Kazu Hiro did not have a particularly happy childhood. He grew up in Kyoto, on a small, busy street lined with markets, where his father was a fishmonger and his mother sold clothes. "I was sensitive," he told me. He felt bullied by his parents, so he tried his best to keep to himself. "I hated school," he said. He dreamed of leaving Kyoto and his family behind. In kindergarten, he would sculpt or paint in the corner of the classroom. "That was my obsession: making something."
When he was eight, he saw "Star Wars" and became fascinated with the film's special effects-he was particularly curious about what Chewbacca's hair was made of. "Star Wars" seemed like an evolutionary leap from the "cheesy" feel of such Japanese movies as "Godzilla." As a teen-ager, he took a bus each weekend to a store that carried imported books and magazines, hoping to learn everything he could about filmmaking and special effects. One day, he found an issue of Fangoria, a movie magazine for blood-and-guts enthusiasts. Hiro was squeamish, yet horror films were where a lot of the innovations in makeup and low-budget effects were happening. He read an interview with Dick Smith, one of the most influential makeup artists in Hollywood, renowned for his work on "The Godfather"-notable not just for
Smith's aging of Marlon Brando but for the special blood bladders he devised to make gunshot wounds more realistic and "The Exorcist," whose remarkably visceral scenes of demonic possession remain the benchmark for scary movies.
Denne historien er fra December 04, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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Denne historien er fra December 04, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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LIFE ADVICE WITH ANIMAL ANALOGIES
Go with the flow like a dead fish.
CONNOISSEUR OF CHAOS
The masterly musical as mblages of Charles Ives
BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS
How the Brothers Grimm sought to awaken a nation.
THE ARTIFICIAL STATE
A different kind of machine politics.
THE HONEST ISLAND GREG JACKSON
Craint did not know when he had come to the island or why he had come.
THE SHIPWRECK DETECTIVE
Nigel Pickford has spent a lifetime searching for sunken treasure-without leaving dry land.
THE HOME FRONT
Some Americans are preparing for a second civil war.
PRESIDENT FOR SALE
On a mid-October Sunday not long ago sun high, wind cool-I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a book festival, and I took a stroll.
SYRIA'S EMPIRE OF SPEED
Bashar al-Assad's regime is now a narco-state reliant on sales of amphetamines.
TUCKER EVERLASTING
Trump's favorite pundit takes his show on the road.