Set Report: Centaurs and Satyrs

“In one room I met Stephen Ure, who should be familiar to Rings fans – not that you’d recognise him out of orc costume. He played both Grishnakh and Gorbag, and he’s certainly used to being encased in latex and hair suits. Just as well, because he’s doing it again – this time as a satyr. Satyrs are the ugly cousins to the cute little goat footed fauns. In Narnia they’re very hairy, with stubby-fingered hands and curling ram’s horns. Stephen’s satyr was armed with a short curved sword. Weta’s latex mask gave him a very different face, with a blunt muzzle and a lipless mouth.”

Satyr

Centaur Body

“The centaurs – three men and one woman – are standing with a kind of rig harnessed to their hips which provides the horse parts to their bodies. The back end of the horse is supported on a post that rides on a pair of small wheels. How the post attaches to the undercarriage of the horse is clever: I noticed that whenever the centaur actors shifted their weight from foot to foot, the body of the horse moved to counterbalance in a very natural way, just as a real horse would. I couldn’t see the join – you can’t see any of it. The centaurs are clothed in leather and chain mail armor, and the camera will only show them down to the tops of their legs. Just as well, because you could see their shoes and socks poking out from under their beautiful breastplates.”

Read the rest of the story by Tehanu at Theonelion.net.