Model citizen: How a love of special effects led a Thurles lad to the Shire
WHILE Mark Maher’s older cousins were petrified by The Shining, he was trying to figure out how the make-up was done. He tells Mary McCarthy how that obsession led to work on The Hobbit and the founding of his own special effects firm, Odyssey modelmaking studios in Limerick.
Fitting the mould
I’VE never regarded my dyslexia as a hindrance – it enables me to be hyper-focused and having to find a way around certain things means I am a great delegator.
It wasn’t picked up at school so learning was frustrating – my teachers at Thurles CBS were good but in the 1980s nobody knew better.
I loved art and was obsessed with the special effects used in movies like The Goonies. Aged nine and watching The Shining, my older cousins were petrified but I’d be trying to figure out the make-up.
After a year doing bits and pieces I did a PLC at Tipperary vocational college where the brilliant artist PJ O’Connell got me into sculpting. Unlike school I thrived in this practical learning environment.
Two months into my degree in model-making, special effects, make-up and sculpture in Dun Laoghaire, my dyslexia was spotted by an American woman when I handed in an art history essay. Overnight my world clicked into place and made sense.
Getting into the Hobbit
I picked up a few small films through college and when I graduated I worked making architectural models. It was boring but gave me crucial skills for my next step.
Gino Acevedo at Wellington’s Weta workshop liked my sculptures and told me I should come over. I did and there was some nerve-wracking waiting around.
Gino was partial to wine so I blew more than half my remaining funds on a bottle he liked and I was running out of cash when I landed work on a small film for Peter Jackson’s nephew.
Gino got me a meeting with production designer Dan Hennah which led to an interview with illustrators John Howe and Allen Lee who had worked on Lord of the Rings – I was overwhelmed with nerves.
Myself and five other modelmakers were told our job was to make the miniature version of Lake-town and Rivendell and Peter Jackson would sign off on them... and could we start Monday?
An unexpected journey
It was bliss. Gandalf was strolling around. You would be kayaking to the cafe at lunchtime. We were given ample time and could sit with a model for weeks.
John Hawe and Allen Lee would sketch out Rivendell and then the architectural drawers would map it, and with this concept work and drawings you created a miniature.
I was over and back to Ireland as my dad was sick. After three years I met my fiancée Deborah, a portrait artist, and decided to return to Ireland but I found the work scene clannish and hard to break into.
When Dan emailed from the UK saying he needed a modelmaker for Alison in Wonderland I went straight over. My next big job was head prop maker on Penny Dreadful at Ardmore for three seasons making cool giant skulls. In 2016 I was lead modelmaker on US series Into The Badlands and I did not enjoy this. They wanted everything done tomorrow and my team of 30 or 40 modelmakers were going at such a fast pace the paint barely had time to dry.
I was uncomfortable putting people under such pressure and it sparked off the idea of setting up my own studio where I could set the culture.
Building a better model
I found a sizeable warehouse in Limerick with loads of light and space. The city has a great vibe and there is incredible talent from Limerick School of Art and Design. The local enterprise office was so helpful and my plan to branch out into public art, exhibition fitting and design soon took shape.
Around the same time as Odyssey opened in January 2018, myself and some friends opened a moulding/casting and production outlet in Dublin called Arachnid FX. Once I made the leap to be involved in a broader way in the industry one step led to another.
Hard shell
I’m not doing the modelmaking so much and am more of an orchestrator working with the 3d designing and printing. Sometimes stuff goes wrong. An art director can tell you that’s not what they envisaged. You throw the prop in the bin and say “no probs, tell me what you want”. I’d take it out later. You have to remain detached or your heart would break.
I sit down with our financial controller Sean Reidy, Deborah’s father and superb with money. He has so much experience from his time as Dunbrody Famine Ship manager and is a whizz at writing proposals.
In the studio there is a great vibe. In lockdown we did manage to work from home with 3d printers but it’s not a patch on being together and thankfully we have the space to social distance.
Into the future
Myself and Deborah have a studio at home and we know when in the zone not to disturb each other. Before the pandemic I’d be at Thurles kickboxing club three times a week so I got myself a punchbag for home – a great stress remedy.
We are making models and props for the Sci-fi movie Foundation (based on Isaac Asimov books) at Troy studios where filming has started back again. It’s exciting to be back on set.
During lockdown I did not have to let anyone go – we still had work coming in and we even made face shields for a few months. I realise how fortunate we are with so many artists struggling.
There is so much talent so I am optimistic. I remember how uncertain I was starting out and it’s an incredible feeling to tell someone “you can start Monday”.
It was bliss, Gandalf was strolling around and you would kayak to the cafe