So very many of the greatest make up effects of recent times have been provided by KNB FX – a superb effects house of which Howard Berger (the B of KNB) has been involved and having worked on a huge range of films that includes Alita, Transformers, Annabelle, Hitchcock, Predators, Hostel, Sin City, Austin Powers 3, Mulholland Drive, The Green Mile, From Dusk til Dawn. The list is endless and he rightly won an Oscar for his work on ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’. He loves his craft but perhaps his favourite gig is working on Quentin Tarantino’s films having provided effects on all nine films to date. Friendly and phenomenally knowledgeable about his craft we chatted with Howard about working on all of Tarantino’s films and he took us behind the scenes of that astonishing Kill Bill fight scene in the House of Blue Leaves where Uma Thurman takes on the whole Crazy 88’s gang dispatching each of them in the most gruesome of manner all made possible by Howard and his team.
If you love your monsters then do check out his book, ‘Masters of Make Up Effects’ co-written with Marshall Julius. It is an absolutely essential read beautifully laid out with superb pictures and with the story behind each make up by the artist that created them. And there are loads of great stories in there that takes in Hellboy, An American Werewolf in London, The Elephant Man, Alien, Planet of the Apes, From Dusk til Dawn and loads more. there’s little that is not covered.
related feature : Alien Romulus director Fede Alvarez talks CGI, sequels and monsters….
related feature : ‘Sting’ director Kiah Roache-Turner talks giant spiders, scary sets and Schwarzenegger!
Here’s Howard chatting about THAT Kill Bill fight scene and just how they did it all….
