Friday 16 August 2019

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: MAUL'S OTHER MASTER!

Ray Park as Maul, on a corridor set recreation of Caserta Palace in London, having fun with make-up supremo Paul Engelen.

Specially chosen by Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard, Scottish gymnast and martial artist Ray Park would prove a formidable physical opponent onscreen as the double lightsaber wielding Darth Maul, whose hellish visage would be rendered viscerally even more scary in his role as Sith Lord Assassin by the stellar make-up brought to life by UK talent Paul Engelen, as seen in these great behind the scenes images. Maul was always to have been a humanoid villain, originally conceived as having a ghostly, putrified visage akin to a heroin junkie. This visage ultimately changed, using a design originally conceived by Iain McCaig for one of the Republic senators on Coruscant. The locked down make-up design also clearly has deliberate echoes to the distinctive and fearsome make-up worn by African Masai Warriors.

"I have not seen anything that looks remotely like the Darth Maul character. And that's fascinating."

Paul Engelen - 1999

Ray Park gets a head shave and sees the drawing for which he will be transformed.

Iain McCaig's design was originally for a generic Republic senator.








The contact lenses are applied just before filming begins, and a chilling visage approaches completion.

Reference and publicity images for the final make-up.

Including the later application of the spiked horns prosthetics.

No comments: