When Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson teamed up with Mr. Campbell to create My Name Is Bruce, available wherever fine DVDs are rented or sold, we knew there was an eager audience. We were among them. Upon viewing the movie, we were inspired.
We obtained the rights from Mr. Campbell to create a 12 inch clothed doll -- featuring his costume and selected accessories from the film -- rolled up our sleeves, and began to “belittle” our hero. We had to or else he wouldn’t fit in the box!
While we are able to re-create a good likeness sculpturally for statues and figures, we knew that, like us, Bruce’s fans are very discerning and demand the real thing. Perhaps there isn’t very much reality in us Campbell fans’ personal lives, but we certainly expect it in our action figures. So we brought Bruce over to our friends at Gentle Giant Studios, and they proceeded to use their formidable array of high-tech equipment to scan Bruce’s head and other details in realistic three-dimensional computerized files that in turn can be output as a real object. This allows for an accuracy that is second only to the actual subject. Other than a faint green glow emanating from his skin, only visible in a dark room, Mr. Campbell was in no way harmed by the process.
As the prototype was being refined using traditional sculpting techniques, we began to start the process of creating the clothing and accessories for the costume. If you have seen My Name Is Bruce, you know that he wears a distinctive Hawaiian shirt. We needed to scan the pattern in order to miniaturize it for the textile makers in China. An e-mail from Mike Richardson was sent to Bruce, asking for “the shirt off his back.” To our delight, Bruce complied and it arrived in the mail. Grudgingly, we did return it. Rumors that there were fresh barbecue-sauce stains on it are false, and should be disregarded.
Bruce was involved all the way down the line, reviewing and approving the work in progress at various milestones. One of these took place at our offices, when he dropped in to take a look at the sculpted head. Sadly, we did not think to photograph this event, but the mental “camera” that records my memories will not soon delete the sight of the real Bruce Campbell holding the small head of the mini Bruce Campbell, scrutinizing the details intensely, oblivious to the image seen by the observer on the other side of the table. Life meets art.
The selection and creation of the accessories was almost as much fun as the movie itself. It helps to have seen the movie, because the value-added pieces are a hoot if you are aware of their origin, but they’re still a lot of fun if you haven’t seen it. We’ll never look at refreshing lemon beverage quite the same way. We discovered how to miniaturize a whole book cover without losing clarity. But most challenging were the very small Angel Bruce and Devil Bruce, who engage in spirited debate while standing atop Bruce’s shoulders. Project manager Rebecca D’Madeiros had a challenge making them stick without permanently attaching them and cleverly solved the problem by having small magnets embedded in the doll’s shoulders and the bottoms of the teensy-yet-detailed figures.
Dark Horse graphic designer David Nestelle set to work on the package format. He opted for a hinged box that opens and shuts like a door. He drew on the film’s poster art for type and color, but revised it into something that recalls the source while remaining new and fresh. We went a little more deluxe in this area than is usual for us, but we were happy to do it.
After traversing the numerous other speed bumps that are unfortunately normal in creating something like this, Rebecca and her gang were happy enough to send it off to the best manufacturer we could find. The result was presented to Bruce, who gave us the green light to present it to you. So here it is. Thanks, Bruce!