INTERVIEW: Jonathan Frakes

PUPPET MASTER

Director Jonathan Frakes talks to Matt Chapman about bringing life to the supermarionettes in the live-action version of Thunderbirds...


How did you create the look for the film?
John Beard, our wonderful production designer, collaborated in developing the design of the ships so that when we started to shoot the film we would know, for instance, which window on the ships the kids would look out of, because we knew which way the ships were going.

Have spacecraft moved on since Star Trek?
In the first Star Trek movie we were still using sticks for the model of the Enterprise for a couple of shots. In the last 10 years the technology inside computers has become incredible. I think models for spaceships is something out of the past.

Why is FAB-1 a Ford and not a Rolls Royce?
We offered the job to Rolls Royce – we tried. Originally, on the television show, it was an old pink Rolls Royce front with six wheels, that basic element is still in place. Ford helped us develop the look of this 28-foot, six-wheeled, two-seater limousine. It’s one of the only Thunderbirds, if you will, that is real.

Gerry Anderson didn’t play any part in making the movie, did he?
He was at Pinewood when we were shooting, so I went down the hall to meet him and thank him. He told me that Thunderbirds was originally made with marionettes as a sales tool, with the hope that he would eventually get to shoot it with real actors.

Buy Thunderbirds on DVD at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com