The Monkey King

The monkey King (Or “Uproar In Heaven” as it was being called as we shot it) Was a tremendously ambitious project with a cast consisting entirely of puppets or extravagant prosthetic make-ups with elaborate costumes and vast sets. This project was shot in China, primarily at the Beijing Film Studio.

These three characters were designed to “test” the film techniques being tried as well as to help set the full design look of the production. The Monkey King himself went through several versions before we hit on just the right concept for his mischevious character. The Old Man, known in the written lore as The Great White Planet (A Senator and Advisor for the Jade Emporer), was played by a man they referred to as the “Robin Williams of China”. The Gate Guard In Heaven was an enormous man, standing 8 feet tall he was quite the gentle giant but cut an imposing figure in his full prosthetics and blue skin tone.