Q&A with Emmy and Saturn Award winner Robert Kurtzman

The following is an interview with practical effects legend, Robert Kurtzman. He is responsible for many of the special effects makeup in film and television today - such as Quentin Tarantino's FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and the Netflix hit series from Mike Flanagan, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE.

Kurtzman is a charismatic monster maker, writer and director. He was an effects artist and supervisor on the horror film which became an iconic franchise, Wes Craven’s SCREAM. He has won an Emmy for his special effects makeup on DUNE (2000 series) and the Saturn Award for Best Makeup for VAMPIRES (1999). In 2021, Kurtzman was nominated for another Saturn award, for his work on Stephen King's DOCTOR SLEEP. In fact, Kurtzman frequently works on Stephen King film adaptations. 

In short, from "Freddy Krueger" to "Ghostface", Robert Kurtzman has helped bring to life some of the most memorable characters and films in the world:

BREE: You are one of the most influential FX artists of our time, but, you are also a successful writer. Tarantino fans may be surprised to know that Quentin actually wrote the cult classic From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) off one of your short stories. How did that come about?

KURTZMAN: It was about 1988, I wrote a twenty-five-page treatment. I wanted to direct - have it be like a low budget movie. A confined type movie where you confine the characters and setting of the scene, like a siege film. I wasn’t going to do a gang movie. At that time, vampires weren’t overdone, so I came up with this idea of a south of the border strip club ran by vampires. I wrote the story, and originally my partner on the project was John Esposito – he’s the screenwriter who wrote Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift, he was going to write the script. But Graveyard had just gone into production and he went away to location for about three months. We didn’t want to wait to get the script written so we started putting the word out that we were looking for a scriptwriter. A friend of mine Dave Goodman and these guys knew Quentin through friends like Lawrence Bender, so Quentin sent me three writing samples. He sent me Natural Born Killers, True Romance and Reservoir Dogs.

The stupidest thing I ever did was at that time, only True Romance was optioned. Natural Born Killers and Reservoir Dogs were both available – I should have got them all! My partner and I scraped together $750 bucks each and paid Tarantino $1,500 to write his first screenplay for hire. $1,500 for From Dusk Till Dawn, and it made movie history. It took about ten years to get it off the ground because I wanted to direct it, but I had never directed before, so it was this vicious circle with studios. Robert Rodriguez became interested and he was hot off of Desperado, so it just made sense. I could have sat around and dreamed about making the movie, or I could let Robert direct it and myself still be involved in the effects and producing, and get a writing credit. It worked out!

BREE: When creating a creature for the first time, what sparks the originality – the process from concept to fruition?

KURTZMAN: Usually it’s working closely with the director, and myself reviewing the script for the tone. Sometimes it just says “the most horrifying thing you can imagine” and you don’t know what that means – but now you have to imagine it. Sometimes you have different concept illustrators working with you, and you go through sketches until you hit on that something – that vision – the director likes. It may even be a little bit from this design, and a little bit from that design.

BREE: You’ve worked on everything from gory classics like 13 Ghosts and Scream, to comedy type makeup such as Austin Powers in Goldmember. Do you prefer the more grotesque SFX work?

KURTZMAN: I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily about the gore, but it’s the creature stuff – I absolutely love creating creatures that haven’t been done, and ones that break barriers!

BREE: Out of everything, what is your personal favorite makeup?

KURTZMAN: The witch in Army of Darkness, I love! Oh, and Wishmaster. I have always loved that character. It was a nice sculpt. Clean makeup. Now Tusk has become a favorite as well.

BREE: What was one of the biggest challenges starting out?

KURTZMAN: When I first started out I was a freelance artist for the first five years. I juggled from shop to shop, job to job. It was a fairly small knit community of artists, so everybody kind of knew when you were off work or when a shop needed more guys – the 'I have a buddy and he’s just finishing up over here', ya know. That’s how we artists worked for years. Nomadic artists.

BREE: When did you know ‘okay, this is what I’m putting everything into’ and take the plunge into filmmaking?

KURTZMAN: I was always interested in it. I’ve been into monsters since I was a kid, read "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and all that stuff. I was hooked on movies in general. Started following directors like John Carpenter, Spielberg, all those guys. I was a film geek. I knew there was a business for creature creating and that I could do this for a living, because I was reading about these guys who are already doing it. But I was in Ohio and didn’t know where to start. I went to art school after high school, which was doing a lot of drawing and stuff. After about a year in art college, I dropped out because I realized I really wanted to be doing effects and that’s not what I was learning. I took the summer off, worked all summer for my dad, and earned enough money to go to LA in the fall for a makeup course at Joe Blasco’s makeup school that was 12 weeks. Then I started going from shop to shop showing my crude portfolio, until I got a job at John Buechler’s company. That was kind of the starting point for all of us in the FX world, doing about six movies a year, so it was a great place to build credits and learn on the job.

BREE: We talked about your favorite makeup, but what would you say is the most challenging character makeup that you’ve tackled?

KURTZMAN: The Bride of Re-Animator! (Based off H.P. Lovecraft’s characters). She was fully nude with all these pieces that had to be glued on. It took nine hours to do, with a couple of us working on her. Me, Howard (Berger), Mike Spatola. We were all putting pieces on her every day. She had to stand for most of it. We had a slant board and she had to lay on her back, then on her stomach, so we could work on her. Nine hours!

BREE: Wow, that is a lot. Having seen the movie quite a few times, I gotta say - it's an unforgettable makeup! Now, along with writing and practical special effects work - you also directed some of these films as well, such as Wishmaster…

KURTZMAN: Yes. It’s great! I’ve been doing this for thirty plus years now. Lucky enough to come up in the business during the hay day of the 1980’s - that was the big effects boom. Allowed me to work on a lot of iconic movies. I enjoy directing. Some of my favorites that I directed so far are: Demolitionist, Wishmaster, Buried Alive, The Rage and Deadly Impact. I’d love to direct more. It’s rough trying to get movies off the ground as a director while also doing the FX work. Financing – such a long process. From Dusk Till Dawn was another film that took about ten years to get off the ground. People said the script was too raunchy. Now, it’s popular. 

BREE: After thirty years in the industry, what is the best part for you – the thing that keeps you coming back?

KURTZMAN: The best part is it’s always different. Every movie is different. Every set is different. Always working with great people. Years and years working with various people on different movies and projects, even working with directors. Certain directors you know you don’t have a good time with, certain ones you do. Certain producers you can’t stand, and certain ones you click with. A family, of sorts. It’s a creative outlet for all of us, and there’s always a new challenge.

Above: Robert Kurtzman creating iconic horror character "Freddy Krueger" with Nightmare on Elm Street actor Robert Englund. (Photo credit: Marcia Mattern.) Below (1): Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney in From Dusk Till Dawn. (Dimension Films) Below (2): Wes Craven and Drew Barrymore on the set of SCREAM. (Dimension Films) Below (3) Poster for A24's TUSK

For an entire filmography of Kurtzman's work, please visit his IMDb. It is one of the most impressive catalogs of work you will find.

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*This interview, along with additional behind the scenes sfx images, can also be found at Scream Magazine’s UK website: www.screamhorrormag.com