Interview with Mattzilla Duron, Art Director, Sculptor, and Puppet Fabricator of "The Tin Woods," Stop Motion Short Film About Oz's Tin Woodman's Origin Story

The Tin Woods concept art by Ann Tseng. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

“I had just started listening to the audio books of the Wizard of Oz series and the Tin Man struck me as the most tragically interesting character,” Mattzilla Duron—a sculptor, mold maker, prosthetic makeup artist, and twelve-year veteran at Laika—tells Stop Motion Geek about the moment that sparked his most recent project: The Tin Woods, a short film created in collaboration with photographer and videographer Nick Boxwell, which—based upon author L. Frank Baum’s Oz series—tells the origin of The Land of Oz’s Tin Woodsman. “My sculpture was of the Tin Man mid-swing, frozen in time. A sad ‘Oh no, I’m stuck but still alive’ moment. He was that way for over a year before Dorothy found him and freed him. It really struck a chord with me. How awful it would be to not be able to die, and frozen and aware of everything around you?”

Shortly after creating it, the product of that moment’s inspiration—Duron’s Tin Woodman sculpture, which he created nearly five years ago, birthed from that sentiment of tragic horror and empathy for the Tin Woodman’s struggles—kindled another spark of inspiration—this time in the mind of Nick Boxwell, Duron’s good friend and occasional creative partner, for whom the idea of what would become The Tin Woods began to take shape.

The Tin Woods production crew. Source: Kickstarter.

“When I saw him working on a Tin Man sculpture and speaking very passionately about it,” Boxwell told Stop Motion Geek in our recent interview with him about the project, “I thought, hey there is a really cool backstory to this guy most people don’t know.” It wasn’t long after that Boxwell wrote a screenplay for The Tin Woods, where he expanded upon the original story told in Baum’s The Tin Woodman of Oz.

“Nick’s story got me very excited to recreate my sculpture as a full-on stop motion puppet, and bring it to life,” says Duron.

Not long after writing the script, however, Boxwell was struck by a personal health crisis, which forced the two to put the project aside for several years while Boxwell recovered. The the script only again came to light this past summer, whilst the two once again looked for a project on which to collaborate.

Currently, the project, still in pre-production, is live on Kickstarter—and can be viewed here. It has already blown past its initial goal of $5,000, and now, as of writing this, has, with sixteen days left in the campaign, raised over $11,000—putting the film well on its way to being as high-quality as possible.

The Tin Wood's stretch goal chart. Source: Kickstarter.

Duron and Boxwell still have several stretch goals planned Kickstarter, the funds from of which will solely go towards enhancing the production value of the film, with the current stretch goal—$15,000—aimed at enhancing the sound design so the film’s composer, Jake Hull, can hire a full orchestra to record the soundtrack and an audio engineer finish the mix, while proceeds will also go towards expanding the film’s sets to make the world of The Tin Woods feel fully realized and lived-in.

For backers of the Kickstarter, Duron and Boxwell are offering several rewards, such as an access code to the film once its finished, pins sporting the likeness of the Tin Woodman, disc media, props and puppets from the film once retired from production, varying levels of producer credits, and other such incentives which all can be viewed on the Kickstarter page.

The Tin Woodman pin reward for Kickstarter backers donating a certain amount. Source: Kickstarter.

“Bringing ideas to life from our imagination is what it’s all about for me,” says Duron. “There isn’t much of a delineation between the two of us and our ideas, small bits here and there but I want to tell his story and make it look how I want.”

The Tin Woods promo photo. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

In our interview, Mattzilla Duron tells us about how and why he first fell in love with the practical effects medium, how he came to Laika, as well as one of his most crowning achievements there. He also digs into what it is about The Tin Woods that excites him, the creative dynamic between him and Nick Boxwell, and the philosophy they have come to adopt in realizing their own, personal projects. He also gives us a glimpse at his thoughts on Portland, Oregon, his thoughts on the necessity to experiment with one’s craft, and his healthy obsession with Godzilla. You can read our interview below in full.

A.H. Uriah: Hello, Mattzilla! Thank you so much for doing this interview! Your work and this new film of yours, The Tin Woods, are truly inspiring works of art—‘tis an honor to feature them, as well as you, on the blog!
I’d like to start out by asking one one my favorite questions: Can you tell us a bit about how you discovered your passion for practical effects—sculpture, mold making, prosthetics...and every other kind of magic you work—and how you’ve gotten to the place you are today—a 12-year veteran mold maker at Laika, not to mention your part-time work as a sculptor, prosthetic costume builder, and special effects makeup artist?

Mattzilla Duron: Hello! Thank you for this opportunity!

I’ve always had a pretty vivid and wild imagination and one of my favorite things to do as a child was to play with toys. Seeing movies with monsters, dinosaurs, and amazing costumes made me realize that practical effects are just incredibly detailed, intricate and awesome toys. Sometimes we can become lucky enough to get paid to play with them in front of them camera!

The Tin Woods test animation by Mattzilla Duron. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

A.H.: The press release for The Tin Woods states that your creative partner on this project, Nick Boxwell, wrote the screenplay for this film “five years ago after seeing an amazing Tin Man sculpture” that you created.
Alright—take us back five years. Can you tell us a bit about that original Tin Man sculpture, and what possessed you to create it?

MD: I had just started listening to the audio books of the Wizard of Oz series and the Tin Man struck me as the most tragically interesting character. My sculpture was of the Tin Man mid-swing, frozen in time. A sad “Oh no, I’m stuck but still alive” moment. He was that way for over a year before Dorothy found him and freed him. It really struck a chord with me. How awful it would be to not be able to die, and frozen and aware of everything around you?

The Tin Woods concept art by Ann Tseng. Source: Kickstarter.

A.H.: What was it about this story—the script Nick wrote based of the original story by L. Frank Baum—that clicked for you? With the story coming from a very personal place for Nick, how much of it do you see it as “your story” versus “his story,” or is there no delineation between the two in your mind?

MD: Nick’s story got me very excited to recreate my sculpture as a full-on stop motion puppet, and bring it to life. To play with a unique toy made from our imagination based off of a story we knew.

Bringing ideas to life from our imagination is what it’s all about for me. There isn’t much of a delineation between the two of us and our ideas, small bits here and there but I want to tell his story and make it look how I want.

The Tin Woodman puppet created by Mattzilla Duron. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

A.H.: I asked Nick a question similar to the one I’m about to ask you, but I’m keen to hear your perspective on it: How did you and Nick come to know each other, and what would you say is the creative dynamic between the two of you—the separation of labors, the fusing of your imaginations?

MD: We knew each other through a mutual friend and our love of films and making them pretty much sealed the deal. We worked on small photography projects and even other short films together and always had a blast. Nick’s photography and ability to frame things have always really resonated with me, which is why I always bugged him for us to make a short film.

A.H.: You can tell us a bit about your work at Laika in “mold making puppet fabrication,” as you describe yourself on your website? What has been one of your proudest moments and most crowning achievements there?

MD: One of my most crowning achievements at Laika was on Coraline. Shortly after coming on board I was reading the script to get an idea of what puppets needed to be made and what they needed to do and I saw there was a puppet called “slugzilla,” and I immediately got excited (for obvious reasons). I asked if I could make it. I had imagined all sorts of monstrous things, but it was just a large slug for Wybie to play with after excitedly finding it in the fog. I had made multiple awesomely slimey prototypes and Henry Selick loved one of them. After the approved slugzilla was finalized, I got to work on making a few versions for the filming of the scenes it was in. That’s one of my proudest moments at Laika.

The Tin Woods concept art by Ann Tseng. Source: Kickstarter.

A.H.: In your Kickstarter video you mention, “I moved here to Portland twelve years ago to work for the stop motion studio Laika, and I’ve been involved with each of their films since then.”
Now having lived in Portland, OR—and, more specifically, one of the hubs for stop motion within Portland—for twelve-plus years, what are your thoughts on the city itself, and the stop motion community there? What advice would you give to industry professionals—and, yes, I’m speaking directly at myself here—interested in moving to Portland?

MD: Portland is an incredibly unique and beautiful city, the artist community here is very beautiful and energetic. I absolutely love that about this place. Advice for industry professionals? Keep on keepin on, I suppose! I’m always up for an adventure, new beginnings can be scary. I’ve always tended to be a “jump first, figure out how to land later” sort of individual, so I wouldn’t say I’d take my advice, though. After all, I DID legally change my name after a fictional giant Japanese movie monster.

The Tin Woods commemorative axe featured as one of the rewards for Kickstarter backers of a certain amount. Source: Kickstarter.

A.H.: On your website, you mention that, “Halloween is my favorite time of the year. It gives me the ability to explore ways I can change my appearance and experiment with various materials.”
Can you speak a bit about your personal experience with and thoughts on experimentation when it comes to one’s craft—specifically in the mediums you’re involved in—and the processes you’ve developed to shake things up and to keep a fresh perspective on your professional work?

MD: Before I got hired at Laika, a lot of my work outside of college was for very “quick and dirty jobs” for a wide variety of projects—from make up props for theatre to make up on a seasoned film actor for independent films—and I said yes to all of them. Figuring out how to do what I was asked with what I had was a very exciting challenge. Each of those projects left me with a lot of “ok, this is what I learned—moving forward don’t do that, certainly don’t promise this” sort of attitude, which I felt really helped me with the pace of working on feature stop motion films: It needs to be perfect, but it also might change fifteen times before it’s finished. It’s always a creative challenge and the outcome is always worth it.

The Tin Woodman puppet created by Mattzilla Duron. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

A.H.: You and Nick are working on The Tin Woods in your own spare time—on weekends and such—and, because of the time-consuming nature of the stop motion medium, you except it to take at least a year before you complete the film.
What advice do you have to give those in our readership who have ideas for their own films, have a passion for the medium, and aspire to “one day” make their ideas a reality—yet who have jobs, or sheer “life” keeping them from doing so—for how to begin to bring their ideas to fruition, as you and Nick are doing?

MD: “Nobody is going to read your book if you don’t write it because you feel like you don’t have time to write” is a quote I may have read somewhere or I am butchering from a movie I saw, but Nick and I have a very good work dynamic and we have a lot of fun with all of the projects we have collaborated on. The point is: nobody is going to watch it if we don’t get it done. I want people to watch this film, and I am excited to get started on filming The Tin Woods. Sure, there will be nights and weekends we’ll miss our partners and families, but think of how awesome it will be when we’re done!

The Tin Woods promo photo. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

A.H.: To wrap up our interview, I’d like to end with another of my favorite questions: What work have you seen of late in the mediums in which you work—whether in films, television, commercials, short films, a specific artist’s creation—have you found particularly inspiring, or work to aspire to?

MD: I recently had a birthday, and I watched one of my favorite Godzilla films: 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla. That movie has a bit of it all—men in monster suits bashing, amazing miniatures, ridiculously fun storylines, straight comedy humor (I’m not sure they were aware of it) and even a bit of stop motion. It’s comical fun on so many levels, and it’s a movie that makes me forget of everything in my life and absolutely enjoy the world being shown to me. Any movie than can do that is a movie worth seeing. I aspire to do that for other people. (You’ve probably noticed I have a healthy obsession with Godzilla. I even legally changed my name!)

Mattzilla Duron animating the Tin Woodman in a test animation. Photo courtesy of Nick Boxwell.

You can explore more of Mattzilla Duron’s work by visiting his website, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and IMDb.

You can learn more about and can donate to The Tin Woods by visiting the film’s Kickstarter.

This article is the second in a two-part series about The Tin Woods. To read the first part—an interview with Nick Boxwell, the film’s director and writer—you can go here.

You can stay tuned for upcoming interview articles by subscribing to the Stop Motion Geek email newsletter via the “subscribe” button at the top right corner of our homepage, by following us on Facebook @StopMotionGeek, or by following us on Instagram @stop.motion.geek.blog.