Look Back At MAN-THING (2005) Concept Art & Storyboards

Look Back At MAN-THING (2005) Concept Art & Storyboards

Concept art and storyboards, created by Peter Pound, for Marvel's forgotten film, 2005's Man-Thing. Also, some interesting insights into the creature designs and the struggles on set.

Feature Opinion
By nailbiter111 - Sep 20, 2013 04:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Man-Thing
Source: monsterlegacy.wordpress.com



Back in August, the website, Monster Legacy, conducted an interview with Nick Nicolaou, co-founder of the Make-Up Effects Group, the company responsible for the special effects seen in the 2005 Man-Thing film.

How the budget effected the film:
Nick Nicolaou: We were approached by Brett Leonard and the production and were successful with our bid for the project. The script was cool — but so many things started to be cut and changed due to budgetary issues. I feel the final film lost so much by the time it got to the screen. There were more interesting character building ideas surrounding the Man-Thing creature, that showed his connection to the swamp and the environment. Many were heavily FX related, so they were the first to go.


Why the change to Man-Thing's comic design:
Nick Nicolaou: The Director & Production Designer wanted to “tweak” the design a little and Marvel were supportive of the changes (I have a FAX from Marvel saying the suit looked amazing). The main difference in the design is the 3 huge tendrils/tentacles that were central to the face of the Man-Thing comic design. With VFX and Practical MUFX budget constraints – we did not want to have these 3 huge tendrils in the center of the face and be static – so we just went with hundreds of smaller tendrils that were not as “in your face”.

In the story the swampland is a sacred Indian burial site. The branches on the back of the Man-Thing’s head were designed to replicate an American Indian feathered headdress, to link this theme and to physically add more height to the creature suit. The creature had to look huge and we were physically fighting the logistics of doing this, making sure the actor could perform inside the suit and keeping it safe for him to move around in.


Their practical suit was only meant as a stand-in:
Nick Nicolaou: They were going to use our suit as just a stand-in for a CGI creature. Every meeting we went in to they said, “we just need the shape and size, as the suit will be replaced”. We had a bad feeling about this, as they were cutting the budget left, right and centre. In the end no 3D creature was made due to diminishing budget. Our physical creature suit is in every shot.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

Concept Art & Storyboards by Peter Pound (via monsterlegacy)












Agents of an oil tycoon vanish while exploring a swamp marked for drilling. The local sheriff investigates and faces a Seminole legend come to life: Man-Thing, a shambling swamp-monster whose touch burns those who feel fear.


MAN-THING was directed by Brett Leonard ("The Lawnmower Man"), from a screenplay written by Hans Rodionoff ("Lost Boys: The Tribe"). It's based on Marvel Comics creature created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. The cast included: Matthew Le Nevez as Sheriff Kyle Williams, Rachael Taylor as Teri Elizabeth Richards, Jack Thompson as Frederic Schist, Rawiri Paratene as Pete Horn, Alex O'Loughlin as Deputy Eric Fraser, Steve Bastoni as Rene LaRoque, Robert Mammone as Mike Ploog, Pat Thompson as Jake Schist and Conan Stevens as Man-Thing. The film was released as a "Sci-Fi Original" on the Sci Fi Channel in 2005.
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devil
devil - 9/20/2013, 4:36 AM
what this years ago not a good movie. i hope they reboot this in the mcu one day soon
Lozzy
Lozzy - 9/20/2013, 4:38 AM
Shit movie. But I wouldn't mind a reboot.
SoundWave
SoundWave - 9/20/2013, 4:38 AM
The only Marvel movie that has a female nudity in it) R-rated "Blade" franchise sadly not use his raiting for that. Imogen Bailey was so nice there!
Orphix
Orphix - 9/20/2013, 4:51 AM
Considering this was made on a miniscule budget I always thought Man-thing himself look pretty cool.

Admittedly I have only ever seen the trailer.
MrCBM56
MrCBM56 - 9/20/2013, 5:17 AM
Technically Man-Thing could exist in the MCU because that lady with the EXTREMIS who attacked Tony in the bar had a scar on her face, and in the comics Manthing caused that.

Or am I getting confused?
NovaCorpsFan
NovaCorpsFan - 9/20/2013, 5:49 AM
Man-Thing IS in the MCU. The film was made by Marvel Studios. There's a chance he's gonna show up after what MrCBM just mentioned.
marvel72
marvel72 - 9/20/2013, 5:50 AM
get a decent cast & crew with a budget,the man-thing could be decent addition to the marvel cinematic universe.
Humperdink
Humperdink - 9/20/2013, 7:06 AM
The concept is great.
The execution, not so much.
nikgrid
nikgrid - 9/20/2013, 7:58 AM
HAHA! what a pile of shit! That Indian fella is actually a maori fella. he used to be on a well known NZ kids show called Play School.
superbatmanlantern
superbatmanlantern - 9/20/2013, 8:29 AM
swamp thing!!!
AlternateNo4
AlternateNo4 - 9/20/2013, 8:30 AM
per comic vine:

"Hitting the stands in March of 1971 (two months before Man-Thing's debut in Savage Tales #1) was Skywald Publications' Psycho #2 featuring a revival of....THE HEAP!"

who?

"Theodore Sturgeon's 1940 short story "It" featured a man who died in the swamp, but rose again as a vengeful half-man, half-rotting vegetation creature. Obviously inspired by Sturgeon's swamp man, Hillman Periodicals created the first comic book swamp man named The Heap in 1942."

so they're both rip-offs of a character that was himself a rip-off. that's why nobody sued anybody.
AlternateNo4
AlternateNo4 - 9/20/2013, 8:30 AM
oops not comic vine, comic coverage.
Foolkiller
Foolkiller - 9/20/2013, 9:25 AM
Man Thing is one of my favourite comics. This was not a good film. It was like they realised it was a bad idea halfway through the process but plugged away anyway.
SoundWave
SoundWave - 9/20/2013, 10:21 AM
@NovaCorpsFan "Man-Thing IS in the MCU. The film was made by Marvel Studios"

No. Only "Marvel Enterprises"
And Marvel Enterprises is in "Avengers", all "X-men", Raimi's "Spider Man" and etc...
novaprime
novaprime - 9/20/2013, 10:25 AM
Iiii Sooooo Wiisshhh Marvel Took This Series!!! This movie Could Work Every Halloween!!!
Brady1138
Brady1138 - 9/20/2013, 11:09 AM
Swamp Thing. Stick with that.
mfaulk28
mfaulk28 - 9/21/2013, 6:43 AM
This movie was the biggest piece of crap, it had nothing to do with the comics. Don't watch it, its awful.

They could easily make one Man-Thing movie interesting with his origin story but he'd probably be better as a secondary character in someone else's movie. They should introduce Ted Sallis in the MCU and see where it leads. In Iron Man 3, the woman with the scar is listed as Ellen Brandt, the woman who betrayed Ted Sallis before he drove himself into the swamp - although I don't know why they made her an Extremis enhancile.

Bring back the tendrils and those blood red eyes and get Man-Thing in a real movie, he'd be awesome!
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