Making Zombies for Army of the Dead With Fractured FX CEO Justin Raleigh
By Michael Martin
Jump To Section
- Zombies Swarm Las Vegas in Post-Apocalyptic Film Army of the Dead (2021)
- A Long-awaited Project
- Getting Started on Looks for Army of the Dead Characters
- Discussing the Aesthetic for the Zombie Kingdom
- Designing the Zombies
- Making “Shambler” Zombies
- Creating the Look for the Zombie Eyes
- Designing Zombie Teeth for Army of the Dead
- Using Silicone Prosthetics for Zeus, the King Zombie
- Special Effects Used to Behead the Alpha Zombie Queen
- Creating the Splatting Head Effect for the Zombie Queen
- Combining Practical and Digital Effects for Zeus’ Death
- The Magic Behind Valentine, the Zombie Tiger
- Making a Practical “Zombie” Horse
- Using Practical and Digital Effects for Maria Cruz’ Twisted Scene
- A Challenging Shoot
- Army of the Dead Prosthetics and Fractured FX Crew List
(Dave Bautista and crew break into the casino vault in Army of the Dead. Image courtesy Netflix.)
Zombies Swarm Las Vegas in Post-Apocalyptic Film Army of the Dead (2021)
Warning: This interview contains MASSIVE spoilers! Read on at your own risk.
A team of mercenaries is recruited to retrieve a fortune stuck inside a casino vault in a Las Vegas overrun with zombies before the city is destroyed by a nuclear missile. In an extended title sequence that shows the rise of the zombies in Las Vegas, we meet our protagonist Scott Ward (played by Dave Bautista) and see how the city is walled off. The effects in the title sequence alone are enough to fill an entire zombie movie on their own.
(Director Zack Snyder shooting on-set. Image courtesy Netflix.)
Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Justice League, Man of Steel, Watchmen) and produced by Deborah Snyder (Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), the film is not a sequel to Zack's earlier zombie flick Dawn of the Dead. Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, and Ana de la Reguera.
(Fractured FX CEO Justin Raleigh.)
Tasked with creating Army of the Dead’s horde of zombies was Fractured FX CEO and special makeup effects designer Justin Raleigh (Aquaman, Swamp Thing, American Horror Story). Justin spoke with SWSCA about his and his team's challenge creating the swarm of zombies for the film.
A Long-awaited Project
Justin Raleigh has a long history (more than fifteen years) of working with Zack and Deborah Snyder. His first film with the Snyder camp was Watchmen. When the Army of the Dead project originally came along, it was all the way back in 2007. Justin says Zack was attached, but not to direct. At the time, months and months of design work had been done and the film was close to being greenlit when the studio pulled the plug. When the project came back around, Zack returned to Justin and Fractured FX, updating them on the new spin for the storyline and the news that Snyder would now be directing. Justin says, “I think having Zack in there with kind of a new vision and adding a modern twist to it really just sold it.”
Getting Started on Looks for Army of the Dead Characters
Justin says costume designer Stephanie Porter designed looks for a wide array of zombified showgirls, card dealers, and Vegas tourists for the film. There is even, yes, a zombie Elvis impersonator.
(Elvis and other zombies created for Army of the Dead by Fractured FX. Images courtesy Netflix.)
Once director Snyder selected which ones would become hero-level makeups and which would play in the background, Justin and his team had a better idea of how much ‘zombie skin’ they would need to cover and where appliances should go. Justin says they had a “great symbiotic relationship with the costume department.”
(Zombies takeover Las Vegas in Army of the Dead. Image courtesy Netflix.)
On some shooting days, there would be up to 150 zombie extras waiting to be made up. We would “bring them out in groups... and make sure that what we did prosthetically and makeup application-wise matched the level of the costumes that [Stephanie Porter] had developed.”
Discussing the Aesthetic for the Zombie Kingdom
(Dave Bautista and director Zack Snyder discuss the scene while standing amidst a pile of desiccated zombie corpses. Image courtesy Netflix.)
In the now walled-off Las Vegas, the team of mercenaries would discover masses of desiccated zombies, hibernating zombies, zombie tigers, and more. “We were brought in really early on just to start talking about the range of characters and what the new aesthetic would be within this world.”
Designing the Zombies
There would be two different types of zombies in Army of the Dead. The first were the ‘The Shamblers'. Shamblers represented the classic image of the zombie; the slow-moving, dragging-their-feet stereotype. ‘Alphas’ on the other hand, are fast, aggressive, and intelligent.
For the Shamblers, Justin relates, “There was an extensive timeline within the film and we needed to work out what the levels of decomposition would look like and what our stages of a Shambler might be; just how many variations we would have, how many bodies we would have, you know, performers versus stunt performers, just to create diversity.”
(Left: FX artist Jacob Roanhaus paints a zombie mask. Right: FX artist Justin Patterson in a Shambler test makeup. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
Raleigh continues, “But the other side of that was figuring out what the Alphas would be. It was a script point early on as well, but they've changed in Zack's new vision of it.”
(Left: A concept design of Zeus as we first see him by Fractured FX illustrator Howard Swindell. Right: Zeus the 'Alpha King' design by Jerad S. Marantz for costume designer Stephanie Porter. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
For the Alphas, “we really wanted to create something that was very new, very unique, and just had an aggressive yet almost beautiful quality to them as well," says Raleigh. "That was our main focus, figuring out the difference between the Alphas versus Shamblers. What the Alphas would look like physically, in comparison."
(Brian Wade sculpts the 'Alpha Queen' makeup. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
"The Alphas are very translucent looking. They have a lot more muscularity, they're far more sinewy looking, just a lot more depth to their skin. And they're obviously much faster, more aggressive characters compared to our traditional 'Shambler' zombies," explains Raleigh. "So they were polar opposites, really.”
(Mold Maker Michael Williams preps an 'Alpha' makeup sculpture for molding. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
(The 'Alphas' gave the Fractured FX team a chance to take their zombie makeups into an aggressive and muscular direction. Images courtesy Netflix.)
(The 'Alpha' King and Queen of the zombies, portrayed by Richard Cetrone and Athena Perample. Images courtesy Netflix.)
Making “Shambler” Zombies
Justin shares that the Shamblers were primarily produced with foam latex prosthetics. "The really tricky part was just dealing with heat and humidity.” While some silicone pieces were used, because of their mummified look and the heat of the Albuquerque, New Mexico location, it made more sense to primarily produce the 'Shambler' appliances in foam latex. The foam was more forgiving of the heat and the performers’ sweat.
(FX artist Jesse Gee paints a zombie hand prosthetic and a Shambler mask at Fractured FX. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
(Just a few of the many background zombie masks that were created by Raleigh's team. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
Whether run in foam or silicone, the Army of the Dead zombie makeups required constant maintenance. The Fractured FX makeup artists worked throughout the entire day just to keep them looking as good as possible.
(Makeup artists Jerrad Gray, Jon Shroyer, and Brian Perkal apply prosthetics to mid-background zombies. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
There were cooling tents available for the performers to use between shots where they could keep cool and hydrated. In some cases, air would be blown under the prosthetic appliances before they were glued back down. Justin says they tried to shoot as many of the zombie close-ups as possible early in the day and save the crazy action for later in the day.
(Our heroes accidentally wake up a room full of hibernating "Shambler" zombies in Army of the Dead. Images courtesy Netflix.)
Creating the Look for the Zombie Eyes
There were several different versions of contact lenses used for the zombies in Army of the Dead. The first phase lenses would be for when the eyes were first beginning their zombie transformation. There would be some hemorrhaging around the sclera of the eye and as they progressed the contacts became more advanced with more redness and bleeding. The Shamblers final contact lenses would be completely whited out.
All of the contacts for the project were made by Cristina Patterson. Justin says, “She hand-painted all those lenses to match our designs.” Christina and her team would create upwards of sixty sets of lenses for the show.
Designing Zombie Teeth for Army of the Dead
Rob Hinderstein was responsible for the dental designs and Zombie teeth for Army of the Dead. Custom teeth were created for all of the hero players, while generic dentures were manufactured in small, medium, and large sizes for the background zombies. The Alphas' teeth were designed to be serrated in appearance while the Shamblers were created as more rotten-looking, as if they were ready to fall out.
(Sculpted 'Alpha' zombie teeth. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
Using Silicone Prosthetics for Zeus, the King Zombie
(Zeus, the Zombie King. Image courtesy Netflix.)
Named Zeus in the script, the king zombie in Army of the Dead is portrayed by actor and stunt performer Richard Cetrone. Justin reveals that as Zeus, Richard was covered in silicone prosthetics from the waist up.
(From left to right: Carmen Wilson, Dave Perteet, Michael Williams, and Heather Alexander lifecast "Zeus" actor Richard Cetrone at Fractured FX. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
(Left: Brian Wade sculpts Zeus's torso appliances. Right: the final sculpture for Zeus's head/face prosthetics. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
The complex appliance makeup included a full chest piece and a full back piece. It was also made up of triceps, biceps, a wraparound shoulder piece, forearm pieces, top of the hands, and a full seamless neck.
(Heather Alexander and Corinne Fortunato mold Zeus's upper body sculpture at Fractured FX. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
Along with these pieces, the makeup featured a cowl and six more appliances for the face. “Obviously we had to design the pieces to allow a lot of open areas so they had room to stretch. The armpits, in-between the bicep and tricep, most of the joints, we tried to leave open to give some range there.” He adds they "sometimes would use a cooling vest over [Cetrone] to keep his body temperature down.”
(One of the pre-painted neck appliances for Zeus and the final makeup on actor Richard Cetrone. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
Justin wanted the king zombie’s skin to look as if it had lost all of its melanin, so Fractured FX used silicone for this character because of its translucent quality. Raleigh describes the paint job as “a walking bruise.” He elaborates, “We wanted it to feel like it was transformed flesh, as opposed to rotting flesh,” like the Shamblers. The goal was to create depth with subdermal bruising. To achieve this effect, all of the silicone pieces were back-painted. “So you can really see deep inside the piece.”
(A closeup look at the underpainting that went into the translucent torso prosthetics for Zeus and his fellow 'Alphas'. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
(Zeus as he appears at the beginning of Army of the Dead during his violent escape from a military convoy. Images courtesy Netflix.)
Justin says that everything was pre-painted before leaving the shop so they could get all of the layers that they wanted into it. Final painting was done once everything was applied. To top it all off, Cetrone wore custom yellow and orange contact lenses and deformed and discolored teeth.
(Zeus leads the enormous amount of zombies created by Fractured FX. Images courtesy Netflix.)
Special Effects Used to Behead the Alpha Zombie Queen
(The 'Alpha' Zombie Queen played by Athena Perample. Images courtesy Netflix.)
At one point in the film, the Queen of the Zombies, played by Athena Perample, is beheaded by Martin the ‘evil corporate guy.’ Played by Garret Dillahunt, Martin brutally removes the queen’s head with a garrote, intending to save it for his bosses. In some shots, the amazingly expressive ‘living’ Zombie Queen’s head is a fully articulated animatronic. Justin says, “That was all mechanically designed by Eric Fiedler. Fantastic job. He was there on the day puppeteering with us as well. It was fun.”
(A close-up look at the elaborate Zombie Queen silicone appliance makeup created by Fractured FX. Image courtesy Netflix.)
A wide range of motion was built into the Zombie Queen’s severed head. With open, close, and side-to-side jaw action along with eye movement, the head was completely self-contained with no tether. The battery pack, receivers, and other internal mechanisms were accessed through the back of the head. “We had a little access point in the back of the hairline that we could open up and get inside to access it all.” Justin continues, “I was glad that Zack wanted to do something like that, because it's kind of rare anymore.” In certain shots, the actress was dressed in green or blue and her actual head was filmed, while for other shots, the animatronic one was used. “It really tied together very nicely.”
When Zeus finds the decapitated body of his queen, he lifts it and returns to the casino the Alpha zombies use for their headquarters. Justin explains that the headless body was made of solid silicone with an articulated armature that weighed around seventy pounds. The body was built this way so that when it’s picked up, “It moves like it's a normal body when he's holding it. It moves like there's subcutaneous fat” and real weight to it.
Creating the Splatting Head Effect for the Zombie Queen
Later, when the Zombie Queen's head is dropped off the top of a casino building, it hits the cement below with a resounding and gory practical splat! The splatting head was filled with dark fake blood, methacyl, ultra slime, and pieces of banana. Fractured FX also mixed together some thermal gel and candle wax to form a crumbly yet rubbery brain consistency.
Combining Practical and Digital Effects for Zeus’ Death
The king zombie Zeus’s final ‘death’ would be a combination of practical elements and digital effects. Facial damage was accomplished with appliances and the final explosion realized as a digital visual effect.
The Magic Behind Valentine, the Zombie Tiger
(The zombie tiger named Valentine roams what is left of Las Vegas. Image courtesy Netflix.)
SPOILER! You knew Martin the 'evil corporate guy' was going to get it…and does he! The filmmakers used a combination of the actor Garret Dillahunt, a stunt performer, and a digital zombie tiger to create the violent death scene. Fractured FX built a full puppeteered zombie tiger head with realistic teeth. Justin explains, “So when you see [Dillahunt] get bit or attacked, that is a real element for interaction. When he's grabbing the head, he has something tangible to hold onto for performance. We also did some attack arms as well. And we had stunt guys in green suits for all that stuff. The final look is visual effects. We just gave them something to interact with.” Because of the danger of an untethered effects device in the kinetic scene, the blood gags were handled digitally in post. The final head-crushing chomp would also be created with digital visual effects.
(The practical zombie tiger head with realistic teeth that was created for the performers to interact with. Images courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
Making a Practical “Zombie” Horse
(The king of the zombies rides through the ruins of Las Vegas astride a practical zombie horse outfitted by Gabriel Bartalos. Image courtesy Netflix.)
A practical zombie horse that Zeus rides through the remains of Las Vegas was devised by Gabriel Bartalos. Justin reveals that a real horse was transformed using multiple layers: a muscle and bone structure layer and then a pelt layer on top of that. Then, little sinewy bits would be added along with a facepiece that the horse would wear.
(A real horse performs on set wearing a multi-layered zombie costume created by Gabriel Bartalos and his team. Images courtesy Netflix.)
Justin praised the zombie horse’s beautiful textures and layers, saying Bartalos and his team, “were a perfect fit to handle it and did a fantastic job putting that horse together. It's really impressive.”
Using Practical and Digital Effects for Maria Cruz’ Twisted Scene
There is a devastating development for one of our lead characters near the end of the film. The crew has successfully recovered the money and is about to leave the casino vault by way of the elevator when the unthinkable happens. As the elevator doors open, a zombie grabs Maria Cruz (played by Ana de la Reguera) by the head…and twists! Maria’s head is turned around 180 degrees until it faces the camera. The force of the twist is so powerful that her broken spine rips out through the side of her neck.
(The neck snap prosthetic sculpture on a lifecast of actress Ana de la Reguera. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
The startling shot was achieved through a combination of practical and digital effects. Justin explains, “We had a full head that we did face replacement on so it is a likeness of [Ana]. We did a shot of her giving the reaction and starting the twist. Then we did the insert element, which is basically a half torso that had the full head and neck element that you could spin and snap and see the bone pop through. And then we had a prosthetic that we put on her that gives the illusion that she spun around and has the bone sticking out of her. So it's three elements with some VFX compositing for the face replacement.”
Bautista pauses for one last look at Maria’s body lying on the vault floor, her head twisted completely around. To create the effect, Justin says, “We actually sculpted part of the neck to look like it was part of her back to cover her bust and everything in front. And that gave the illusion that she had been spun around.”
A Challenging Shoot
Justin remembers the challenges of the shoot. “Sometimes we had eight-hour pre-calls. We would be in at 12:00 a.m. to work an eight-hour morning. Production would come in and start at 8:00 a.m. They would shoot their day and then we'd have to clean up all those people at the end of the night. So it was very, very intense.”
Justin singles out "Ozzy Alvarez and Kevin Kirkpatrick, who were my co-department heads on the show. They really spearheaded a lot of the day-to-day while I was having to travel back and forth to Atlantic City or to Los Angeles. Their management skills and the team that they helped put together really made this successful because we had thousands and thousands of prosthetics and thousands of looks that we ended up doing on the show. We had days back to back to back where we had 150 people that were coming in that had to go through various different levels of prosthetic or airbrush work.”
(A bloodthirsty mob of 'Alpha' zombies in the King and Queen's lair. Image courtesy Netflix.)
“Honestly, everyone on the show, we were all putting our blood, sweat, and tears into this thing and we all really just loved working with each other and we would just sync up every single day to make sure we were all on point for Zack.”
(Special makeup effects artist Justin Raleigh touches up a zombie on the set of Army of the Dead. Image courtesy Fractured FX/Netflix.)
But it wasn’t all hard work. The highlight of the shoot for Justin was creating the Alpha makeups. “Obviously the Alphas.” He says, “visually those are the most fun to me. The Shamblers are obviously fun, but the Alphas were the challenge.”
As for the final product, Justin says, “I just want to thank my team for getting through this thing and coming out unscathed. I think that they're all going to be very happy with the final results.”
Army of the Dead Prosthetics and Fractured FX Crew List
ON SET PROSTHETIC MAKE UP DEPARTMENT
MAKEUP EFFECTS DESIGNER
JUSTIN RALEIGH
PROSTHETICS CO-DEPARTMENT HEADS
KEVIN KIRKPATRICK
OZZY ALVAREZ
PROSTHETICS BACKGROUND KEY
JON SHROYER
PROSTHETICS MAKEUP ARTISTS
SABRINA CASTRO - DAVID DUPUIS - KELLY GOLDEN - JERRAD GRAY - DANNY WAGNER
BRIAN PERKAL - COREY WELK - RALIS KAHN - ROB HINDERSTEIN KELSEY BERK
LISA FORST - CRAIG LINBERG - ALEX NOBLE - CLINTON WAYNE - MARK NIEMAN
BRIAN PENIKAS - HANNY TJAN - MARCEL BANKS - PHIL HARRAH - AMBER GLASRUD
LISA HILL - HANNY EISEN - GAGE MUNSTER - ALEXANDRA DI NARDO - BRIAN SPEARS
LEONARD MACDONALD - MARK GARBARINO - MICHELLE SPOONER -SCOTT WHEELER
CONTACT LENSES
CRISTINA PATTERSON - EYE INK FX
LENS TECHNICIANS
NICKI HARRIS
TERESA STONE
LEAD PUPPETEERS
ERIC FIEDLER
BERNARD EICHHOLZ
FRACTURED FX
SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS AND ANIMATRONICS DESIGNED AND CREATED BY:
FRACTURED FX
MAKEUP EFFECTS SUPERVISOR
MICHAEL EZELL
ASSISTANT COORDINATOR
KATE KATZ
ILLUSTRATORS
HOWARD SWINDELL
LUCA NEMOLATO
SCULPTORS
KODAI YOSHIZAWA - FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ
BRIAN WADE - TODD REX - J.D. BOWERS
HAIR DEPARTMENT
DENISE BAER
DEBORAH GALVEZ
KEY ARTISTS AND TECHNICIANS
BRENT BAKER - SAM POLIN - BRIAN JONES - CARLEY COOPER
JOE COLWELL - STEVE KUZELA - BRYAN BLAIR - MIKE WILLIAMS
DAVID PERTEET - JULIAN LEDGER - JACOB ROANHAUS - CLAUDIA HARDY
HEATHER ALEXANDER - CARMEN WILSON - SCOTT HOLBERT - CORINNE FORTUNATO
AMBER QUILLEN - BRYAN SIDES - DAN DIANA - JESSE GEE
DAVID WOODRUFF - JUSTIN PATTERSON - KIERAN SMITH - JESSICA FEIN