‘Monster-Making’ Malibu Native

Say you’re a director or producer making a film, TV show, commercial or even a music video, and you need a talking cat, an exploding doll, assorted monsters, ghosts, animatronic alien beings, sea creatures or a high-tech superhero costume. Who do you call?

Well, if you happen to be Ron Howard, James Cameron, Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg or many others, it just might be Point Dume resident Robert “Bob” Short — makeup and visual effects supervisor for film and TV for over four decades (as well as writer and director), who’s probably best known for his Oscar winning work on the comedy-horror film “Beetlejuice” (1988). Numerous other projects include Daryl Hannah’s mermaid costume in “Splash,” the alien “Predator,” miniatures in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” the heart light of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” the animatronic dolphins of “Cocoon” and “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” 

“I’ve been proud of being able to do all genre of films — horror, sci-fi, monster, horror-comedy and fantasy,” Short said in an interview with The Malibu Times. 

Short’s visual effects expertise helped raise money for Malibu’s cityhood in the early ‘90s. 

“I turned Joe and Carolyn Sargent’s home into a haunted house for a Halloween fundraiser. It was one of the most successful donor events they had,” Short said. He’s since designed live-action Halloween haunted house attractions in several cities and had his work featured at Universal Studios Florida.

A Malibu native, Short attended Webster Elementary and was in the first class at Malibu Park Jr. High. 

“One of the reasons I got into monsters as a kid was that they filmed ‘Planet of the Apes’ at Point Dume. I watched them film the final sequences, and it inspired me to do makeup,” Short recalled. “I also went to the ape village they had at Malibu Creek State Park and watched them put the makeup on.”

Creating the special effects to bring creatures to life on camera can require an assortment of high- and low-tech skills, including design, animation, compositing, puppeteering, animatronics, computer modeling and storyboarding.

“I consider myself both an artist and a craftsman, and I look for that in my crew. There’s no room for ego in our work,” Short said.

“Beetlejuice” was a collaboration between the effects teams and director Tim Burton. 

“The original script said the sandworms were giant brown things,” Short said, “but Burton decided they’d have white stripes, blue lips and yellow eyes.”

The director usually has a basic idea and you give them alternatives and embellishments. You ‘plus’ their ideas and see where that takes it,” Short explained. “The director guides you on what feels right to them.”

“We took the ‘Predator’ from being an insect to an African-inspired warrior with dreadlocks,” Short said. “The director had a sketch of a tall, skinny Maasai warrior and said, ‘Let’s go to an African motif.’ It’s all very collaborative.”

Some movie creatures are puppets. 

“Complex creatures [in film] have always been puppets. Part of what interested me in working on ‘Herbie’ (a talking VW) was bringing a character to life,” Short said. “You have to observe what brings something to life and puppeteering is part of that. Even with computer-generated characters, you still have to study what makes movements believable.” 

With “Cocoon,” Short’s challenge was getting five real dolphins to work alongside animatronic dolphins. 

“The real dolphins knew right away that the animatronic dolphins were fake,” Short laughed. They finally cooperated on the day of their release, swimming with the actors and the cocoons. 

Short started in visual effects by designing Halloween masks for Don Post Studios, originators of over-the-head rubber masks. In fact, he still receives royalties on his Star Wars character designs — C3PO and Chewbacca — which are still in production. 

His first film project was supervising visual effects on “Piranha,” and credits his SCUBA certification with helping to land that job. “It involved underwater makeup effects where fish were chewing up and eating a guy’s leg,” Short said. “Being SCUBA-certified and a monster-maker is also one of the reasons I got ‘Splash.’”  

“When I designed ‘Splash,’ I did [Daryl Hannah’s] whole mermaid look, including skin and nails, top to bottom,” Short said. “I designed and constructed her tail, which I tested in my Malibu swimming pool.”

Short’s talents continue to be in demand. 

“I just finished the indie-feature ‘Knucklebones,’ premiering next month — an homage to my early-’80s slasher work,” he said. “And I’m in discussions for a big Bollywood musical.” He also gets invited to mermaid conventions to talk about “Splash” and was recently featured in a Cosplay Culture magazine article as the “Iconic Mermaid Maker.” 

Robert Short, makeup artist and visual effects supervisor, won an Oscar at the 61st Academy Awards for “Best Makeup” for his work on “Beetlejuice” (1988). He shared the Oscar with Steve La Porte and Ve Neill. The shrunken head character is actually a puppet.

“When I designed ‘Splash’ (1984), I did [Daryl Hannah’s] whole mermaid look, including skin and nails, top to bottom,” Short said. “I designed and constructed her tail, which I tested in my Malibu swimming pool.” The design and bright orange color were inspired by koi and had the translucency of a real fish.