Ramez in the Waterfall

The Build:

Ramez’s schedule meant that he couldn’t come to Artem for a life cast which is usually the first step when creating a custom built suit. Artem Technician Richard North travelled to Egypt to meet Ramez, take vital measurements, and carry out a 3D head scan. We could then craft the suits to fit him as closely as possible without the need for Ramez to be London.

A life cast was taken from an Artem technician who was the same size as Ramez and Artem’s head Sculptor Stan Mitchell sculpted the form of the male Gorilla body in clay over the cast. Costume fabricators used the full size clay figure to produce patterns to create the gorilla's powerful muscle shapes in flexible foam.  Digital files were produced from the 3D head scan taken in Egypt and a gorilla’s head was drawn in our Freeform plus CAD package. Ramez’s and the Gorilla’s heads were then machined on Artem’s multi-axis robotic arm.

The gorilla’s head was moulded and a flexible skin was made in foam latex. A core was created in fibreglass and then handed over to the Artem’s animatronic team, and cut into sections. Using a combination of springs, hinges, and cables the team produced a lightweight head that Ramez could operate with his own jaw. He was able to open the Gorilla’s mouth, snarl the lips and lower the brow to create a menacing look without the need for a complex electronic head and control system.

The chest and hand were also sculpted and moulded and cast in a similar way to the head and two sets of hands were produced to cater for different requirements. A set of gloves mean that Ramez had enough dexterity to grab and pick things up and extension arms were produced for the correct proportions and to allow him to walk on all fours.

An under suit was tailored to the life cast and the flexible foam muscles adhered in the correct anatomical position. This was then covered in a four-way-stretch synthetic fur fabric. The chest and face were detailed with airbrushed skin tones and individual hairs were added to create a realistic fur transition.

Ramez attended a fitting at Artem’s West London workshop with the technicians who would be travelling to the Indonesian location and the team had an opportunity to have a “dry” run with the costume. This ensured that any last minute adjustments could be identified and carried out before relocating to the Indonesian jungle for the demanding thirty day shoot.

The Shoot:

The filming location was on the Telaga Waja River and the journey each day from Gianyar involved a 1 hour drive to Sobek and a 45 min raft journey down the river. The prank was split into two parts, with the celebrities  receiving a drenching from an elephant before being dropped into the river by a collapsing platform and once they were safely back on dry land were scared by a menacing gorilla. Over forty camera operators and technical staff were involved in the filming.

Artem technicians were based in the Gorilla House dressing room provided by the production, dressing Ramez in about 3 minutes so that there were no delays in the prank. At the end of each day of shooting the costumes had to be cleaned, dried, repaired and prepped - a process that could take up to two hours - particularly if Ramez had been wrestled to the ground by a furious celebrity, as often happened after the 'reveal'.