It took some creative work to make Gus, the half-human, half-deer boy in Sweet Tooth, the adaptation of the DC/Vertigo comic, look believable, according to series co-showrunner Jim Mickle.
Mickle preferred to avoid CGI effects, reports Entertainment Weekly. Instead, actor Christian Convery was outfitted with animatronics manipulated remotely with a transmitter by puppeteer Grant Lehmann. Having Convery wear deer antlers and ears on the set as Gus helped all of the actors in their performances according to Mickle.
Partly inspired by Jim Henson, Mickle explained, "So it started with Gus and it makes a big difference because the other characters are acting off of something real in front of them. The way that the light hits them, you get those little happy accidents on set, and that informed the way I think we tried to pull a lot of the world off and other characters, and it was very cool."
Convery said he went with the idea and prepared to make it work. "It took me a while to get used to it. After researching about deers and how they move and react, and after a while of filming, I really got used to being Gus with antlers and being a deer," Convery said. "There are some funny moments. There was this one scene where I was running, then my antlers fell off because I hit a tree."
Available now on Netflix, the eight-episode first season of Sweet Tooth stars Nonso Anozie, Christian Convery, Adeel Akhtar, Stefania LaVie Owen, Dania Ramirez, Aliza Vellani and Neil Sandilands, with James Brolin and Will Forte.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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