Universal Hollywood holds Walker Boot Camp

This week the creative masterminds at Universal Studios Hollywood held a demonstration to explain how they train their actors to portray flesh-eating walkers in the upcoming walkthrough attraction based on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Opening July 4th, the two and a half minute walkthrough will put visitors in the world of the undead in a fight for survival that will recreate some of the show’s most iconic set pieces and scenes.

Authenticity is key here and Universal reached out to none other than executive producer of The Walking Dead, Greg Nicotero and his team at KNB Effects for assistance. Nicotero and his staff create the realistically decaying walkers for the television show and will now be in charge of creating not just the make-up effects the rotating cast of 100 actors will use, but they will also be responsible for the appearance of over 20 animatronic walker figures that will terrorize guests.

Creative Director, Universal Studios Hollywood, John Murdy addresses the students and press.

The integration of live actors and animated figures is not a first for the theme park, who’s Battlestar Galactica Studio Tour attraction, which ran from 1979-1992, pioneered actors, lasers, and stunts. However, this is the first time that actors and figures will be made to blend seamlessly in order to blur the lines of reality and fully immerse visitors in the world of The Walking Dead.

Walker Boot Camp takes training to another level and gets the actors loosened up to find their inner flesh eater. “It’s all about the physicality of the actors.” Explained Nicotero. “We cast people that could convey their story without a word, with body movements and nuances.” “It’s more than just loosening one leg and dropping a shoulder.” Added Murdy, “We want to see individual walkers.”

Walker Boot Camp is a special training that the actors go through in order to hone the necessary skills in becoming a walker. To help in the training, Murdy and Nicotero brought out a real-life walker to teach the would be monsters how it was done. Learning the ticks and nuances, the actors also learned tips for staying in character, the ideas of predator versus prey and the particular art of the walker poster. Nothing like being compared to the star student, right?

An Actor from The Walking Dead TV series was on hand to help train.

With a few rounds back and forth, pacing from one side to the other, our patient model student had gotten the actors to channel their inner dead.

“You Can DO it!”

Thankfully no real flesh eating occurred and all of the students left the floor space with high marks, or rather, grades. Nobody was bitten. As the students left, the walker roamed the floor and John Murdy and Greg Nicotero talked more about the new attraction.

The biggest difference is the permanence. A year-round walkthrough, The Walking Dead is being constructed in an all-new, state of the art facility, custom made for this experience. Unlike the temporary nature of previous walkthrough incarnations of the franchise during the popular Halloween Horror Nights events, sets will be far more substantial. “Usually, during Horror Nights we are trying to get as many people through as possible and sort of rushing people past the sets we have built.” admits Murdy. “Now we will have these beautiful, more permanent sets. We are going to want to let people really take in the detail.” Honestly though how can anyone really take in any detail when running for their lives we ask. Pointing out the unique challenge of creating walkthroughs, John Murdy recalls his work on another attraction at the park.”I worked on the Mummy attraction.” Murdy explains.”In a ride, you know where the visitors are going to be down to the second, down to the millisecond because they are in a vehicle. In a walkthrough, you have to design for every angle.”

Murdy also pointed out that it makes perfect send to have people walking through the world of The Walking Dead as opposed to creating a ride. “Yeah we could have done a ride,” Murdy confesses, “But 99.9% of the time, when you see the characters in the T.V. show going anywhere they are walking. And, really, if you are in a car, you are protected. When you are out there exposed, it’s a lot scarier.”

We took the chance to go look at the progress on the exterior of the show building for The Walking Dead, and it’s coming along quite well. Situated along Baker Street, just past the Universal Plaza, on the way to Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, we see façade work just beyond a temporary construction fence with the Walking Dead logo.