Lee Romaire – Exclusive Interview

Tomorrow night is the big unveiling of TNT's original anthology miniseries, Nightmares & Dreamscapes. All of the shows are based upon the short works of Stephen King, and the most nail-biting of them all, Battleground, is first up. Lee Romaire and his cohorts at Romaire Studios in L.A. did a great job on the scary soldiers featured in the episode, so we at Horror.com were more than happy to get the scoop!

Staci Layne Wilson / Horror.com: How did the project of doing the effects for Battleground come about for you?

Lee Romaire: Brian Henson contacted me to see if we could do a make-up test. Pete Brooke, the Creative Head of the Jim Henson Creature Shop recommended me for the job.   I was a sculptor, designer and painter on several projects there and became fast friends with the people who work there.  Of all of the effects studios I've worked for, the Creature Shop is my favorite because I really believe in what they do.

Q: Are the small soldiers all portrayed by real actors?

LR: Yes, with the exception of 4 or 5 of the shots, the soldiers are all portrayed by actors.  The soldiers were all suit performers, who are known for their ability to bring a heavy, uncomfortable costume  to life.  The Savage Commando was played by top Muppet performer Bill Barretta.  At one point I believe they were going to use more CGI soldiers, but when they saw the results of our suits on film, they scrapped that plan and went almost entirely live action.

Q: Most, if not all, of the NM & DS episodes were shot in Australia; did you get to go down-under?

LR: No.  Nightmares and Dreamscapes was filmed in Australia with the exception of the soldier work in Battleground. Stargate films, who handled the visual effects, owns a blue screen studio here in L.A., so it was determined that it would be better to film them here.  All the soldier work you see was performed on blue screen and digitally composited into the film with William Hurt. They also digitally altered the soldiers movements slightly to make them appear to move faster, like a spider.  The over all effect is very creepy.

Q: Did you work with William Hurt?

LR: No, I didn't even meet him.  He filmed in Australia. Make-up department head Angela Conte did an amazing job on his wound make-up.

Q: What was the most challenging, and ultimately satisfying, aspect of working on this story for TNT's anthology?

LR: The most challenging and ultimately the most satisfying aspect of the show was creating the Savage Commando. I worked very closely with Brian on the make-up design.  He wanted a Rambo- type character and when I got Bill Barretta in for a life cast, I knew we had a winner because Bill has such a great face for the part. 

I designed the Commando face to look like Bill so when he acts it projects right through the rubber face. It worked perfectly.  He had black doll eye contacts and we even gave him green teeth to match his skin. I insisted that he have ball joint shoulders which are really difficult to do and jointed arms  and hands and  Karen Mason, the costume designer who worked with me on the project really came through with making them a reality. And of course I have to thank Brian for giving me a free hand in taking the design as far as we could in the time frame and budget that we had.

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- Read Horror.com's review of Battleground by clicking here.

- Visit the Romaire Studios website by clicking here.

- See more of the scary soldiers in our Photo Gallery by clicking here.