For the second day of our Stan Winston Week celebration, I wanted to shine the spotlight on another monster movie that I’ve always enjoyed, but it never seemed to get as much love as I thought it should- George P. Cosmatos’ Leviathan. It’s a movie that wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was endlessly entertaining all the same, featuring a top-notch ensemble and tons of wonderfully weird and creepy creature effects created by Winston and his team of artists.
Starring Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, Amanda Pays, Hector Elizondo, Meg Foster, Michael Carmine and Lisa Eilbacher, Leviathan was released in theaters everywhere on March 17, 1989 and took a respectable second place for the weekend, right behind Chevy Chase’s Fletch Lives. It only stayed in theaters for a total of three weeks, but still managed to haul in over $15 million during that run, which is pretty good for an independently produced sci-fi/horror movie at that time.
Something that probably wasn’t working in Leviathan’s favor was the fact that Cosmatos’ film was released only two months after the similarly-themed DeepStar Six and less than six months before James Cameron’s highly anticipated The Abyss was set to arrive in theaters. Evidently, underwater action/horror movies were all the rage in 1989, which led to Leviathan being lost in the shuffle over the last 25 years. Thankfully, we live in the age where overlooked gems like Leviathan see new life in high definition- just another reason to be celebrating the film for Daily Dead’s Stan Winston Week.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Leviathan co-star Hudson and special effects artist Tom Woodruff Jr. (who came up in the f/x industry under Winston’s tutelage) about their respective experiences working on the project. Both Hudson and Woodruff Jr. also discussed the different effects that were created for Leviathan and a few other tidbits on the industry at the time, including their thoughts on some of Leviathan’s production issues which may have marred the otherwise fantastic film’s legacy over the years.
In 1984, Hudson garnered the attention of moviegoers everywhere after appearing as Winston Zeddemore in GhostBusters, but it would be a couple of years before the actor was offered other film roles. Hudson explained, “I did Leviathan for a lot of reasons. George, the director, called me personally one day and told me that he had a part for me in this underwater sci-fi movie, which sounded like a lot of fun. I was in North Carolina at the time working on another movie and he said it was going to be happening soon and he sent over the script for me to read. And when someone reaches out to you to be part of their movie, that’s a huge honor. I didn’t have to audition or any of that nonsense, so the fact that he asked me was a huge respect thing for me.”
Something else that Hudson found enticing about working on Leviathan was the chance to travel to various parts of the world during production. “We shot the finale in Malta, which was an incredible travel opportunity for me. I have to admit that was also something that was enticing to me when I first came on Leviathan because I hadn’t traveled that much at that point in my career. I wasn’t exactly someone I’d call a comfortable swimmer though (laughs), so that’s why there aren’t huge chunks of footage of me swimming to the surface in that final scene because I just wasn’t very good at it (laughs). ”
Hudson added, “But doing all those ‘underwater’ scenes was great because I felt like a big kid playing make-believe. You get to put on these big suits and walk around like you’re trying to make your way through the ocean and it reminded me of that old kind of Hollywood magic that directors would use decades ago to make the impossible seem possible on the big screen. It was a lot of fun to be a part of a movie that had that kind of approach. The suits weren’t terrible either; they were hot and a bit heavy, but I think I had it a little easier than some of the other cast because of my build. The suit also helped me get into the environment more, which made the illusion of us traveling underwater all the greater.”
After Leviathan, Hudson worked once again with Winston on the 1995 action/adventure film Congo, which had the f/x pioneer designing gorillas for director Frank Marshall. Hudson reflected on his two experiences of seeing Winston’s work in action, saying, “I was lucky enough to work with Stan on both Leviathan and on Congo, which were two very different movies with very different special effects needs. Both times I was just so blown away by what his talents could accomplish. For me personally, I thought the effects where you’re only seeing parts of the sea monster in Leviathan were far scarier than the monster you see at the end. They were just so detailed and creepy looking that they added so much tension to those scenes in the film that I think I preferred those to anything else in the movie.”
“And both Tom (Woodruff Jr.) and Alec (Gillis) were really great to work with too; they were so great at getting everything just how Stan and George both wanted it. I don’t know how they were able to do some of the things that they did but I guess that’s their job, right (laughs)? It’s just too bad that in the final film so much of that is hidden. I really don’t know what happened.”
That’s something Woodruff Jr. also agreed with and discussed his thoughts on how so many of the details that went into the creatures for Leviathan ended up getting lost in the final film. “You couldn’t really see much of the details that went into the final monster at all unfortunately; it was just too dark. I’m not really sure what happened, but I do remember that the initial design had originated from this idea that George had where the people would meld together. I thought the work that was done on it- the sculpting in particular- was all great. You really never see a lot of those details though. I think it was Greg (Figiel) who did most of the sculpting. We all worked on various sculpting projects for the film, but Greg did a lot with the main creature. He put so much work into it too- it was so cool.”
Woodruff added, “George also had a really good DP on Leviathan, Alex (Thomson), who knew how to create a great underwater atmosphere and made all those creature tentacles and extensions throughout the station look so cool and creepy. Those were always some of my favorite effects from Leviathan because they really established the monster existing within the space of the underwater lab.”
One of my very favorite effects gags from Leviathan was when Elizondo’s hand ends up sprouting some nasty looking teeth right in the center. According to Woodruff, that effect was created by Gillis who apparently was never 100% satisfied with how it ended up looking (this writer politely disagrees with Gillis’ opinion on the matter). “The hand gag was all Alec (laughs). He hates that effect; I don’t think he was ever happy with it. In fact, he has a funny reaction whenever he has to talk about it so for anyone who sees him at a convention or anything, they should ask him about it and just watch his face. It’s hilarious (laughs). I definitely think it’s a fun moment in the movie still even if it makes Alec cringe still after all these years.”
During my chat with Hudson, he discussed his thoughts on where the problems with Leviathan originated and how the film’s shocker finale might have hurt how audiences first responded to the movie when it was released the summer of ’89.
“I think that the big part of why Leviathan maybe didn’t work with audiences back then was because of how my character gets suddenly eaten at the end. It was something that was definitely surprising- which is what I know George was going for- but I don’t think it was really a pleasant surprise for audiences at all. I understood that black actors in horror movies generally don’t make it through these things, but I always felt my death in Leviathan was particularly harsh just because I was really that last connecting character to the audience. Peter’s character was more the hero and my role was more about bringing the humor to the story so that the audience could be involved with the film more.”
“And let me tell you, I don’t think I’m too far off by saying this either because I like to go see my movies with regular audiences too because I think it’s the truest reaction to the film you’ll ever get. So I saw Leviathan out in a neighborhood theater opening weekend and the audience- black audience members in particular- actually got mad at that moment. I think a few people even walked out and I heard one guy say, ‘To hell with this movie’ as he was leaving so I think that turned off a lot of fans at the time. So I don’t know- George may not have made the right decision in that instance but I think almost all the decisions he made on Leviathan were absolutely the right ones to make and he cared very deeply about making sure he just made a fun and scary monster movie and I think he succeeded. And I think because we’re sitting here talking about this film all these years later also proves it,” added Hudson.
Below is an exclusive behind-the-scenes gallery of images that were graciously provided to Daily Dead by the Stan Winston School of Character Arts. Be sure to check them all out and head back here tomorrow for our tribute to Predator for Stan Winston Week. In case you missed it, don't forget to check out the first part of Stan Winston Week, where we look back at Lake Placid.
To learn more about the Stan Winston School of Character Arts, visit:
"Stan Winston Studio was charged with creating Leviathan’s “conglomeration creature” an amalgam of marine life and human victims. Stan Winston looks at the final stage full size creature sculpted by Grant Arndt and Andy Schoneberg."
"The final creature maquette was sculpted, and later painted by John Rosengrant."
"Underwater sequences for Leviathan were shot “dry for wet” in smoke filled stages at Cinecitta Studios in Rome. Crewmembers were masks to filter out the smoke, they prep dive suits designed and built for the show by Stan Winston Studio."
"Inside the creature suit is Tom Woodruff Jr. The crew stay in contact with him as they prepare for a take in a water tank in Malta."
"Shane Mahan attached and blends the mutated face of actor Michael Carmine onto the conglomeration creature."
"Three finalized Leviathan creature suits ready for filming."
"Stan Winston Studio designed, sculpted and fabricated all the dive suits seen in the film. Crewmembers work on the dive suit sculpture."
"Shane Mahan works on the full size claw of the creature sculpt."
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
