Original subtitles

Cameras ready. Okay,

we'll go again right away.

Here we go.

Filming the many complex scenes in the new

Universal film Howard the Duck

required the highly skilled work of the

special effects experts at Industrial Light

and Magic

near San Francisco. Oh

no, it's a quake.

At the start of the movie, The main

character, Howard, is rudely jettisoned

from his home on Duck World,

curled across the galaxy, and plunked down

on the planet Earth.

The life-size Howard was shot through

walls, but a miniature model was used to

transport him through space.

When combined with other film elements, it

created the illusion of Howard falling from

the sky.

Joining Howard from outer space is the evil

Dark Overlord,

played by actor Jeffrey Jones.

When I become the Dark Overlord, or at

least in the latter stages of becoming the

Dark Overlord, it involves being in makeup

for five hours.

It happens

slowly over a period of time.

Toward the end, the changes get grosser

until

the Dark Overlord then appears, and that's

pretty gross.

Ha cha

cha cha.

Why, are you ugly?

This character's evil powers include the

ability to move objects with his mind.

In one scene, he prevents the hero's escape

by dramatically blocking the exit.

The special effects team achieved this

illusion by building a slanted set and

letting gravity do the work.

OK, ready?

And action.

Actress Leah Thompson had her own view on

what it was like to act surrounded by

special effects.

Well, when we did the final battle, we had

to imagine that we were disintegrating, Tim

Robbins and I,

and we were getting disintegrated by this

huge monster.

After a certain point, you know, you feel a

little foolish, but

you just got to go for it and just go,

ay-ay-ay-ay.

I couldn't do it for more than like five

seconds without cracking up.

I mean, you just got to hope that ILM is

making some great monster, which they

assure me they are.

This creature stands, in reality, close to

15 inches tall.

And on screen, he'll be close to 15 feet tall.

Essentially, this is a computerized rod

puppet that is being enhanced with manual

stop motion animation.

We call him Alan.

Howard the Duck is a triumph of special

effects teamwork.

The months involved in bringing it all

together have paid off in an action-packed

fun-filled adventure that will long be

remembered.