美国国家公共电台 NPR Creature Actor Doug Jones Shares How He Transforms Into Movie Monsters

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The movie "The Shape Of Water" is up for 13 Oscars, the most of any film this year.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE SHAPE OF WATER")

RICHARD JENKINS: (As Giles) A tale of love and loss and the monster who tried to destroy it all.

SHAPIRO: Creature actor Doug Jones plays the so-called amphibian¹ man in the film - an acting² challenge to be sure. NPR's Mallory Yu talked to the man behind the mask.

MALLORY YU, BYLINE³: Doug Jones is comfortable talking about his role in "The Shape Of Water" now. But when director Guillermo del Toro told him he'd be playing a monster who's also the romantic lead, Jones's reaction was...

DOUG JONES: Utter terror. (Laughter) I was - ah, I have not felt that kind of fear ever when being offered a movie. Like, are you kidding me? You know, if I look at myself in the mirror, that doesn't work. And then in a fish suit - boy, wow. On paper, you think this is ridiculous.

YU: But he was intrigued⁴ because it was Guillermo del Toro.

JONES: I just always say yes when he offers me something because I just trust him that much.

YU: They began to build that trust over lunch one day on the set of del Toro's 1997 horror film "Mimic⁵." In it, Doug Jones played a giant insect-like creature known as Mother Bug⁶.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MIMIC")

JONES: He sat across the table from me and said, so tell me everything you've been in before. He wanted to hear about all the monsters I'd played. He was really, really like a fanboy mixed with a brilliant artist. I'd never met anyone like him in my life, and I loved him immediately.

YU: Eventually Jones became one of del Toro's go-to creature actors. In 2015's "Crimson⁷ Peak," he played a couple of super creepy ghosts.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CRIMSON PEAK")

JONES: (As Edith's Mother) Beware of Crimson Peak.

YU: He was Abe Sapien, another humanoid fish creature, in 2004's "Hellboy".

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HELLBOY")

JONES: (As Abe Sapien) Turn the pages please.

YU: And in "Pan's Labyrinth," he was both the Faun...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PAN'S LABYRINTH")

JONES: (As the Faun, speaking Spanish).

YU: ...And the Pale Man, a terrifying monster with eyes in its hands.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PAN'S LABYRINTH")

JONES: (As Pale Man, wheezing).

YU: To create each character, Doug Jones starts with one big question.

JONES: How do I make this one different from everything else I've ever played?

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE SHAPE OF WATER")

JONES: (As Amphibian Man, grunting).

YU: For "The Shape Of Water's" Amphibian Man, he needed to find what he calls the silent voice of his character. Del Toro wanted him to be animalistic but royal and regal.

JONES: He also said, I want you to sprinkle in a little bit of matador⁸. If you think about a matador or if you watch them, they're very choreographed⁹ and very fluid and very graceful¹⁰ and sexy because they lead with their pelvis. And he was talking about that kind of language.

YU: With those notes in hand, Doug Jones goes to a dance studio by himself.

JONES: And I will walk back and forth¹¹ and find his walk - find his home stance. Where does he come back to? What's his posture¹²? And your posture can be informed by so many - you know, you can start at the neck the shoulders, the middle of the back, the hips¹³, the knees. Everything plays into that stand.

YU: Jones then builds off that home stance to figure out how the character moves - how it might run, crawl, lunge, anything the script calls for it to do. When he begins testing with makeup¹⁴ and costume though, things often change.

JONES: Something I might have worked out in my T-shirt and shorts in the dance studio now has big ram¹⁵ horns on it that make my head really, really wide, so a tilt¹⁶ of the head is extremely dramatic and more pronounced.

YU: And it all comes together when he's on set and in front of the camera surrounded by cast and crew. As for what it's like to be in one of those costumes...

JONES: I often - especially for del Toro creatures that I've played - cannot see well. I'm often looking through pinholes, so I have no peripheral¹⁷ vision. I often have layers of latex foam¹⁸ rubber or silicone over my ears that's a part of the creature's head. So I can't hear as well, can't see as well. Often my hands are in some kind of a webbed finger or a talon¹⁹ or something. So I can't pull out a phone and use that. I can't even get a snack off the craft service table for myself.

YU: That may sound awful and uncomfortable. But for Jones, that's just part of the job.

JONES: The farther you get from human, the harder it's going to be. When you're trying to survive a day like that, and you hear the word action, you have to forget that you're in pain and just click into this is a natural beast that came from - whatever, fantasy or nature - it's not a guy in a suit.

YU: And Doug Jones isn't just a guy in a suit. It's like he was made to play these creatures. He's tall, 6 feet 3 and a half inches, and gangly with long limbs and fingers. Jones says he was a goofy kid, the kid everyone teased and made fun of. And that's helped him with all the characters he's played.

JONES: When you're a kid going through those awkward monster years, where you feel like you are the creature in the room that nobody understands, and you look different than everyone else - when you feel that way, you also feel like you're the only one who has ever felt that way. But I am very thankful now that I had that experience of feeling like a monster because when I play monsters now, I understand them. I can relate to them.

YU: Doug Jones relates to those monsters, so we can too. Mallory Yu, NPR News.

1 amphibian   

n.两栖动物；水陆两用飞机和车辆

参考例句：

• The frog is an amphibian,which means it can live on land and in water.青蛙属于两栖动物，也就是说它既能生活在陆地上也能生活在水里。
• Amphibian is an important specie in ecosystem and has profound meaning in the ecotoxicology evaluation.两栖类是生态系统中的重要物种，并且对环境毒理评价有着深远意义。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

5 mimic   

v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人

参考例句：

• A parrot can mimic a person's voice.鹦鹉能学人的声音。
• He used to mimic speech peculiarities of another.他过去总是模仿别人讲话的特点。

6 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

7 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

• She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
• Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。

8 matador   

n.斗牛士

参考例句：

• The matador and bull performed wonderfully in the ring.斗牛士和公牛在斗牛场中进行阗精彩的表演。
• The matador had a narrow escape.这个斗牛士真是死里逃生。

9 choreographed   

v.设计舞蹈动作( choreograph的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• There was some carefully choreographed flag-waving as the President drove by. 总统的车经过时，人们按精心编排的动作挥舞着旗帜。
• Achim had choreographed the dance in Act II himself. 阿希姆自己设计了第2幕的舞蹈动作。 来自辞典例句

10 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

13 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

15 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

16 tilt   

v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜

参考例句：

• She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
• The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平，有点儿歪.

17 peripheral   

adj.周边的，外围的

参考例句：

• We dealt with the peripheral aspects of a cost reduction program.我们谈到了降低成本计划的一些外围问题。
• The hotel provides the clerk the service and the peripheral traveling consultation.旅舍提供票务服务和周边旅游咨询。

18 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

19 talon   

n.爪；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物

参考例句：

• Can you get a little tighter with the talon?你能不能把摄像探头固定住不动？
• This kind of spice is made of eagle's talon and has a unique flavor.这种香料味道独特，是用鹰爪作原料制成的。