Visit www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk to see a video of Steve at work

STARS such as Rory McIlroy, Liam Neeson and Jamie Dornan don’t work for peanuts — but they clearly have no problem being depicted by them.

The Holywood golf ace and Hollywood actors are among the well-known locals who have had miniature statues of themselves created out of peanut shells — or monkey nuts as they are more commonly known — as Halloween approaches.

These remarkable figurines have been created by the only man who knows how to do it — American Steve Casino, whose intricate designs are brought to life by acrylic paint and have bamboo skewers for limbs. And each one can take up to 20 painstaking hours to create.

The rather nutty project, involving nine fa- mous faces from both sides of the Irish border, was commissioned by Northern Ireland snack company Forest Feast as part of its 2018 Halloween campaign #makemeamonkeynut, which includes a competition to have two lucky locals immortalised by 52-year-old Steve.

Andrea Cahill, from Forest Feast, explained the rationale behind the audacious project. “Monkey nuts are synonymous with Halloween, an event which grows in popularity everyyear,”shesaid.

“At Forest Feast, we love the fun associated with the holiday and wanted to create a campaign customers could really get involved in — and what’s better than having a true likeness of yourself created as a monkey nut or seeing some of your favourite celebs done the same way?

“And Steve’s attention to detail is amazing.”

Christine Lampard features alongside the three ‘nutty’ Northern Ireland males, while those south of the border include former Ireland rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll, TV show and radio host Graeme Norton, actress Saoirse Ronan, One Direction singer Niall Horan and broadcaster Ryan Tubridy.

After studying his subject, Steve often sifts through hundreds of peanut shells hoping to find one that suits. He then cracks open the shell, removes the nuts, glues it back together and covers the front side with wood filler. After that, the legs, feet and base are added, prior to the unique artist drawing a sketch of the subject based on photographs.

Then comes the really hard bit — hours of intricate work andlayersofpainttogetthefinished product looking just like its subject.