Still from the film 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' of a man petting a large fictional creature with a bird's head.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

During the pre-production rehearsal of this 2016 film, our big Rhino puppets were used to test and develop the scene between Newt (Eddie Redmayne) and a giant Erumpent, who both engage in a promiscuous mating dance.

Artistic Director Ivan Thorley and Puppetry Director Robin Guiver worked with Eddie Redmayne, the VFX team and props team to develop a practical effect puppet that was the actually size and scale of the giant Erumpent creature. This was useful on set for the actors to play against, for the Director David Yates, Camera Department and Lighting Department to compose the scene with and for the Visual FX Department to develop character ideas. The aim of the practical effect puppet is to create a more characterful and complete creature that exists in both the real world and digital world.