From dinosaurs to ray guns to alien exosuits, Greg Broadmore’s designs are thrilling moviegoers and comic book fans everywhere.
YOU know that amazing exosuit that tears through the bad guys in the climactic battle in the hit movie District 9? That's concept designer Greg Broadmore's design in action right there.
The 37-year old Broadmore is attached to Weta Workshop, the New Zealand special effects studio legendary for its Oscar-winning work on The Lord of the Ring that’s based in Wellington.
Like many of us, he was moved by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. Unlike a lot of us, he was motivated enough to take a leap that would change his career forever.
| The alien exosuit in District 9 is one of Greg Broadmore’s designs. |
"That would have been 2001 - I had just seen Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring and realised how crazy it was that I wasn't working for Weta - a film effects company in my own city. So I sent in my folio and a few weeks later I had a job. Luckily for me Richard Taylor saw some promise in my then very amateur illustrations," he said. Taylor, as many know, is the revered co-founder and Creative Director of Weta Workshop.
"One of the first things I worked on was the live action version of Neon Genesis: Evangelion. It's a shame that the production house couldn't get it off the ground as I think it could make an amazing movie. That said, it is an incredible anime already, and it stays that way it doesn't bother me. Pretty soon after that I started on Peter's version of King Kong," said Broadmore.
The obvious thing at this point would be to ask him what is it like to have the privilege of being able to work with creative titans like director Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor.
"I work with Richard on a day-to-day basis and there is no creative in the world that I have more respect for. He's an inspirational guy - he comes up with the wildest ideas at the drop of a hat, and is a really hands-on person. He is actually an incredibly talented sculptor but rarely finds the time,” said Broadmore.
“Peter is a more elusive character - we see him every now and then at the Workshop, once a week or sometimes, month. He is, as everyone knows, a film making powerhouse and has pretty much single-handedly drove the Wellington film industry forward to where it is now. It's really inspiring to work with someone who sees with very few limits. His plans are always bold and huge," he added.
Broadmore says his artistic inspirations are wide and varied.
"I grew up in a little town called Whakatane. It's a beautiful part of New Zealand - up on the east coast. As a kid, I was inspired and motivated to be an artist by comics and movies. Later in life I became more interested in illustration in general.
"When I was young, 2000AD and Judge Dredd were huge for me, and later Japanese Manga and anime although to a lesser degree.
"As an adult, the classic American illustrators like N.C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle have really amazed me. I went to a Museum of their works in Delaware, Washington, and for me that was like seeing the works of great masters. In general though, it's mostly non-artistic things that inspire me - science, the natural world and technology," he revealed.
Before he went to work at Weta, there was a point in his early adulthood where he played with a punk rock band. Those years were memorable for him.
"Oh, that was the best. Nothing beats playing music - especially loud, live punk rock. I made absolutely no money and had the unemployment people on my case the whole time. It was actually quite stressful, but was a great education in living on the smell of an oily rag," recalls Broadmore.
His most recent work to hit the screens is in District 9. He delivers mind-blowing concept work for this year's best movie so far.
"For District 9, I was the Lead Conceptual Designer and worked on almost every aspect of the films design to some degree. I mainly designed the technology of the Aliens - their ships, weapons, exo suit etc... I also art directed everything we built that went on set,” he explained.
“David Meng, one of our most talented sculptors, worked on the Alien itself. Leri Greer was the other major contributor who designed, amongst many things, the alien iconography and the films graphic design.”
According to Broadmore, the biggest challenge in District 9 was definitely the Aliens themselves. “David sculpted and designed them three different times from scratch, each design quite different from the last. That was a colossal amount of work and quite a mental challenge for him,” revealed Broadmore.
“I also designed the exo suit at the end two times completely - the first version was even completely built as a full-size prop that an actor could stand in. The one that ultimately appears on screen I designed in just a few short weeks," he said.
He loved the experience of working with District 9 writer-director Neill Blomkamp.
"Neill is great to work with. I had seen his short films online too and knew he'd make in incredible version of Halo. It was a shame that it fell over but we got to work on District 9 instead which was much more satisfying creatively. He grew up loving many of the same movies that I loved: Aliens, Robocop, Predator, Bladerunner etc... So we understood each other really well. We knew from the start that any movie he made was going to stand out from the rest."
When not creating stunning designs for movies (Broadmore has worked on King Kong, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Black Sheep and District 9, among others), he’s gone off and invented a whole alternate universe filled with pulp sci-fi styled rayguns and aliens.
The rayguns are available as high-end collectibles from Weta and they’re gorgeous.
Called Dr Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators, they are like artefacts from another alternate reality, produced with exquisite workmanship.
The thing that shows him to be a gifted storyteller and not just a designer of really cool rayguns is the complex and hilarious mythology he created for Dr Grordbort’s.
Broadmore came out with a graphic novel in 2008 called Doctor Grordbort’s Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory that reveals the backstories and mythos of the raygun collectible line.
"Dr. Grordbort's has been inspired by many things, but the genesis of the idea stemmed from classic Science Fiction of the turn of the last century, especially the black and white Flash Gordon serials of the 20's and 30's,” he explained.
He went on to explain that he designs every collectible they make and art directs them as they are built. "But the actual model making is done predominately by our most experienced model maker, David Tremont. I don't know how he does it really - He makes miniature versions of all the guns too and he captures every last detail. It blows my mind," he said.
"The first book was all created in about 3 months or less. It was a lot of fun to make," added Broadmore.
In November, the follow-up graphic novel - Dr Grordbort Presents: Victory - Scientific Adventure Violence for Young Men and Literate Women - will be released.
"It's 64 pages and Darkhorse comics will be publishing. It features much more stories and comics than the first one. For this book I wanted a lot more illustration. It fills out the Grordbort's universe more completely than ever before and I think it's the best published work I've done so far”.
To check out more of his work, long on to: http://www.thebattery.co.nz and
www.DrGrordborts.com
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