The sequence continues inside Gray’s dusky library, where the League is accosted by an invading Fantom and his henchmen _ and aided by the unexpected appearance of Sawyer. It’s one of the most action-packed scenes in the movie, entailing a fierce gun battle and dizzying martial arts fighting. Filmed over a two-week period in an old warehouse in Lazne Tousen outside Prague, the sequence involved numerous stuntmen, squib explosions, wire riggings and free falls. The library, housing thousands of books and dusty antiquities, is shredded under a hail of gunfire and explosions.
Fortunate to withstand the Fantom’s assault, and with six of their seven proposed members in tow, the League goes hunting for the remaining elusive recruit - a man/animal who has been terrorizing the streets of Paris and presents the most challenging prey of Quatermain’s career: the oversized alter ego of Dr. Jekyll, a hulking beast known as Mr. Hyde.
Realizing the character of Hyde on screen was a hugely complex process, involving numerous departments. Using forced-perspective sets and camera angles, CGI effects, models, cutouts and even midget actors, the appearance of a nine-foot-tall Hyde was created from a less than six-foot-tall actor in a prosthetic Hyde suit. Designed by Steve Johnson’s Edge FX, the Hyde suit worn by Jason Flemyng weighed 45 pounds and featured enormous spring-loaded puppetry arms controlled by levers inside the prosthetic. More than 12 weeks build time, 30 technicians, eight foam-sculpted parts and 5,900 components were required to make the articulating wrists and fingers. Two other suits, with lesser detail, were used by stuntmen for wider angle shots.
“The musculature and anatomical detail needed for the Hyde prosthetic arms was exact and demanding,” says Steve Johnson. “There is no fur on the arms to hide any deficiencies or lack of detail, so it took a lot of research and experimentation to get the right look.”
A full seven hours were required to apply the facial makeup and prosthetics to Flemyng, who played video games to help pass the time. Each hair on the headpiece he wore was individually hand punched. These headpieces could be used only once, at a cost of about $5,000. Because of their weight, the prosthetic arms were placed upon him just moments before each take, as the rigors of moving about in the costume were demanding. For Flemyng, widely regarded as one of the most underrated and well-liked actors in the business, the process was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.
“When you look in the mirror and see someone who isn’t anything like you it’s a very exciting experience,“ he says. “Once I put on the suit, the job’s half done. I just have to make sure I walk in the right direction and growl.“
The actual filming of Hyde was, of course, far more complex. Essentially, Stephen Norrington and director of photography Dan Laustsen shot Hyde sequences in two separate pieces: an ‘A‘ side for shots when Hyde is not seen on camera, and a ‘B‘ side when he is. The A footage was shot first, and with that, Janek Sirrs and his VFX team then created shot plans, and motion control & tracking moves for the more complicated B side of the shots.
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