Mama – Production Notes - I Watch Mike

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(L to R) Director ANDY MUSCHIETTI and executive producer GUILLERMO del TORO on the set of Mama.needed to be friendly and invitingto kids…yet exclude saturatedhues that would conflict with therest of the film design.For these spaces, Masaro usedbright colors in a muddier range,which director of photographyRiestra subsequently toned downeven further. The rest of themovie employed earthy tones tomaintain the moody, dark qualitythat Andy Muschietti wanted toproject, continuously remindingus that the long-deceased Mamais still omnipresent.In the fall of 2011 as Mama began production, Del Toro credits Andy Muschietti for understandingPinewood Toronto Studios and locations in and around how to generate fear in the film: by using restraint inToronto afforded the filmmakers the opportunity to how much—or rather, how little—he reveals of thebuild sets and adapt existing locations to the exact title character. Says del Toro: “It can be scarier to notspecifications of the script.see than to actually see, or to imagine what was seen.Creating sets for Mama was further complicated Mama is shown just enough that you feel satisfied, butbecause much of the horror takes place in an innocuous not too much that it loses its punch.”suburban house. Even the abandoned shack in the woods The director explains the approach that he and DPis an example of 1950s architecture, not a creepy castle Riestra employed, which Muschietti admits was halfscriptedand half-found during the course of production:or a decrepit mansion commonly used as settings forthis genre. The sets not only needed to lend themselves “One way of creating fear is by not letting the audienceto reality, but also offer the audience spaces in which see what they want to see, by detaching from theirthey could project their worst fears. The Muschiettis point of view. This device, known as a ‘lazy camera,’credit production designer Masaro and her team with strategically forgets characters and has the effect ofachieving what Barbara calls the “benign but rotten” generating tension.”look they craved.Andy Muschietti praises Riestra for finding theFor her part, Masaro employed colors with an earthy right lens with which to film Mama and accentuateglow. Browns and blacks accompany Mama—from the her proportions, and for lighting in such a way thatmoldy way she appears on walls to her wardrobe and adds visual interest and mood throughout. Riestra’sthe gifts she presents to the girls as she grows to claim vision for the film was dark but stylized, keeping thethem as her own. When it came time to explore the detail in significant moments, such as highlighting thechildren’s world outside of the forest, the color palette characters’ skin to show their reactions to what theywas broadened to include yellows, blues and greens. may—or may not—have seen.The girls’ room in Annabel and Lucas’ house, as well Barbara Muschietti raves that Riestra—who hadas the bedroom in the institute run by Dr. Dreyfuss, developed a rapport with the brother-and-sister team– 18 –
in the days they worked together in commercials—“painted the whole movie with just the right mood,aesthetic and visual texture.”In order to further achieve his vision for design,Andy Muschietti conducted a series of physical testswith Javier Botet that involved manipulating his bodymovement. Together, they ultimately found the rightbalance of actor, prosthetics and digital effects. Fear isgenerated through the physicality of a real and livingMama, and the challenge was to balance computergeneratedeffects with prosthetics.The renowned Mr. X visual-effects team led byEDWARD TAYLOR provided the hyperrealisticelement of Mama’s hair, while the Oscar ® -winningSpanish makeup effects team of Montse Ribé andDavid Martí, of DDT Effects, built the prosthetics thatelongated Botet’s neck and fingers and brutally distortedhis face to showcase a specter who has lost more thanone could ever imagine.A longtime proponent of blending VFX withspecial effects, del Toro suggested DDT to theMuschiettis. He commends: “I trust them completely.From The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy,The Orphanage…I think they are one of the best teamsof makeup prosthetic effects in the world right now,and frankly ever. They are a pair of geniuses, and Iknew they were going to be able to interpret Andy’sideas for Mama.”Costume designer Luis Sequeira brought Andy’scocoon concept to life and constructed Mama’s flowingdress to mirror her digitally generated floating hair—not a simple task when the hair was yet to be created andthe actor was wearing a bald cap. Since Mama walks,flies, grows and mutates throughout the film, Sequeirahad to create 15 versions of the same dress. Each onewas hand-sewn and dyed to appear seamlessly fromscene to scene as a single dress with a long tail.Production wrapped, del Toro sums up on behalf ofthe filmmaking team what they’ve been sharing sincethe short Mamá was created several years ago: “Themost unyielding force in the universe is maternal love,but when it goes wrong, it produces a very particularbrand of compelling horror.”****Universal Pictures and Guillermo del Toro presenta De Milo/Toma 78 production of a film by AndyMuschietti: Jessica Chastain, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau inMama. Casting for the thriller is by Robin D. Cook,CSA, and the music is by Fernando Velázquez. Thecostume designer is Luis Sequeira, and the editor isMichele Conroy, CCE. Mama’s production designer isAnastasia Masaro, and its director of photography isAntonio Riestra, AMC. The film’s associate produceris Cristina Lera Gracia. The thriller’s executive produceris Guillermo del Toro. Mama is produced byJ. Miles Dale and produced by Barbara Muschietti.It is from a story by Andy Muschietti & BarbaraMuschietti. The screenplay is by Neil Cross and AndyMuschietti & Barbara Muschietti. Mama is directedby Andy Muschietti. © 2012 Universal Studios.www.mamamovie.com– 19 –
Page 2 and 3: CASTAnnabel .......................
Page 4 and 5: ANDREA KENYONCORINNE CLARKAMY HUBBA
Page 6 and 7: Paint & Roto ......................
Page 8 and 9: MARCOS SAGASTARUT SALGADOJOSE MANUE
Page 10 and 11: A CANADA-SPAIN CO-PRODUCTIONCOPYRIG
Page 12 and 13: ABOUT THEPRODUCTIONA Mother’s Lov
Page 14 and 15: Dr. Dreyfuss (DANIEL KASH) analyzes
Page 16 and 17: Annabel tries to protect Lilly and
Page 20 and 21: ABOUT THECASTAcademy Award ® nomin
Page 22 and 23: MEGAN CHARPENTIER (Victoria) danced
Page 24 and 25: produced three seasons of the popul
Page 26 and 27: from the Barcelona Film Awards, the
Page 28: NOTES- 28 -

Mama – Production Notes - I Watch Mike

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