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I recently drove down to Motor City Comic-Con in Novi, Michigan, primarily to visit with frequent DelToro collaborator, actor Doug Jones (I'm a HUGE Fan-Sapien, you'll soon discover). While I was there however, I had the great luck and fortune to also get to speak with Doug's fellow Hellboy actor John Alexander.
John played Johann Krauss (along with James Dodd) as well as the Goblin Blacksmith in Hellboy II. But John's list of credits goes far beyond that. Like Doug Jones you've probably seen John's work many, many times and never realized it - everything from aliens in both Men In Black films to a Wheeler and the Cowardly Lion in Return To Oz in 1985. He particularly specializes in ape performances, with major roles in Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (as White Eyes, the ape leader), Gorillas In The Mist (as Digit the silver back), and as the title character in Disney's remake of Mighty Joe Young, although he's played ape parts on many other TV shows and movies over the years.Personally, the credit I really wanted to ask about was a line on his IMDB page listing John as a principal puppeteer on the 1986 version of Little Shop Of Horrors - because, aside from fish-men, my favorite type of monsters are Evil Plants. And my all-time favorite Evil Plant is, indeed, Audrey II from Little Shop.
I wasn't planning on staying in Novi overnight - instead I was staying with a friend who lived about 3 hrs away (she had Hellboy playing when I walked in Friday night - does she know me too well or what?). Thanks to leaving my friend's house a little later than planned and a back-up of cross-border traffic I sadly just missed Doug and John's Q&A session. But, c'est las vie - the last place you want to be cranky and impatient is in front of a border guard...
I found Doug and John's tables side by side not too far inside the entrance to the main convention space, right next to a big section curtained off for those waiting to see Carrie Fisher. In fact I was initially scared that the very long line was for Doug and John (turns out no, that was the line to buy the tickets that then allowed you to get in line to eventually get up to see Princess Leia).
I wanted to surprise Doug, so I got in line for him first (this entry is long enough so my adventures with Doug will have to wait for another day). While Doug had a line of 20 to 30 people all day (at the time I first got in line there were only perhaps 10 people in front of me) I soon noticed that there was no line-up for John. So after speaking with Dougie and collecting the requisite, and much anticipated, Dougie-hugs (no one hugs like Doug Jones) it was very easy to slip over to say "Hi" to John, and ask my Little Shop question.
I wasn't too nervous - DTF regular, Hellmistress (who also does a wonderful job running The Doug Jones Experience) met John Alexander on the HBII set in Budapest and had told me he was a very sweet and nice guy. Which he is - a wonderful gentleman. He's quieter than Doug but get him going and he has fantastic stories to tell.
Like, yes, those are live crabs all over John when he's the Goblin Blacksmith in HBII, and yes, he, and the make-up guys from Spectral were more than a little caught off guard when Guillermo declared that's what was going to not only fill the many baskets and containers on the Goblin's cart, but also be sitting and hanging all over the Goblin's head and shoulders. Even though the crabs were kept on ice when they weren't being used, to slow their metabolism and kept them fresh, several did expire during the shooting and things were pretty manky by the time they were done filming the Goblin's scenes three or four days later.
The Goblin's cart was not as uncomfortable as it seemed either. It was about a 5 hour make-up job - first he'd be fitted with a fibreglass helmet that held the horns, over which would slip the Goblin's skin and the rest of the face pieces. Then the torso was applied. He'd be slipped into the cart when they got on set and the cart would be dressed with crabs just before the cameras would start rolling. In Bethmoora moving around wasn't too hard - the cart is actually propelled by the arm crutches, but on the slopes of the Giant's Causeway John had to be pulled along with cables worked by three guys off-camera - the ground was just too rough and uneven for him to do it himself. I mentioned that that must have been a bit treacherous - if he'd fallen over, strapped as he was into the suit, it definitely wouldn't have been fun and John agreed. They had a few near misses but he managed to stay upright for the most part. He said it reminded him a bit of playing a Wheeler in Return To Oz (evil characters who had wheels for both hands and feet, and chased Dorothy around on all-fours through a broken courtyard).
Johann, meanwhile, was not too bad to move in, but the sensation of constantly having to look, breath, and speak as though your head was wrapped in a heavy scarf (due to the material that made up the neck of Johann's suit, where John's actual face was situated) was not pleasant. Neither was the whirring of gears from the mechanism that made the smoke, and moved the values and gizmos in the helmet.
But what about my Evil Plant? John said that he had indeed worked on Little Shop for a couple days. After finishing Return To Oz a friend who was working on Little Shop asked if John wanted to come over and help them out for a day or two. He helped out with Pod 4, the largest version of the Plant, during the final showdown scene ("Mean Green Mother From Outer Space") - it was John's job to man the vine that shoots the revolver. He said that funnily enough, years later he performed as the killer robot in Zathura and the voice of the robot was performed by Frank Oz - who was also the director of Little Shop (which is yet another reason I love the film - Twoey's a "Muppet Cousin")
It's obvious that John has a great fondness and passion for his ape roles - one of his favorites being Mighty Joe Young. It made me wish I was more an ape-movie afficianado myself - we talked about everything from Congo to George of the Jungle to Tim Burton's disapointing remake of Planet Of The Apes (John told me that they had choreographed the ape movements much more thoroughly, and to be far more ape-like than what actually appeared in the finished film). Make-up junkie that I am, we also talked about all the various FX masters John as worked with. Like Doug, the list is extensive and includes all the big names, from Rick Baker, and Stan Winston, to most recently, the folks at Spectral Motion. BTW - if you're wondering which of John's roles he's most physically recognizable in, it's probably as Jarra in Men In Black II - even though he's still under a tonne of prosthetics there.
It was my great pleasure to be able to speak to John Alexander, not once but several times over the course of the day. If you happen to be at a con where John is a guest I really, really, encourage you to go up and say "Hi" - it's a real treat to get to talk to him, especially if you are, in any way, shape, or form, a film or special effects fan. And, as I said, if you happen to be a fan of ape movies then you are in for an even BIGGER treat - I'm sure he would no doubt happily chat about that topic for hours. Bribing him with Hellboy and DTF buttons helps too ;)
