Thursday, January 19, 2012

Art and the movies: Ron plays ludo

Last week the Christchurch Art Gallery blog Bunker Notes wistfully featured a photograph of the long queues waiting to get into the Ron Mueck exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery in January last year. The post, written by Director Jenny Harper, was of course hoping for a quick return to the Galley’s opening after the February quake, but sadly this seams increasingly unlikely.

The image reminded us of Ron Mueck’s early career in the movie business, first as a member of Jim Henson’s team of puppeteers and then as a star in the 1986 hit Labyrinth. It was Mueck inside the oversized fur and fang get-up as the big-hearted monster Ludo who he also voiced. In fact Mueck needed some help and an actor named Rob Mills did some of the work inside the cossie. You can see a short clip of Mueck (or is it Mills?) suited up and starring as Ludo here.

Image: Ron Muek (left) inside Ludo, as it were