Head on a stick!

I did Kristin Scott Thomas head on a stick, Schoonraad says.

You know the albatross on a stick [Monty Pythonsketch]?

I just walked in, shouting, Head on a stick!

No one knew what was going on.

This brief tale sums up John Schoonraads genuine enthusiasm for his remarkable body of work.

Props and concept models lie on desks or locked away in glass cabinets.

In those days, it was a very longwinded, crazy process, Schoonraad tells me.

Theyd mix up a bit, pass it to you, mix up a bit pass it to you.

And that changed everything.

That was when I started making innovations in life casting.

I brought my training from other areas I had into the make-up side.

Mould making and lifecasting is the cornerstone of all make-up effects and creature effects, Schoonraad says.

Say you want to become an alien.

Id have to life cast you and sculpt on top of you so you could wear that skin.

I started to pull facial expressions I had this whole new character that I developed through the mask.

When you take it off, its gone.

And people can look at a prosthetic and react to it.

When youre wearing one, people look at you a different way.

They dont look at you like youre John anymore.

They look at you like youre something else.

Ive an interest in sci-fi and aliens and goblins and fairies, Schoonraad tells me.

I look at theHolby Citystuff, and think, Thats really good.

I wonder, what silicon did they use?

Its purely curiosity, in a work sense.

But I dont like it really.

I dont go and see films where people get their heads cut off.

I dont enjoy it.

He knows his onions.

So when he puts some blood on one of our corpses, we were really chuffed.

And when someone asked him, Do you think it looks real?

He said, Thats a fuckin work of art.

And we said, Quick, write that one down!

On the way out of Schoonraads workshop, I notice Beasts face staring down from a shelf.

And the world would almost certainly been worse off without a fake Kristin Scott Thomas head on a stick.

We blew this poor bloke up three times.

Hes getting up all smiles, and getting pats on the back.

And then we fitted him with another leg and did it again three times in all.

We had a big workshop, and every other day we had a new air conditioner brought in.

The heat was going up four degrees a day.

It started at about 38 degrees, but we were hitting about 50 by the end.

And I said, Its Thailand.

And when we got out there, it was like butter.

Working with Stallone was amazing.

Id put that down as one of the most memorable Ive ever worked on, actually.

I used to get people saying to me, Whats a Jedi?

And of course, everybody knows what a Jedi is now.

I worked on Jabba the Huts skiff.

And there was another little skiff that hovered over the pit [of Sarlacc].

We made the Ewok village.

I was down on the swamp working on an X-Wing.

And a bit of a Speeder Bike.

Some of the things we made are now worth a fortune!

On Highlanders decapitations

We were experimenting with prosthetics.

Those decapitations were great.

We had a dummy that fell down.

Gelatine necks with foam heads, animatronics and radio controls.

And these were the days before CGI.

[Highlander] nearly went into obscurity, but it got picked up by Cannon Films.

It wasnt going anywhere, and then it suddenly took off.

The Queen soundtrack to that film was amazing.

That was one of my favourite films to work on, as well.

Im proud ofBlack Hawk Down.In both cases, they were both semi-true.

InBlack Hawk Down,we had people from the conflict advising us and telling us how it went.

So that was a big responsibility, to be true to those people.

Beyond Borders,as well, where youre looking at a lot of references of people starving and dying.

That sort of thing brings a sense of pride and sadness to what youre trying to do.

On working with Jim Henson

The Hensons really brought things forwards in terms of creature effects.

Theyre very positive, very dynamic.

Hensons people were great it was a great learning curve to be around those people.

And Jim, of course, who was the loveliest bloke in the world.

And Tristan said, He sounds just like Kermit the Frog!

And of course, he did.

It was a loss to the world, really, losing him.

We went to the St Pauls memorial.

Then they started singing and all the puppets came out there wasnt a dry eye in the house.

you could find out more about John Schoonraads work at hisLifecastwebsite.you could find out more about Elstree Studioshere.