reelscreenstyle: Physique Gorilla Suits

It was mentioned at the beginning of this survey that Christopher Reeve produced one of the greatest innovations for the super hero film presentation: the super hero physique. This actor provided resemblance that did not exist in previous super hero presentations before it, and in an earlier age wearing the tights was the only necessary requirement for this genre actor.

That does not mean there weren’t a list of heroes who had impressive physiques in the past. Action/adventure heroes such as Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Conan the Barbarian featured actors who had at least athletic builds yet the super hero actor now seemed to demand training credentials or at a suit which suggested that background. Except in the latter case these are obviously not costume design decisions. But this phenomenon still needs to be understood to better understand how essential the costume is as an aspect of this genre.

The Apex of Physique

One of Marvel’s essential comic contributions to the Silver age was its introduction of super beings who were physically outside of the normal physical expectations of super heroes. Heroes like the Incredible Hulk, the Thing, and Colossus and villains like the Rhino, Juggernaut, Kingpin, and Abomination were not your usual men in tights (though some wore them). Obviously once it became time to translate these men into live action characters a problem ensued. Is an extreme size or a body building “gorilla suit” a costume, Hollywood seems to have answered “yes”.

The Incredible Hulk

Hollywood’s answer was to transform highly unique physical types into actors for film. One of the most extraordinary cases of this casting was the casting of Lou Ferrigno as the monster for the 1978 to 1982 Incredible Hulk T.V. Show. Clearly just hiring an extremely tall actor as Director Richard Donner did to give in Superman 2 to give actor Reeve a formidable adversary in phantom zone criminal, played by Jack O'Halloran as Non, was not enough. In human terms Lou was the Hulk at 6’5 and 300 plus pounds he naturally made other men look puny. Yet the extreme muscular development was the “costume” or muscle suit that set him apart from a wide range of available acting competition. This time winning bodybuilding competitions was the training necessary for this role; not a slavish commitment to acting classes per se.

KINGPIN

To complete the planning of the 2000 Daredevil movie, an appropriate nemesis had to be determined. That production chose two. One was Wilson Fisk better known the Kingpin. Extremely large, strong, and rotund the Kingpin was one of Marvel’s typical outsized, larger-than-life, and villians. Other than prosthetics how would one create this human villian? In steps Michael Clark Duncan at 6'5" and an excess of 300 pounds. Big bit not a professional body builder per se Michael, is one of the few Hollywood professionals who could pull off this roll.

I’m sure one attribute Duncan may actually share with the Kingpin is shoulder width. As a sacrifice he appears to have let his waste go to try to replicate the Kingpin’s abdominal girth. Like the comic when Kingpin strikes the main character we imagine his pain.

Kudo’s to Marvel and Fox for practicing the color-blind casting, finding so much talent in such a big body was likely to be a once in a life time casting experience. I don’t envy the responsibility or creative effort necessary for casting director pertaining to the rumored eventual reboot.

STEEL

Hollywood used a similar tactic when they decided to make a live action feature dedicated to DC’s Superman influenced hero Steel. In this case they hired a big and tall athlete Shaquille O’Neill to fill the character’s boots. At 7’1 and weighing 325 pounds Shaq is a definite visual spectacle yet that is not one of the comic character’s assets. It should be understood that the actual character was big but there was nothing about him that required the proportions that O’Neill brought to the role. In the comic book John Henry Irons was an inventor, not an NBA hopeful. This is yet another case of movie producers assuming that comics culture needs help. In this way movie failures distinguish another example demonstrating that poor costume as well as poor casting decisions really do hurt super hero movies. This was yet another example of Hollywood’s obsession with big black men which includes (“Enter the Dragon”, “the Green Mile”, and “The Blind Side”). Unique size aside, the feature film Steel made very little contribution to the super hero genre.

BANE

When casting for the Marvel aesthetic influenced Batman villain Bane, Director Joel Schumacher wisely went to another entertainment genre fabled for its dedication to large muscular/athletic men who none-the-less have to act. Schumacher hired the late professional wrestler Robert swenson to fill the Bane character’s role for Warner brother’s Batman and Robin. At 6’4 and 405 pounds was certainly an imposing figure but this costuming decision highlighted again how poor decisions from the costume department can ruin super hero films. Criticizing his mute performance, one sub-culture of the critics who hated the film criticized the fact that the character was a scientist not a purely a brute. Therefore Schumacher proved he did not understand the character and somewhat explained one of the major failures of the movie.

SABERTOOTH

More successfully when Fox needed to cast an actor for the physically imposing character Sabertooth they went to professional wrestling field also. Casting Tyler Mane was the perfect choice for this villain. Critics on the othe hand might claim that he was the perfect choice given the restricted number of lines the character spoke. In effect they were noting that the character was recast with an extremely tall actor Liev Shriver when the character returned in X-men Origins: Wolverine. But I believe a movie has to be judged singularly or in context if we talking about a sequel or franchise. Tyler Mane was more than adequate for the feral character Sabertooth.

COLOSSUS

Speaking of X-men films when it was time to cast of the role of X-man Colossus, Director Bryan Singer hired extremely tall actor Daniel Cudmore to handle the acting chores. Like the character, Cudmore at 6’8 was an imposing figure yet his actual age was also appropriate. X-men 2 has been praised by many as one of the series best movies. X-men: The Last Stand had many problems yet I have never heard that Cudmore’s continued casting was one of those problems.

Responding in a manner typically reserved for costumes, clearly casting for size and physique are just one of the ways a film can find favor with comic book fans and audiences. Yet not doing this can sometimes be as effective if the audiences will make exceptions. I said earlier that audiences expect fine acting skills from the actors of comic book movies also. Clearly audiences accepted this highlight in exchange for an accurate size relationship between 6 foot 2 Hugh Jackman and the normally 5ft 3 character Wolverine.

Information pertaining to the “costume” of uniquely physiqued costumes at:

Image of Eartha Kitt:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.draculatheun-dead.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/eartha-kitt-catwoman.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.draculatheun-dead.com/blog/tag/eartha-kitt&h=768&w=1024&sz=105&tbnid=Zmk4wXoc-2He1M:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Deartha%2Bkitt&zoom=1&hl=en&usg=__NwhHH20Kov9O3vzs6pDlW0a-2VQ=&sa=X&ei=TElvTJbnEIf6lwesspWgDg&ved=0CC4Q9QEwBA

Image of Julie Newmar:http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo245/dariuswhiteplume/Babes/Julie%2520Newmar/Julie_Newmar_c1966_3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.blingcheese.com/image/code/88/julie%2Bnewmar.htm&h=500&w=400&sz=40&tbnid=ks5-oMScAIgpeM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djulie%2Bnewmar&zoom=1&hl=en&usg=__kPp_9Wh50UEuwtf3uIs1tSQXF4g=&sa=X&ei=g0lvTKCCDsn6lweqlbigDg&ved=0CCcQ9QEwBQ

Image of Lee Meriwether:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Meriwether

Image of Yvonne Craig as Batgirl:

http://www.batfriend.com/media.htm

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