Touchstone Films' "Big Trouble"

"...dozens and dozens of movie people started showing up in Miami to scout locations and rent large homes and hire limousines and just generally hurl money around as though it were confetti. These people were followed by dozens more technical people and makeup people and wardrobe people and toad people (the story features an important toad). And then the actors showed up, in person -- actual movie stars coming to make a movie based on MY BOOK! And then I went bowling with Barbra Streisand." -Dave Barry When Barry Sonnenfeld needed a psychedelic toad for his filmed adaptation of author Dave Barry's novel, he went straight for the nation's leading animatronic frog/toad/amphibian experts...TCS! The script called for a huge, ugly toad that squatted territorially on a dog bowl, and squirted a stinging, milky venom from poison glands in its' face. Having created a number of animatronic frogs for the Budweiser, Cheerios, and other campaigns. we had the necessary experience. We also had the ability to make it affordable; with 14 people in the cast, there was't a lot left over for animatronic creatures! The animatronic toad was operated via cable and radio control, and featured up/down and side-to-side movements of his body, multi-axis neck movements, blinks, moving eyes, brows, a two axis jaw,  the aforementioned "venom" spitters, and possibly the best part: a protruding/retracting tongue, with a multi-axis, tentacle-like movement to it. When coated with a sticky slime, the toad could actually tongue up pieces of dog food and slurp them into his mouth! Our toad got prominent placement on the movie poster: It was also pretty heavily featured on the Official "Big Trouble" website. Check it out! View the "Big Trouble" Trailer (240 x 144, 5.3 MB; Requires Quick Time v 5.0)   Home What's New | Features | Commercials | Resume | Realistic | Whimsical | Scary | Animatronics | Prosthetics | Puppets | Waldo ® | Publicity | TCS Fun | FX FAQ | Reference | Contact Us Except where noted, all contents are the property of The Character Shop, Inc. and copyright 1995-2006 Photographs and text may only be re-published with written permission. All rights reserved.