PUPPET MASTER

Keen to create puppets that were different from those normally associated with animation, Guillermo called upon the services of production designer Guy Davis, whom he also worked with on The Shape of Water.

Guy was careful to avoid anything too cartoonish, although he did give the human characters certain attributes to keep them from feeling too realistic, such as elongating their bodies or emphasising certain facial features.

‘This is a story about puppets, acted by puppets,’ says Guillermo. ‘You don’t have to believe they are real people, you have to believe in them as characters.’

But after weeks of being handled by animators, the puppets often found themselves in the equivalent of puppet A&E!

‘They go through a lot,’ says co-director Mark Gustafson. ‘And they do break down. That’s why we have a puppet hospital. We’re always hauling them in and repairing them.’