(Production notes scanned in by Cruiser One on Aug 24, 1998.)
LABYRINTH represents the combined efforts of two of today's most talented and creative filmmakers -- director Jim Henson and executive producer George Lucas. Using the most advanced technology in the art of cinematic illusion, they have brought to life a magical world of fantasy and adventure.
Rock superstar/actor David Bowie stars in LABYRINTH and performs five original songs which he wrote for the film. His co-star is beautiful teenage actress Jennifer Connelly, already a well-known face in the U.S. and Japan, and well on her way to international stardom.
Special effects wizardry is employed to create fantastic characters in highly imaginative settings. The result is a blend of fantasy, adventure, suspense, comedy and music, designed to appeal to audiences of all ages.
On the surface LABYRINTH is about the adventures and dangers a young girl, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), undergoes to rescue her infant brother, who has been kidnapped by the goblins and their powerful and compelling ruler, Jareth (David Bowie). On a deeper level, the film captures the time, the dreams and the feelings of a young girl on the edge of womanhood and reness. The labyrinth is in itself a parable, a riddle, a journey, and a place as bewildering as life. Sarah's adventure begins when she enters the labyrinth's forbidding, seemingly endless passages and discovers almost immediately that she is at the beginning of a place and journey where things are not always what they seem. Beings she meets will both befriend and betray her, rules are not always fair, and danger, challenges, obstacles, and comic events can appear unexpectedly almost everywhere.
Her companions on her mission are Hoggle, an irritable, dwarf little man who, in return for her plastic bracelet, agrees to take her "as far as he can" through the maze. She is also joined by a huge, furry, gentle monster, Ludo, whom she rescues from a group of tormenting goblins. Together, they become allies with he gallant Sir Didymus, a fox-terrier-like creature who ferociously guards the bridge across "The Bog of Eternal Stench."
Before their journey ends, they have shared a series of adventures and comic encounters that test their courage and their judgment -- and teach Sarah the lessons of the labyrinth.
No matter how much is said about the story of LABYRINTH, words alone cannot capture the visual impact and entertainment of a film designed to break new ground in the art of what is visible and believable.
"Is it all a dream," asks JIM HENSON, "like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or Dorothy's in The Wizard of Oz? In my own mind it is. But it's all rather ambiguous -- dream or reality? Fantasy or fact? It's whatever you like to make it. Wherever it takes you to." On a deeper level, Henson continues, LABYRINTH "is about a person at the point of changing from being a child to a woman. Times of transition are always magic. Twilight is a magic time. Dawn is magic . . .the times during which it's not day and not night but something in between. The time between sleeping and dreaming .There are a lot of mystical qualities related to that. And to me, this is what the film is about. The world that Sarah enters exists in her imagination. The film starts out in her bedroom and you see all the books she's read growing up . . . The Wizard of Oz . . . Alice in Wonderland . . .the works of Maurice Sendak. And the world she enters shows elements of all these stories that fascinated her as a girl."
For more than two years, the concept of LABYRINTH developed in Henson's mind. He wanted to create a production that combined elements of fairy tales and classical stories that touch upon people's dreams and fears and incorporate them into a script that would relate and appeal to people today. He had already used technological advances to achieve a broader and more believable range of puppetry in his Muppet films and in his first fantasy production, "The Dark Crystal". But the idea of developing even more sophisticated creatures and combining them with the illusions possible on film, challenged Henson to create a world and creatures so believable that an audience's imagination could be totally engaged.
"Puppetry is an ancient tradition that draws heavily on myth and legend," Henson explains. "I feel I'm part of that tradition in using several of these elements and old techniques, but I enjoy converting them to the worlds of film and television. In LABYRINTH, we were trying to achieve things that have never been done before and that was the challenge and fun of this film. I like the range of LABYRINTH -- I like the fact that it combines magic, music, humor and comedy."
To enhance the magical qualities of the story, Henson created a totally new cast of fantastic creatures. They are not like his creations for "The Dark Crystal," or even those of any previous fantasy film. These creations, based on the drawings of artist and conceptual designer Brian Froud, range from the human-like Hoggle, to the bizarre red-feathered "Fireys," who like to sing, dance, and toss around their heads and limbs.
"The creatures in LABYRINTH are the most sophisticated characters we've ever built," Henson explains. "It's very complicated to try to explain our technology, but we used a lot of remote-control radio techniques and teams of puppeteers, who each operated various parts of the characters. I think, frankly, that some effects we've achieved look so real that people won't even realize that we've done anything special."
Selecting the actress who could play the role of Sarah was one of Henson's first major decisions. He auditioned hundreds of applicants before selecting JENNIFER CONNELLY. "I wanted a girl who looked and could act that kind of dawn-twilight time between childhood and womanhood," Henson says. "And Jennifer was perfect. It was even more incredible that she was the same age as Sarah was intended in the script." Henson also believes DAVID BOWIE's starring performance as Jareth (as well as the original music and songs he has written) adds to the film's impact. "David's performance is powerful," Henson says. "His role is similar to being the leader of a gang. Everyone in the kingdom does what he says until Sarah comes along -- and she defies him. The goblins David controls are like members of his gang. He treats them terribly but they do anything he says. The goblins have an edge but, basically, they provide comic relief." As for the original songs Bowie wrote and performs in the film, Henson says, "I loved what he did. As we worked on developing the story of LABYRINTH, there were several places where music seemed logical. We would talk to David about them. The music and songs he wrote surprised me. He was always doing interesting things musically."
Teaming up with another leading fantasy filmmaker, Executive Producer GEORGE LUCAS, also strengthened the film, Henson believes.
"George has several very strong talents. His sense of story is terrific. He's also a wonderful editor and has a very good sense of what an audience likes and when they are ready to move on to the next thought, as the film progresses. It was very wonderful working with him."
Henson also enjoyed working with TERRY JONES, the screenwriter: "Terry would sit down with a whole batch of Brian Froud's drawings and come across a character he particularly liked," Henson said. "Then he would start imagining how that character would act . . . what he would say. For example, Brian sketched a few door knockers. They were faces -- one of which had a large ring in his mouth. Terry wrote him into the script as a character who tries to talk but can only mumble because he has this ring in his mouth. It was a delightful addition to the script. And basically, that's what Terry did for a number of scenes in this film. It was an interesting way of collaborating. To take Brian's sketches and give them life."
Once on paper the challenge of making the characters come believably alive began in Henson's Creature Workshop in London, where BRIAN FROUD supervised the sculpting and fabrication of the characters. Every effort was made to ensure the creatures appeared as "life-like" as possible. Even their tinted and textured skin was produced with miniscule wrinkles, hair and fingerprints. Special Animatronics experts designed and built the remote-control units, circuitry, and mechanisms that controlled the creatures expressions. A dance choreographer and acting coach, Cheryl McFadden, was also called in to work with the puppeteers in achieving life-like movements and character portrayals. "I wanted audiences to accept the characters as believable, living creatures," Henson explains.
Creating the magical kingdom of LABYRINTH called for no less than designing and building an entire new world. Stone walls talk in the labyrinth. Door knockers complain. A seemingly bottomless pit is made of hundreds of hands that form themselves into talking faces and mouths. Mazes change their contours. A glittering ballroom shatters into shards and floats into an endless universe. Forests are enchanted. Bogs gurgle, rocks and boulders perform on cue.
The sets of LABYRINTH are, in themselves, works of magic. "It was Brian Froud who originally thought of making a labyrinth the basis of the story," Henson said. "After all, life is a kind of labyrinth, with all its twists and turns, its straight paths and its occasional dead ends. But our film is about a young girl who's going through a fantasy within her own mind. So our world also had to have a dreamlike quality." From the beginning, Froud and Henson dreamed of a wondrous place. Making it a reality took the combined talents of many craftsmen. Chief among them was Production Designer ELLIOT SCOTT and Special Effects Supervisor GEORGE GIBBS, assisted by their teams of art directors, craftsmen, and engineers. One of the most mammoth sets in LABYRINTH involved designing and building Goblin City. Constructed on Stage 6 at Thorn EMI Elstree Studios in London -- the largest shooting stage in Europe -- it required the biggest panoramic back-cloth ever made. The city itself was a network of narrow cobbled streets and small squares, lined with tiny gabled cottages and houses that tottered and lurched as though designed by a slightly drunken goblin architect. Chickens, pigs, cats, and other animals wander in its twisting streets. "The whole effect," says designer Scott, "is that of a fairyland village, conquered some time ago by invading goblins and left to go to seed."
This is the scene for the film's climactic battle, in which Sarah, Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus take on the nasty but comically disorganized Goblin army in a fracas that resembles nothing less than a Keystone Cop calamity of collisions, confusions, and mishaps. One of Scott's most enchanting achievements was the ballroom in which costumed revelers, wearing elegant masks that resemble goblin faces, frighten and bewitch Sarah. To stage the romantic and haunting scene, Scott used 35 slowly-revolving chandeliers decorated with more than 400 tall white candles and strands of more than 5,000 glass "tear-drops." The white walls of the ballroom were made to sparkle with 77 pounds of pearl glitter. Panels of mirrors added to the dizzying effect and clouds of gauzy white drapes supplied a soft but enclosing mood.
As much as he enjoyed designing and overseeing the construction of his sets, Scott recalls that what probably challenged him the most was the forest Sarah and her friends travel through. It took months to obtain the 40,000 sprays of artificial leaves made especially for the film and which had to be individually fastened to each tree. The entire forest required 120 truckloads of tree branches, 1,200 turfs of grass, 850 pounds of dried leaves , 133 bags of lichen, and 35 bundles of mossy "old man's beard."
Although not as vast as Goblin City, the enchanted forest or even the ballroom, the set that provides one of LABYRINTH's most memorable moments is a shaft of "helping hands." Created by Gibbs and his special effects team, the set is half human!
In the film, Sarah falls down a dark shaft.-- whose walls consist of hundreds of hands, all reaching out for her. The hands --350 to be exact -- finally catch and hold Sarah and then, to her amazement, form themselves into faces and mouths and talk to her. One hundred and fifty of the hands were supplied by 75 performers standing on five raised platforms and pushing their hands through holes in the shaft walls. The other 200 "supporting role" hands were made of foam rubber. Gibbs and his team designed and built the 30-foot shaft, as well as a 40-foot vertical camera track which followed Sarah's descent down the shaft with perfect timing and precision.
Another memorable Gibbs achievement was to bring rocks alive. In the battle in Goblin City, Ludo bellows for help. In response, 100 boulders of various sizes come tumbling through the city gates and streets, knocking down the suddenly-panicked goblins. Making the rocks perform accurately involved designing and building remote-control units that were installed inside about 20 of the 100 polyurethane rocks built for the scene. The radio-controlled rocks could be moved backwards and forwards at varying speeds. Perhaps Gibbs' most breath-taking achievement in LABYRINTH was making "The Bog of Eternal Stench" look as awful as Scott had designed it to appear.
"The Bog had to look really uninviting," said Gibbs. "We made it from 30,000 gallons of water, mixed with a ton of celacol, which is a non-toxic powder and thickening agent that's often used as the basis of wallpaper paste. We also threw in some brown and blue dyes, plus industrial liquid paraffin and lots of tiny glass beads. The result was a nice gluggy, flexible sludge. And then we fixed things so that lots of little bubbly effects gurgled odiously. It all looked disgusting!"
THE CHARACTERS OF LABYRINTH HOGGLE
It's easy to consider Hoggle human. The odd, gnome-like little man is cantankerous, selfish, sly, deceitful, childish, and cowardly. On the other hand, he also shows himself to be clever, brave, loyal, decent, and the ossessor of a heart of gold. Underneath his rather ugly exterior, Hoggle is very complicated. His body is performed by a petite woman, Shari Weiser. His head is quite another matter. Inside his "mask" -- as the production team calls it -- is a maze of electronic circuitry and devices that control various parts of his face, including the lips, eyelids, and jaw.
Although costuming and performing Hoggle's body was easy enough, Shari says, his head presented some problems. You see," she explains, "the circuitry is very noisy. It was like having an air conditioner next to my ear, although I did get used to it after a while. Anyway, I could see out from the mask through Hoogle's mouth. I had to have my face blackened, in case my white face showed though." Although Shari performed Hoggle's body movements, as well as the general movements of his head, the character's facial moves and expressions were the responsibility of four off-camera puppeteers operating broadcast devices that controlled 20 separate electronic remote-control functions. Brian Henson, puppeteer coordinator and head of the team performing Hoggle, explained that the biggest challenge was for everyone to work together in perfect unison to achieve the most natural performance.
"Everyone involved with Hoggle had to have the same personality response in mind," he said. "I've always found that if a performance didn't work for any one puppeteer on the team, then it didn't work for any of them as a whole. There's a lot of chemistry involved."
Brian also provided Hoggle's voice, which he described as "a fairly crotchety old dwarf's voice." Understanding how Hoggle's features were controlled provides an explanation of how the remote-control systems operated -- with modifications -- for all of the creatures in LABYRINTH. On his right hand, Brian wore a special mitt which, when it was squeezed, worked Hoggle's jaw. A lever was used to make Hoggle's mouth smile or grimace. Another mitt on the hand of another member of the team controlled various other lip positions. A third member of the team controlled Hoggle's eyes and eyelids and a fourth puppeteer worked Hoggle's eyebrows. He also had a foot pedal that controlled the skin area around the top of the nose and around the eyes. This was used to give expression around Hoggle's eyes and to make him sneer. However, as Brian stressed, the purpose of all the sophisticated technology was to make possible the most realistic performances.
LUDO
Ludo is the kind of character who in old Hollywood movies was referred to as "you big lovable lug". Ludo is big! He stands over eight feet tall when erect and, even then, the knuckles of his paws drag on the ground. He is also covered in reddish fur and has a large pair of horns that curve into his face, two fangs that protrude up and a squashed-in nose. Despite these awesome features, Ludo is lovable. He has gentle brown eyes and a wrinkled, expressive face that can convey a range of emotion, from goofy to sweet.
From the moment Sarah rescues Ludo from the torments of a gang of goblins, she knows she has nothing to fear from the gentle giant. And indeed, on their shared journey through the labyrinth, he rescues her more than once. Performing Ludo was a challenge shared by puppeteers Ron Mueck and Rob Mills. Ron developed Ludo's character and served as the major performer and Rob alternated. Ludo, basically, was a very large and magnificent costume with a lot of very sophisticated equipment and either Ron or Rob inside. Once there, the puppeteers view of the outside world was mostly obtained from the screens of two tiny TV monitors strapped to their stomachs. One of the monitors showed the action on the set that was being seen and filmed by the movie camera. The second monitor carried a picture transmitted through the lens of a tiny camera hidden in Ludo's horn. It was this picture that mainly kept Ludo from walking into things. Three puppeteers operated remote radio control devices that controlled Ludo's facial expressions and movements.
SIR DIDYMUS
Sir Didymus -- the third of Sarah's companions through the maze -- is the bravest of all of LABYRINTH's creatures. Although a diminutive two-and-a-half-feet tall, he has the towering spirit of a Knight of the Round Table and his feisty courage knows no bounds. Surrounded by an army of menacing goblins he promises them fair treatment if they lay down their arms.
Sir Didymus is a gallant picture. He has the face of a fox-terrier and the impressive tail plume of a squirrel. His fur is reddish and he sports a white moustache and eyebrows, as well as very sharp teeth that he bares whenever challenging the enemy. He also wears a rakish black patch over his left eye, a blue velvet hat with a sweeping yellow feather and a scarlet doublet. Sir Didymus has a faithful steed, Ambrosius. His noble mount is a large white-and-grey English sheepdog which he attempts to ride into battle but who is, alas, as cowardly as Sir Didymus is brave. Nevertheless, Ambrosius looks the part. A leather saddle with silver stirrups is strapped to his back, along with a colorful blanket decorated with Sir Didymus's knightly heraldic devices: three bones rampant, seven black paw-marks, a chequered square, a fire-hydrant, and some trees.
In full glory, it may be difficult for audiences to realize Sir Didymus is basically a hand-puppet. Dave Goelz, a talented puppeteer who has worked with Jim Henson for many years, operates Sir Didymus -- mainly from below by putting his arms up through the puppet-figure of Ambrosius and into Sir Didymus's. Off camera performers operate the remote radio units that control Sir Didymus' features.
HUMONGOUS
Humongous makes a frightening entrance! When Sarah, Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus finally arrive at the gates of Goblin City, a huge pair of metallic gates -- each bearing the bas-relief half-figure of an armored warrior -- clangs shut. The now-joined half-figures merge into one mammoth, towering suit-of-armor with flashing red eyes and a huge axe that repeatedly raises as it attempts to smash the intruders to bits. As Goblin City's answer to King Kong, Humongous stands 15-feet tall, is 10-feet wide, and weighs approximately two-and-a-half tons -- even though its armor is made from flexible polyurethane. As Humongous emerges from the door in a cloud of smoke, he is a menacing figure. Even to people who know better. "It's certainly the biggest thing we have ever built," said Jim Henson. "When we saw it on the set it was very scary. We were just standing there and it started walking towards us and . . . it was frightening."
The figure of Humongous was sketched by Conceptual Designer Brian Froud. Its technical design and construction was a team effort headed up by George Gibbs. Controlling Humongous involved both an electronic circuitry system and servo-hydraulics mechanisms. The major feature was a "false arm" concealed behind the character. The interior of this arm featured various voltage-control devices and levers. When an operator inserted his arm inside this tube, and moved it back and forth and up and down while manipulating the controls, he could make the arm of Humongous duplicate his actions.
THE FIREYS
The Fireys appear in a spectacular musical sequence in which they sing and dance to a song especially written for the film by its star, David Bowie. The number consists of dancing, jumping up and down, and removing, tossing and kicking around their heads and assorted limbs. All the time they sing a lively song whose lyrics include the explanation "We just want a good time!" The dance of the Fireys is one of director Jim Henson's favorite moments from the film and was, certainly, one of the most challenging. It took four weeks of rehearsals and another four weeks to film.
Each of the Fireys was manipulated by a team of four puppeteers wearing black outfits that covered them from head-to-toe and thus made them "invisible" when the number was filmed against a black velvet background. Their antics were then "matted" over film footage of the forest where Sarah encounters them. "It was all so intricate that it could take a whole day to get 30 seconds of screen time," explains Charles Augins, the choreographer who worked out the scene. "One difficulty was that you couldn't have the Fireys cross one another, or turn around, because the puppeteers' bodies would block each other out."
Henson Associates, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. present a Jim Henson film, LABYRINTH, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. The Executive Producer is George Lucas. The film is directed by Jim Henson, with conceptual design by Brian Froud. The story is by Dennis Lee and Jim Henson, the screenplay by Terry Jones and the score by Trevor Jones. Executive supervising producer is David Lazer. The film is produced by Eric Rattray. Alex Thompson, B.S.C. is director of photography; Production Designer is Elliot Scott; Special Effects Supervisor is George Gibbs; and the Editor is John Grover. The Creatures are performed by David Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Karen Prell, Ron Mueck, Kevin Clash, Shari Weiser, Anthony Asbury, Brian Henson and Frank Oz. Original Soundtrack Album is available on EMI America Records and Cassettes. The film is a Tri-Star release.
DAVID BOWIE
Biography: David Bowie stars in LABYRINTH as the powerful and compelling ruler of a magical world. He performs the five original songs he wrote for the film.
From the very beginning, director Jim Henson envisioned Bowie as the lead of this major new fantasy film production. "Way back when we first started working on the story, we came up with this idea of a Goblin King," Henson explains. "And then we thought; 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to have music and someone who can sing?' David was our first choice from the very beginning. And he liked the idea. So the whole thing was really written with him in mind."
Bowie stars as Jareth, the handsome and charismatic ruler who kidnaps Sarah's baby brother, challenges her to solve the labyrinth, and then tries to entice her into remaining with him in his magical kingdom. What attracted Bowie to the role? "Jim gave me the script, which I found very amusing," he says. "It's by Terry Jones, of Monty Python, and it has that kind of slightly inane insanity running through it. When I read the script and saw that Jim wanted to put music to it, it just felt as though it could be a really nice, funny thing to do."
Bowie's songs for LABYRINTH range from a hauntingly beautiful love song, "As The World Falls Down," to a lively dance number, "Magic Dance," which he performs on camera with his rowdy goblin subjects. He also sings the powerful and moving LABYRINTH theme song, "Underground," and is seen performing a song in one of the film's final and climactic scenes, "Within You." A fifth song "Chilly Down," sets the mood for a wildly exuberant dance number by some of the film's fantastic creatures, the Fireys.
As one of pop music's biggest and most influential stars, Bowie has been responsible for setting trends and standards that have influenced musical stars and audiences around the world. Since his first major hit single, "Space Oddity," in 1969, and his album "The Man Who Sold The World," the following year, Bowie's many successful albums have included "Hunky Dory," "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" and the "Spiders from Mars" (which also launched the hit single "Starman") "Aladdin Sane," "Station to Station," "Heroes," "Let's Dance" and "Tonight." Bowie made his motion picture debut in 1975 as the star of Nicholas Roeg's "The Man Who Fell To Earth" and his films since then have included "Just A Gigolo," "The Hunger," "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence," "Into The Night" (a brief guest role), and "Absolute Beginners." In 1980, he starred in the title role of "The Elephant Man" on the Broadway stage and, during 1983, undertook his successful "Serious Moonlight Tour," covering Europe, the United States, Jpan, and Australia.
JENNIFER CONNELLY
Biography: Jennifer Connelly was chosen by director Jim Henson from hundreds of young actresses he interviewed and auditioned on both sides of the Atlantic. "I knew she was right for the role of Sarah as soon as she walked into my office in New York," said Henson. "I wanted a girl who looked and could act that role and that age. And Jennifer was perfect." Co-star David Bowie was just as enthusiastic: "Jennifer was absolutely right for the part of Sarah. She's extremely pretty, with looks rather like those of the teenage Elizabeth Taylor. She's also a damn good actress and was a joy to work with." Jennifer was born on December 12, 1970, in the Catskill Mountains in New York State. When she was a baby, the family lived in New York City where, with the exception of two years, she attended (and still does) the same school. At ten she began doing modelling work through the Ford Agency, in New York, followed by TV commercials. These led to movie auditions and she made her acting debut in "Once Upon A Time In America" in 1983, at the age of eleven. Next came an Italian film, "Phenomena" (1984), followed by "Seven Minutes Into Heaven" (also 1986). Then came LABYRINTH. "Jim Henson was wonderful to work with," she says. "He is a very gentle and considerate person as well as a wonderful director. And David Bowie was just great and it was wonderful watching him shoot, varying his performance from take to take." The ballroom sequence in the film was her "own personal favorite," she recalls. "I wore a beautiful silver ballgown, which was a refreshing change from the blue jeans I wore in almost every other scene. It was really a gorgeous set, with masses of huge chandeliers and thousands of flickering candles, hundreds of silken cushions and curtains, and masses of people in strange masks and ornate dresses. There was the thrill of dancing with David Bowie to one of the songs he composed especially for the f ilm. There wasn't enough room, for technical reasons, to really dance around properly, but we just drifted slowly and gracefully (I hope!) to David's music, and he looked fabulous! It's all a sort of magical fantasy sequence inside a huge bubble." During the filming of LABYRINTH, Jennifer attended school lessons at the studio, as required by law. After twenty-one weeks of film work, she returned to New York City -- and school. "It's like the end of a chapter of my life," she sighed. Jennifer still lives in New York City with her parents and a big sheepdog called Petunia. In her spare time, she enjoys music, writing, reading poetry, cycling, going out with her friends, and exploring the city.
JIM HENSON
Jim Henson's creative worlds are never-ending -- and never quite the same. From the construction of his first green hand-puppet, to the incredible creatures of his fantasy films, he has expanded the Art of Puppetry. (More to come)
