Evils, you'll see their name at the end, because I snuck their names into credits over the years. So they actually have, I should actually set them up as an IMDB, because they both have about five credits each. It's really funny. They've never been on set in their lives.

Jonathan Correia: 44:49

Man, I What an awesome life you live in. I wish I could get a call that goes, Hey, you doing anything for the next few weeks? Because we need help working on this monster cock. You know? Yeah, thanks,

Paul Jones: 45:04

thanks. Thanks, guys. I mean, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm a monster kid. You know, I grew up reading Fangoria and gore zone, reading cinephex, you know, I watched every making of you could get your hands on. You know, I fooled around with latex and plaster in my bedroom when I was 11 years old. So, so, really, I'm still that kid and that I think that's why I've had such a nice run of it over the years, because I haven't lost that kind of kind of childhood enthusiasm for this job. Because at the end of the day, how many people get to say they make monsters for a living like nobody gets to say that apart from a very small, very small demographic of people. So why shouldn't I just be enthusiastic about it every single day? Plus you look at like Rick Baker, if you look at him now, he's still making monsters. He's retired, but he just makes like, creatures and masks, and they're all amazing. And he just does it at home for fun. He's basically doing the same thing he did when he was 15 years old, except now he has like, seven Oscars and millions of dollars in the bank, but he still gets Joy making little figures and making masks and everything. That's like the dream for me. It's like, as long as I'm able to do it, I'm always going to do it. So when I get out for a job, that enthusiasm comes through. And I think that's why I've been able to secure as many of many projects as I have. Plus, Toronto has been been a pretty good town for me. You know that there's, it's a service town, so a lot of products come through. So I've been able to do films and TV, which, if I'd stayed back in the UK, I probably wouldn't have had the opportunities

Jacob Davidson: 46:34

on back on the subject for What We Do in the Shadows, I wanted to ask how you got involved in the TV show.

Paul Jones: 46:42

It was, it was really simple. I worked with a producer named Hartley Gornstein. We had done Silent Hill 2 we'd done a couple of Resident Evils, and he was the line producer on those movies, and we've done a couple of TV things. And he gave me a call one day, and he goes doing this TV series. We're starting in a couple of weeks. It's about vampires living in a house together. It's a comedy. It's like, it's like, Spinal Tap. It's based on a movie. Do you know what I'm talking about? And I'm like, yeah, it's called What We Do In The Shadows, and shot in 2011 it's Jermaine Clement and and Taika Waititi. And it was shot in Wellington. He's okay, okay, okay, you know what I'm talking about? Well, we're doing the series of that. Do you want to work on it? And I'm like, I had to stop myself from saying, I'll do it for free. And two weeks later, I was in a meeting with Jermaine, like, and Taika came in the week after, and I had to, like, make thanks for them, and I had to, like, sit in meetings with them. And I'm like, Oh my God, thank you. Whatever I done in life to get me to this position, because it really I mean, obviously my career is not over, and obviously I'm not done yet, because I'm still relatively young man 56 but I really feel like everything has been kind of moving towards this one series. Because apart from having a little break on season four, because I went off to the UK to work on Poor Things, I came back at the end of season four and helped finish the season, and then right away they said, Okay, you're back now you can take over the show. So I ended up doing five and six. So it's I've pretty much been there for the whole time, if not physically, but in spirit. And it truly has been my entire portfolio in in one series. Like I have done old age makeups. I've done demon makeups, I've done zombies, I've done dead bodies. I've done werewolves, I've done vampires, I've done monster vampires, I've done doll puppets. I've done ancient vampire animatronic bodies. You know, it's like, you can literally look at each episode of that show, and it's like a different page in my portfolio. Yeah, and to do it with the most talented bunch of people in the world, the funniest bunch of actors and talent I've ever worked with in my career, on a show that is literally a famous effects guy in airline. Steve Johnson came up with the best way to describe it. He said it's a modern Adams Family, yeah, and just to be involved in something like that, because how much likely Adams Family have. I think what What We Do In The Shadows shows come and go, but I think What We Do In The Shadows is going to be one of those shows that people are going to be watching 10, 15, 20 years from now. I really do, oh, absolutely.

Jacob Davidson: 49:13

Oh, no doubt. And I do appreciate all the practical effects work on the show, because I feel like, especially for primetime shows like that, it's harder to come by. But yeah, it's just a Monster Mash, like, there's just been so many monsters and creatures and such varieties. It's a joy to watch it every week and think, oh, what's going to pop up next?

Paul Jones: 49:39

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it's definitely been an esthetic of the show that they want to keep as much practical in camera as possible. I mean, obviously we have a great visual effects team, and they're able to produce some amazing stuff. But the esthetic of the show with the vampires in the house, documentary style, you know, Jermaine and Taika were very adamant right from the beginning, as much as. We can do in cameras possible. And then Paul Sims, who took over the show, and Kyle and Yana who direct, they like having stuff. They like having tangible stuff they can grab hold of. They're very tactile people. So, yeah, it's, it's, I've been very, very lucky, but also very busy. I mean, each season they say, well, we didn't kill you this season, just wait till next season, and then this season just finished. Yeah, they came close to putting me in the grave. They really did, but we managed to put some stuff off. But that's okay, because, you know, vampires, they sleep in their coffins. So I'll just be back for more later. You know,

Jacob Davidson: 50:36

you'll rise from the grave.

Jonathan Correia: 50:38

I especially talk about, because, like, the original movie is so good, but it's very low budget. You know, there wasn't that much so having that, but bringing that humor over, which is brilliant. That's one of my favorite movies was done so well, and then to have that added thing, of like, we have a budget, and we're doing creatures every week, but one of the, one of the best episodes, I think, for practical effects was the hybrid creatures from last season, season five, yeah, and what a challenge, like, what a challenge idea of doing, like Island of Dr. Moreau type hybrids, but they all have a bit of Guillermo in them. Tell us. Tell us about what was it like taking on that challenge. That

Paul Jones: 51:19

was, it was, it was, yeah, it was, yeah, it was, it was intense, because originally in the script, like Paul Sims, the showrunner would give me a heads up before we'd even started prep. And he goes, Okay, scripts gonna be out soon, but I want to give you a heads up. I have an Island of Dr. Moreau episode, and I'm looking at having about a dozen creatures made just to give you a heads up. And I'm like, Oh my fucking hell, okay, right, you know? So came in, got the script, yeah, there's about nine or 10 creatures in there. I always, each interview I give, I always give a different number. I think it was about nine originally. And I said, Okay, this, this is fine. I can do all of this, but don't you think nine is too many, especially if they're all in the same room at the same time, because the camera is doing this, so you're gonna miss some stuff. So can we pare it down a little bit? And he's like, Okay, what do you think we should do? And I said, I definitely want to do a dog. I definitely want to do a pig, because they're kind of cute. Let's do a lamb, because it'd be fun to have a lamb. And then let's scale it down and do some frogs and some toads and and maybe a kind of a rat creature, because there was a rat in the script. And he was like, great. Get designing. So, so that was it. I started with, started with, with Harvey's face, and we did a cyber scan of him, and we shrunk him down to different sizes, and then everything was based around Harvey. Because originally, like Wade, in the early days of pre production, they were considering putting Harvey in all the makeups and shooting them all separately, then digitally put him in the frame. And we realized almost within the same breath, well, that's a stupid idea, but there's no way we can do that on our on our time frame. So we just took, we took some very talented actors from Toronto who are of diminutive size, and they could, they were super talented, and they could also enthusiastically wear the prosthetics. And we designed the look of a prosthetics based on based on Harvey's face. So that's why it's got guiltmo hair and these fat the same kind of build and kind of facial features, but then really kind of turned up the kind of the animalistic look of them, but at the same time keeping them grounded. Because one of the things Paul Sims always says Is he goes, always find the funny. And what he means by that is, don't make them funny. Make what they do in the situations they're in funny, but keep them grounded, so that they still live within this world. Like the werewolves are still dangerous. You know, the demons are still dangerous, like Carol from one of the episodes of dangerous, whenever we see the Baron, he's still lethal, but it's what they do, the way you get the laugh from so the animals still had to look kind of sad and kind of freaky and mutanty, but not so much that you're laughing at them. You're laughing with them. And I think that's what really comes across in the episode. But discipline wise, I mean, we did silicon prosthetics, we did foam, latex prosthetics. We were doing hair punching. We didn't flocking. Then we got to do some really nice little rod puppets as well. We got to do some animatronic creatures. And then we have this thing in the pond called Binky, which is actually one of my favorite creations, because there's this great shot of him swimming in the pool. And all it was was a very simple rig with, you know, you get those plastic snakes that kind of only move. They're only on one axis. So imagine a metal version of that inside a silicon body rigged to a pole. So as you drag it through the water and wiggle it, the actual fluid dynamics make the silicon tails swish around. So we have this almost realistic looking fish, like amphibian, swimming in a pond, and I was, like, leaning over the pond in full green screen with this big pole puppeteering it, and they only shoot it in close up. I was so mad at Kyle's, like, it literally looks like a real bloody fish, and you shoot only one shot of it in close up. But if you watch the show, and you can go to my Instagram account, you can actually see a test video of it, and it. I that was the one thing I was really happy with. But that was one of so many other things in the episode. And luckily, you know, it stood out enough that we're able to submit it for an Emmy. And Fingers crossed. Other people like it as much as we did. So you never know, right? Oh

Jonathan Correia: 55:13

man. The dog makeup alone from that episode deserves all the awards. He looks fancy the just the shot of him sitting there wearing the nets shirt.

Paul Jones: 55:24

Yeah, it's, well, yeah, Laura Montgomery, our costume designer, was really fun because she she, she knew we had like, a partial body suit with like one human limb and one animal limb, so she's able to dress them accordingly. But yeah, whenever you put human clothes on creatures. It's, it's just, it's just like a perfect recipe for kind of crazy in the center. Yeah,

Jacob Davidson: 55:46

and you were right about the pig. It was cute in that ugly kind of way. Yes,

Paul Jones: 55:52

exactly right. So you want to hug it, but not for very long.

Jonathan Correia: 55:57

I highly recommend to everyone listening to to follow Paul on Instagram. I've been following you for a little bit now, and it is so cool seeing the behind the scenes, and you have been posting a lot of stuff from what we do in the shadows in that episode, and just seeing the work that goes into it and the effects and the different testing. It's so cool. And we're monster kids too.

Paul Jones: 56:20

Thank you. I mean, yeah, I mean social media is, it's, it's, you know, it's not in his infancy, but my, but my use of it is, so I'm trying to post at least once a week now, because I've got stuff going back to the 80s. I can post. I have test videos from Waxwork 2, I have Lair of the White Worm photographs. I have behind the scenes of Nightbreed. I have Nemesis from one of the Resident Evil movies. I have Ginger Snaps stuff. I have all kinds of stuff that I should be posting, and I'm just too bloody lazy, so I will be, I will start posting because the because I am a monster fan. I know there's a lot of monster kids out there, and you know, we've we've got it. We've got to stay strong. Because even though digital is a big piece of the pie now, the new generation of directors coming in are your guys' age, and they grew up watching VHS tapes, and they grew up watching rubber monsters. So even though they know digital effects inside and out, they still want something they can pick up on set. They still want something they can actually film that, then they can just CG to kind of modify and augment it. So everything now is a hybrid effect, and that's the thing I think that is going to keep me working for many years to come, is the fact that the technology and prosthetics has come along. But also, CG isn't just the only tool in toolbox anymore. It's just one of the tools and prosthetic makeup is still, it's still got a nice kind of slot in that toolbox. You know,

James Jay Edwards: 57:46

the excuse for not posting is not laziness, it's that you're too busy.

Jonathan Correia: 57:50

Yeah, you're very busy. That's

James Jay Edwards: 57:55

what it is.

Paul Jones: 57:56

The last season of shadows, I was averaging 13 hour days, seven days a week, just for the last month and a half. But guys, I'm making monsters. I was like, I was like, I was like, a kid in a candy shop. I was like, doing, can't talk about that over there. And I was doing five, can't talk about those over there, season six, I can't tell you. Yeah, I don't want to spoil it for you, because you're obviously fans of the show. I just ruined it. Oh, yeah, all the cool stuff we did.

James Jay Edwards: 58:22

So what are speaking of? Can't talk about this here and there. What is coming up for you? What do you got coming on next? Is there anything you can talk about you mentioned an NDA that you just signed? Is there anything that is out of embargo that you can

Paul Jones: 58:36

talk yeah, I just, I just worked with a director who did The Nun? And I'm pretty sure Jacob knows who his name is, Colin Hardy and he also did, yeah, I didn't come prepared because I wasn't expecting that question, but I just did a movie with his me, and Steve Newburn actually shared the effects, because there was so much in it that the movie is called Whistle, and then we just finished prep. We just finished production on that beginning of this year. So that's, that's a really fun horror movie that's going to come out, and I'm currently working on a very large Screen Gems, video game adaption of a movie based on a video game. And that's as much as I can tell you,

Jonathan Correia: 59:20

that's awesome. Yeah, no,

Paul Jones: 59:21

it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's nice. What, what I'm trying to do now is, is kind of push to the side me taking on shows and running a crew and running a workshop to actually go work in for other people's crews, because I have a lot of friends in town. Most of the guys that run shops in Toronto used to work for me back in the day. So now they all owe me, so I'm pulling in favors now to say, hey, I need three months work. Give me some work, you know. So, so, so, so, yeah, I'm sure I'm going to be busy, but the show I'm on right now will take me till probably end of September, and then I'm going to take a little bit of time off, and then hopefully in New Year, we'll I'll go straight on to something else.

James Jay Edwards: 59:59

I. Now, where can, where can people follow you on the social so you mentioned you have an Instagram if they want to keep up with what's coming up for you

Paul Jones: 1:00:07

in Instagram@PaulJonesFX, FX, they Yeah, that's, that's pretty the best place, because that's really where I post most of my work. I do have some stuff on Facebook, but I'm going to be scaling that back for more kind of friends and family, and I'll be shifting all the stuff I posted there onto my Instagram, and I have a website as well. PaulJonesfx.com again, needs updating, but there's pretty much my whole portfolio in there. And of course, IMDb, if you want to see all the great, tedious and awful movies I've done over the years and

James Jay Edwards: 1:00:43

and you can scroll through his resume, and you'll be amazed at what he has worked on, just like we were. So yeah, Paul, thank you for joining us this afternoon, and we're rooting for you, for the Emmys. We want you to pull that Emmy who is

Jonathan Correia: 1:00:58

the competition, because, like, I don't think, I don't think there is everyone else.

Paul Jones: 1:01:04

No, I actually that there's some really great, really great makeups. Of course, Fallout in contention. There's a great one with Robert Downey Jr. There's some fantastic makeups in that. Of course, my friend Dave Elsie did all the stuff for True Detective with, with, with all the frozen makeups, there's some really good stuff. There no this. There's some really good stuff. I just really hope I can sneak in amongst the big boys, because I know Shadows gets nominated a lot. We won Best Costume. We've been nominated for Best Comedy. There's been some some other craft awards, but no love for prosthetics yet. So I'm hoping with these, with these furry little guys, that we can kind of sneak in as the as as the outlier, and I just want a free meal. Basically, I just want a free meal and meet some great makeup talent and shake their hands when they win their Emmy. I don't care about winning. I just want to turn up and just kind of be recognized, just for the show, because everybody loves Shadows. I you either there's two kinds of people in the world, people who love Shadows and people who haven't seen it yet, exactly two kind of people. So I'm, I'm really hoping that the people who've seen it love it enough to just give me a little tick before the before the end of voting, which is in about five days. So,

James Jay Edwards: 1:02:18

ah, okay, well, we're rooting for you, and we'll be watching amazing so thanks again for joining us. Our theme song is by Restless Spirits, so go give them a listen. Our artwork is by Chris Fisher, so go give him a like for us on the socials. You can find us at eye on horror anywhere the socials. If you are not tired of hearing Correia's voice, he's guesting on our sister podcast. You want to tell us about that real

Jonathan Correia: 1:02:44

quick? Oh yes, this is about two or three years in the making. Got invited to Murmurs From the Morgue to talk about our favorite DILFs in horror. You know, it's a nice little Father's Day episode. Don't worry, we we were very respectful, or we said we were going to be respectful. We weren't but, yeah, come join us. Join me on Murmurs From the Morgue, as we mainly just talk about Train to Busan, because there's, there's some hot dads in that movie. So, you know, it gets steamy over there. And

James Jay Edwards: 1:03:13

also, if you're listening into this today, it posts. Go to our socials, because we have A Quiet

Place: 1:03:20

Day one giveaway happening, which will open the Friday after this post. So yeah, we'll you can go and see a quiet place day one on us. And we'll call this one an episode with that. So we'll see you in a couple of weeks. So for me, James, Jay Edwards,

Jacob Davidson: 1:03:36

I'm Jacob Davison. I'm

Jonathan Correia: 1:03:37

Jonathan Correia.

Paul Jones: 1:03:38

I'm Paul Jones.

James Jay Edwards: 1:03:39

Keep your eye on horror.