C6Life THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2010 SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

Sarah Michelle Gellar played Business is sum Buffy in the long-running television series of many parts

...... understand how they made it.” Richard Verrier Collins spent several years at effects Jason Collins is proudly showing off companies KNB Effects Group and body parts. Almost Human, where he worked Strewn on a table in a warehouse with Jones on the television series are two bloody hearts with cords Buffy the Vampire Slayer before the sticking out, an open chest cavity, a pair decided to go out on their own hand with a severed finger, a in 2005. necrotic liver and a bag stuffed with One of their first clients was what looks like skin tissue. Nearby, a House, now in its seventh season. man is sopping blood from a Prop master Tyler Patton says the stomach with a gash in it. company’s tapeworms, human This isn’t the lair of a serial killer. hearts and other props are so It’s the workshop of Autonomous realistic that the actors sometimes F/X, a company that specialises in react to them as if they’ve just “forensic effects” – creating arrived fresh from the morgue. synthetic body parts and corpses for “The beating heart was a big hit the medical dramas and police because it looked so real,” Patton shows that each year amp up the says. “The effects are so graphic it’s gory details of human anatomy. sometimes shocking. We’re pretty The silicone stomach with the used to it, but the actors sometimes gash is hooked up to an air get a little queasy.” compressor and spews blood and The parts are made of foam or guts. It was made for a recent silicone, using moulds that are cast episode of Spike TV’s 1,000 Ways to on actors’ faces or limbs. The Die (a show that dramatises bizarre moulds are made of a seaweed- ways people meet their doom). based material called alginate – the “It makes a big mess,” Collins, same stuff that dentists use for teeth co-owner of Autonomous F/X, says impressions – and wrapped of the stomach contraption. “I feel mummy-like with bandages around sorry for the camera crew.” the face or body of the actors. Drying In an era of digital effects and takes about 10 or 15 minutes. green-screen technology, many “It’s a bit like a car dealership,” physical-effects houses have says Jones, sitting next to a bust of a struggled to survive. But Collins and man from the 2007 horror film his partner, Elvis Jones, have carved Timber Falls whose jaw was blown out a profitable niche, thanks to a off by a shotgun. “We pretty much demand for ever-more realistic have a mould for every body part.” forensic effects. To accurately depict the stages of The company works on low- decomposition, Collins and Jones budget horror movies, but its meat consult medical textbooks and and potatoes are locally produced photos of actual murder victims Buffy the Vampire Slayer returns to the big screen, much to television dramas, such as Law & supplied by detectives. They make Order: Los Angeles, Rizzoli & Isles and fake blood from a corn-syrup recipe the recently cancelled Undercovers. that is a “house secret”. the chagrin of the hit show’s creator, writes Andrew Pulver Collins, 35, a film school graduate There is plenty of work to keep and self-taught make-up effects him busy, especially from shows artist, developed a fascination for such as 1000 Ways to Die. ENTERTAINMENT fake corpses and body parts as a “We have two or three deaths a child when his father took him to see week,” Collins says. “It’s a challenge An American Werewolf in London. to see what they come up with.” “I was terrified of the werewolf,” ...... Collins says. “I wanted to McClatchy-Tribune Fangs for nothing

t was the story the fans have Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy vampire films – notably the Twilight have reason to fear anger among long been waiting for: the the Vampire Slayer became a series, the Kuzuis announced they This is a sad, sad Buffy fans. The power of the return of Buffy, feminist icon phenomenon when it premiered in hoped to revive the Buffy character. community was demonstrated after and slayer of vampires – and 1997. It ran for more than 140 No casting details have yet been reflection on our times, Whedon’s 2002 sci-fi series Firefly this time on the big screen. episodes over seven series, charting announced, but one of the when people must feed was dropped after only 11episodes ITake that, Twilight! But any good the life of an ordinary teenage girl producers, Charles Roven, hints that by its parent network, Fox. cheer was quickly drowned out who happens to kill vampires and Buffy will be an older character this off the carcasses of After a campaign to save the earlier this week as it emerged that other monsters by night. The show time. “This is not your high school beloved stories from show, Firefly fans persuaded Warner Brothers was planning to hit upon a mix of ordinary teenage Buffy. She’ll be just as witty, tough, another studio, Universal, to put a make its film version of the cult angst, humour and gore that earned and sexy as we all remember her to their youths – just feature film, Serenity, into series without Joss Whedon, the it a devoted fan base. be,” he says. production. show’s creator – and, it appears, Whedon used the series to Whedon is cynical about the because they can’t This same vociferous online without any of the cast of the long- explore increasingly off-the-wall likelihood of teen-vampire overkill: think of an original community has been registering its running television series. story ideas – including the episode “But seriously, are vampires even outrage at plans to produce a new Whedon is furious. “This is a sad, entitled Once More, With Feeling, in popular anymore?” However, he is idea of their own Buffy film, among them the showbiz sad reflection on our times, when which the cast sing almost every line also realistic about the way the ...... blogger Perez Hilton. “We are not people must feed off the carcasses of of dialogue. movie business operates. Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy TV series liking this,” he says. “Without beloved stories from their youths – But Buffy had originally seen the In an e-mail to the entertainment creator Joss Whedon or the original just because they can’t think of an light of day five years earlier, in a website E! Online, he writes: cast, we’re afraid this has failure original idea of their own,” he says. feature film script, which Whedon “Obviously, I have strong, mixed written all over it. It’s going to have “I always hoped that Buffy would had sold to the director-producer emotions about something like this to be pretty spectacular if it’s going live on even after my death. But, you team Fran and Kaz Kuzui. The first ... I don’t love the idea of my creation to impress us.” know, after.” Buffy film emerged in 1992, with in other hands, but I’m well aware Mike Goodridge, the editor of the The writer of the new screen Kristy Swanson as the eponymous that many more hands than mine trade paper Screen International, adaptation is Whit Anderson, a vampire killer alongside Luke Perry went into making that show what it feels it is too soon to write it off. relatively unknown actor with only a and Rutger Hauer, but scored only was ... I can’t wish people who are “Charles Roven is pretty cool. smattering of screen credits, the moderate returns. Whedon is passionate about my little myth ill. He’s the man that made the Batman most high profile being a small role known to have been less than happy “I can, however, take this time to movies with Chris Nolan, so he in the Jim Carrey vehicle Yes Man. with the film. After he was announce that I’m making a knows what he’s doing – and lots of “I was the same age as Buffy, and approached to turn the concept into Batman movie. Because there’s a people were against that at the time. it was so rare to have a female lead a television series, the Kuzuis acted franchise that truly needs updating. “Remember, Buffy was nothing character on TV in those days, who as hands-off executive producers So look for The Dark Knight Rises as a movie, and the audiences are was strong and capable and smart alongside him. It was very much Way Earlier Than That Other One very different – Warner know that but also allowed to be feminine,” he Whedon’s show, but the Kuzuis And Also More Cheaply And In people have an appetite for says. retained their rights. Toronto, rebooting into a theatre revamps. I think it’s a great idea.” Whedon appears to have fallen Last year, no doubt motivated by near you.” ...... Jason Collins with some of Autonomous F/X’s creations. Photo: MCT victim to Buffy’s unusual history. the continuing success of teen The new film’s producers may Guardian News & Media

Wok on the wild side at Chengdu’s ‘fly’ restaurants Choice dishes right up your alley Expect to pay less than 30 yuan (HK$35) Nan Nan Xiao Chi Dian (Nan Nan for a meal for two (excluding beer) at Snack Shop) most fly restaurants. Most have their Here, simple dishes such as liangban • CONTINUED FROM C5 one to call your own is a simple I peeked behind half-open a private house up the lane I ordered came to the fore. Accompanying the ingredients on display, making it easy san si (shredded cucumber, chayote and matter of venturing off the city’s weathered timber doors to find a la rou (a Sichuanese cured speciality dishes was a rustic portion of rice for non-Chinese speakers to point at bean thread vermicelli in a tart-spicy native and academic Wang Jingjing busy boulevards and into its quieter sturdy man wearing shorts, T-shirt of pork belly smoked over pine flecked with bits of cornmeal. It was what they’d like to eat. These places are dressing topped with peanuts) suancai eats three or four lunches a week at neighbourhoods – and following and plastic sandals, a white paper boughs and air-dried) two ways: stir- a meal that earned my repeat open from lunch through to dinner, rou pian (pork slices stir-fried with his favourite cangying guanzi, a no- your nose. cook’s hat balanced on his head, fried with leeks and cooked with patronage over the next 10 days, except where noted. pickled greens) and fanqie jidan tang name, six-table eatery at the end of During a recent Chengdu leaning into flames climbing from a corn and edamame (soya beans). sometimes at noon and back again (tomato and egg soup) draw students an alley lined with sagging single- sojourn I became a regular at a fly gas-fired wok. Despite their simplicity – neither for dinner. Zhang Jie Chao Cai (Elder Sister and teachers from the nearby Sichuan storey brick dwellings in the restaurant near my hotel. One He moved effortlessly between dish was seasoned with anything Zhang Lingcheng and his wife Zhang’s Stir-fried Dishes) Conservatory of Music. increasingly upmarket Yulin district. morning, as I was exploring the back the burner, shelves of ingredients other than salt – both preparations opened the restaurant – Elder Sister Don’t miss the la rou dishes, such as Where to find it: Minzhu Road, off “Why should I eat elsewhere? lanes off Renmin South Road, the and bowls of sauces, seasonings, wowed me. In the cook’s capable Zhang’s Stir-fried Dishes – more yumi huangdou chao la rou (stir-fried First Ring Road South, Section 1 This girl is so talented!” he says, “pop-pop” of ingredients hitting hot flours, chopped herbs and pickles hands the sweetness of the corn and than 15 years ago and they do a brisk with corn and edamame) and suan cai (entrance to road is marked by Sichuan gesturing towards a young woman oil and the scent of black vinegar arranged on a table. Working the fresh grassiness of the edamame business every day, closing just two chao la rou. Also delicious are yuxiang Music Conservatory Hotel) working two woks at the restaurant’s lured me to a low-slung brick steadily, he turned out dish after shone through, despite the fatty weeks a year for Lunar New Year. rouxi (made with pickled chillis and entrance, while her sister takes structure fronted by tables set gorgeous dish. When his wife pork’s rich smokiness; paired with Zhang says he learned to cook by pickled ginger), doufu gan (dried and San Gu Noodles (San Gu Mian) orders and a male assistant plucks beneath an outstretched plastic tarp. returned from running a delivery to silky leek greens, the la rou’s texture watching his father, who wasn’t in pressed beancurd stir-fried with chillis Since a recent renovation this place fresh vegetables, sliced meats and the restaurant business. He figures and Sichuan peppercorn), and the might almost be considered upscale, tofu from plastic baskets arranged his repertoire extends to 70 dishes, humble fanqie jidan (stir-fried tomato but a plastic tarp roof keeps it firmly on a two-metre-high shelf. As his putting him on par with cooks in and eggs). planted in the “fly restaurant” category. colleagues grab a table and place Chengdu’s more upmarket Where to find it: 5 Jiu Si Xiang (off Try the qingjiao niurou si (beef slivers their orders – blanched bitter melon restaurant kitchens. Renmin Zhong Lu, just south of Yang with green peppers), gong bao jiding dressed with sesame oil and a Much of the restaurant’s clientele Shi Jie) (chicken with peanuts and chillis), and smidgen of salt, yuxiang eggplant, lives or works in the neighbourhood, guo kui (griddled flat breads stuffed mapo dofu pungent with yellow but some customers, like a well- The talented female cook at the no- with meat seasoned with chillis and bean paste and pickled chillis – dressed family who arrived in their name alley fly restaurant in Yulin Sichuan peppercorn). Wang says he visits another fly own car during dinner one evening, district makes an especially nice mapo Where to find it: 15 First Ring Road restaurant closer to his home at make the trip in from the suburbs to dofu, with extra-fragrant pickled chillis; South, Section 2 weekends. dine at Zhang’s table. liangban kugua (bitter melon and red “We go to these places to eat real Despite their restaurant’s bell pepper “salad” dressed with A roadside stack of steamers marks the home-style Sichuan food. Everyone popularity, Zhang and his wife are sesame oil); and ganchao jiding (“dry- location of this no-name fly restaurant has their favourite,” he says. modest about their talents (she fried” chicken with chillis and Chinese specialising in steamed dishes such as For the visitor lacking cooks, too, when he leaves to top up celery). mizheng zhu rou (pork coated in connections, sampling the jiachang supplies). “We don’t cook anything Where to find it: Yulin Er Xiang seasoned ground rice) and egg custard cai (home-style food) served at a special, just common, home-style (between Yulin Yi Xiang and Yulin San with chopped pork. good cangying guanzi is the next food,” he says. “Chengdu has Xiang, which are both to be found off Where to find it: Donghua Zhong best thing to being invited by a local hundreds of cangying guanzi just Yulin Dong Lu) Street. Mornings/afternoons only for a home-cooked meal. Finding Fly restaurants such as Zhang Jie Chao Cai (left) are Chengdu favourites, serving simple yet delicious fare (right) like this one.”