Monday, 8/4/97 Born in Darkness FILM: After years as a cult
comic book, Todd McFarlane’s "Spawn" hits the big screen with
creepy characters and chilling special effects
By Stephanie Sheh Daily Bruin Senior Staff Aside from the Batman
series (although its latest installation has been receiving
less-than-rave reviews), recent comic book films like "The Phantom"
and "The Shadow" are now no more than box-office ghosts. But last
week, a new film rose to the comic-book challenge. "Spawn" adapts
Todd McFarlane’s series about a soldier who is resurrected from the
dead to lead Satan’s army. For McFarlane’s cult following, the film
is a long-awaited event. Last summer Martin Sheen’s grandson was
extremely excited when he discovered Sheen was growing his beard
out for the comic-book adaptation. "He almost fainted," says Sheen,
who plays Jason Wynn. "He said, ‘You’re in ‘Spawn’? Oh, wow, man!’
‘So what do you know about Spawn?’ I’d never heard of it. He said,
‘It’s only the best comic book in the world.’ … So I came to
realize this extraordinary cult was out there. And it was not
confined to children. I discovered there were a lot of older people
too. So I’ve become a fan as well." The film’s creative team had to
make a lot of decisions on how to go about adapting the cult
favorite to the big screen. "One of the things that we talked a lot
about in the beginning was using the film frame more like a
comic-book frame," explains first-time director Mark Dippe. "But of
course that meant that every single frame is a special effect, so
we had to bag that idea. "It’s something that I still like, to sort
of break the frame up. Not just to have two sides of a telephone
conversation, but to actually have a frame and let your eyes wash
over moments a lot." What they used was a lot of computer-graphics
imaging and something called "motion capture." The actor puts on a
suit with a bunch of white ping pong balls all over his body. Then
the motion capture system fires a laser and collects all the data
from every angle. This enables the special effects coordinators to
make the actors do what they couldn’t do on the set. "They put on a
motion-capture suit and I would just fight these things that are
not there," says Michael Jai White, who plays Spawn. "I tried
anything I could possibly think of – fall, jump, run, kick. Once
they showed me how this motion capture thing worked, I’m going,
‘Wow! This is endless. They can show my movement from every angle,
so I’ll do everything.’" Technology-wise, the Internet also played
a major role in getting the movie made. The crew used 22 different
special effects companies from all over the world. The Internet
allowed "Spawn’s" director, Mark Dippe, to work around the clock
with different people from different time zones. "I’ve done it
before, but this time it worked so well," Dippe says. "The
technology now is so universal and everybody has the right
equipment. (Before,) every time a tape would come from Japan it
took almost 72 hours, because it would go through customs, wait a
day – so that would’ve killed us – whereas I’d get three takes a
day from Japan over the Net." The enhanced technological advantages
did not mean that the actors avoided donning make-up and costumes,
though. In order to look more like the villainous Wynn, Sheen
shaved a widow’s peak, grew a beard and dyed his hair jet black.
However, for other fellow actors the task was not as easy. "It took
like three-and-a-half hours, man. Three-and-a-half hours to put it
on, an hour to take it off and it’s glue," says John Leguizamo, who
plays Clown. "It’s not like you put it on with a little spit or
something like that. It’s glue. And they have to put anti-glue
agents to peel it off. I have blisters on the side of my face,
chaffing and callouses underneath my eyes cause they glue it on."
In order to become comic-book hero Spawn, White also endured
intensive make-up sessions, but the after-effects were not as
painful as Leguizamo’s. "It helped that we were side-by-side
because sometimes we’d look at each other like, ‘What the hell are
we doing? What did we get ourselves into? This is crazy,’" White
says. "But at the end of the day sometimes we’d get our make-up
taken off and I’d look over and see John. He just looks like a
connect-the-dot picture or something and he’s just breaking out.
I’m going, ‘Well, it ain’t that bad. It could be a lot worse.’ I
could imagine having an open wound and having to put the make-up on
the next day." "Spawn" is not the first film in which Leguizamo had
to undergo make-up difficulties. In "To Wong Foo," he wore a dress
and transformed into a quite attractive female. For this film,
though, Leguizamo was wearing a heavy suit. "I didn’t think I could
top it cause I was pretty freakin’ angry at the end of the day
(during ‘To Wong Foo’)," Leguizamo explains. "I was so tired of all
that plucking and tucking. That was really annoying and this topped
it ’cause the heat was unbearable. Everyone comes up to you all the
time and goes, ‘Are you really hot in there? Is that really tiring?
Man, I would go crazy if I was in there. I would go insane. Are you
really sweating?’" In addition to the cosmetic changes, Leguizamo
had to undergo physical changes to complete his transformation into
the short, stubby Clown. It took additional rehearsals and
practice. "I had to bend over, like crouch down so I could be 4
foot 11," Leguizamo says. "I’m 5 foot 8. I’m very tall. I had to
work real hard to make the part, my chest and stuff look like I was
centered. So that was hours and hours of practice and sweat. Yeah,
my butt is so tight. I have buns of titanium there." But the reward
came when Leguizamo saw kids react to his evil form. "It was
Halloween and I went on the street ’cause I was bored out of my
mind after being in the trailer for hours," Leguizamo says. "I saw
these kids trick-or-treating and I snuck behind them. I went,
‘Trick-or-treat. Boo!’ They screamed so loud. One kid tried to hit
me with his Tonka truck. And I chased them down the block. The crew
was cracking up and the kids were petrified, but it was so much fun
that it gave me a little thrill for a couple of months." Most kids
will probably look forward to seeing Leguizamo on-screen as the
scary Clown, especially "Spawn" fans. Yet there is still some
anxiety over whether the fans will be satisfied. "There is no way I
can make all the fans happy," Dippe admits. "I thought about it a
lot. I talked to Todd about that a lot, years ago. We just said,
‘Let’s make the best movie we can make and let’s see what happens.’
That’s all you can do. Die-hard fans are not going to like
something that’s not the comic. But I think a lot of fans are going
to like the new things they see, because it’s going to make sense
to them. They’re going to go, ‘Oh yeah, of course. It just fits the
world of Spawn.’" FILM: "Spawn" opened August 1. New Line Cinema
Michael Jai White plays Spawn. New Line Cinema John Leguizamo
(left) plays Clown opposite Martin Sheen’s Jason Wynn. New Line
Cinema Related Link: Spawn: This summer HELL comes to you.