It’s probably been a hot minute since you watched Basic Instinct, but the image of Sharon Stone slowly turning around in her chair is seared into the world’s collective mind like a Metalunian heat ray into a lead plate.
It’s a classic example of one movie scene, or character, transcending the fame of the actual movie. And hey, in the world of makeup monsters, you can bet your bug-eyed mutant that it’s happened more than once. Not to detract from a great sci-fi film like This Island Earth, but the image of the Metaluna Mutant is probably more recognized than the 1954 film itself, despite the creature having less than two minutes of screen time.
So how did the Sharon Stone of movie monsters come to have his 112 seconds of fame? After poring through the records aboard a Metaluna flying saucer while evading many a Zagonian bombardment, this is the account I’ve pieced together.
Metaluna Mockery
It could be because I like monsters too much or Isaac Asimov isn’t my first choice for bedside reading, but the Metaluna Mutant scene is my favorite part of This Island Earth. I’m sure there are many who agree with me (anyone?), but when the film first entered production in early 1954, most of those involved would be heavily inclined to disagree.
From the writers, to several of the movie’s stars, much of the movie crew did not want the Mutant included in the film. Two of the stars, Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason, said they thought the Mutant ruined what could have been a very good movie. They even went so far as to say they both wanted to sneak out of the premiere when it came time for the Mutant scenes because they were embarrassed.
Franklin Coen, the principal writer, said he thought the creature would “cheapen the whole project”, though he admitted the makeup was very well designed. Reason agreed, remarking about the Mutant scenes:
“They didn’t have the realism that the rest of the picture did—you could tell immediately that this was just a stuntman in a bug uniform, and that took away from the picture.”
So despite everyone’s objections, how did we end up with the Man from Metaluna adorning all those awesome movie posters hanging in our bedrooms? It appears to be thanks to producer William Alland.
Some sources claim that Alland was against the inclusion of the monster as well, while others say he was the principle advocate. The latter seems to be more truthful, especially after uncovering a passage written by Franklin Coen where he stated:
“But Bill (Alland) loved his monsters—he had made his reputation with them—and the creature was already conceived and being built. Deeply proud of it, Bill kept bringing me to the lab to show it off and try and convince me.”
Alland apparently insisted on the inclusion of a movie monster because of Universal’s great track record with them. Also, I’m sure he considered the fact that an alien creature’s visage plastered all over the marketing materials would translate into out-of-this-world box office returns. Mutant it is, then.
Making a Mutant
After a six month stint creating the Gill-man for Creature From the Black Lagoon, the makeup team at Universal, headed by Bud Westmore, was immediately put to work cooking up a new creature for This Island Earth.
Westmore was joined by Milicent Patrick, who had designed the Gill-man, along with artists Jack Kevan, Bob Dawn, John Kraus, and Beau Hickman. Dawn has said that Westmore was more of a producer and promoter than an actual makeup worker on the Mutant:
“Westmore took all the credit, but…he knew very little about lab work in those days.”
To longtime fans of horror movies who are familiar with Westmore, this should come as no surprise. It also explains why all the behind-the-scenes images from the making of the Mutant tend to feature only Westmore, who made sure he was photographed as much as possible with the makeup materials.
Milicent Patrick appears to have been the primary designer of the Mutant (before Westmore’s unceremonious dismissal of her due to his jealousy over the Gill-man), along with contributions from the rest of the artists. The Mutants are meant to be a species that the Metalunians have bred for menial labor, “…similar to some of the insect life on your own planet…” as Exeter explains in the film.
Patrick began with an unused creature concept she had designed for the 1953 film It Came From Outer Space. From there she drafted the final sketches of Mr. Metaluna. Bud Westmore originally wanted the monster to be brown and yellow, but after seeing the ship would be a grey-metal color, decided on blue and red so the monster would “pop” more. Also, according to Westmore, the red veins were added to suggest that they’d been forced to the surface of the skin due to atmospheric pressure. Okay, Bud, I’ll take your word for it.
According to Beau Hickman work needed to begin as soon as possible, so they grabbed a bust of actress Ann Sheridan and used it to start sculpting the head. Layers of plastalina were heaped onto the poor bust, ultimately turning Sheridan’s beautiful features into a heinous mutant. I’m not sure if Sheridan ever found out about her contribution to the monster, but for a woman who received 250 marriage proposals a year from fans, a slimy walking brain alien probably wouldn’t have been the most flattering association.
It took about a month to finish the Mutant. Foam rubber was used to create the final appliances, while the hunched shoulders and back “shell” were created with fiberglass. Regis Parton, the stuntman who played the monster, said that the brain was originally supposed to pulsate like the rhythm of a heartbeat. The effect wound up being too complex and was dropped.
Another change took place because of makeup difficulties. The Mutant originally had legs that matched the rest of its exoskeletal design, but the effects department couldn’t make them work properly (if only they had a Metalunian interocitor). Due to deadlines, they opted to use a normal pair of pants instead. If you’ve ever wondered why the creature’s legs crease and crinkle like Wrangler’s cargo pants, there you go.
For the scenes where the Mutant is profusely bleeding, the makeup team wanted blue colored blood. Beau Hickman dished out the gore on this story:
“We tried to use makeup blood, but it stained the rubber and we’d have to repaint it. So we finally figured let’s use ketchup, it’ll wash right off. So poor Regis, he’s in this thing and after awhile it started to stink. Ever smell rotten tomatoes?”
Overall, the entire costume measured 7′ tall with Regis Parton secured snugly inside. Besides an occasional whiff of rotten fruit, it appears he got the hang of the costume and its 30″ in-diameter alien head just fine.
Though there were some disappointed people back in the day, many of us are grateful that the Metaluna Mutant had his day of terror. Over 65 years later, he’s still the talk of the monster town. Director Joe Dante also appears to be a fan, since a “reimagining” of the Mutant was created for the illegal aliens sequence of his 2003 film, Looney Tunes Back in Action.
Amidst the Mutant naysayers, one of the film’s stars, Faith Domergue, had a very different opinion. In an interview with Fangoria magazine some years later, she called the mutant “wonderful” and “a stroke of genius.” Even if I were being savagely dismembered by the snapping pincers of a raging monster from Metaluna, I couldn’t agree with her more.
Monster Merch
Need to add more Metaluna Mutant stuff to your collection? Probably not, but it’s fun to look anyway. These are affiliate links, so any commissions I may receive will be used to purchase the parts needed to create a fully-functioning interocitor.
