[ExI] Mermaid dream comes true thanks to Weta

[PJ Manney]

And who said movie magic stayed up on the screen?

[Weta is a special effects house run by Richard Taylor (with partners
Peter Jackson and Jamie Selkirk).  Full disclosure: Richard was a
former business partner of mine.]

PJ

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4858855a11.html

By MATT CALMAN - The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 25 February 2009

Mermaid dream comes true thanks to Weta
Nadya Vessey lost her legs as a child but now she swims like a mermaid.

Ms Vessey's mermaid tail was created by Wellington-based film industry
wizards Weta Workshop after the Auckland woman wrote to them two years
ago asking if they could make her a prosthetic tail. She was astounded
when they agreed.

She lost both legs below the knee from a medical condition when she
was a child and told Close Up last night her long-held dream had come
true. "A prosthetic is a prosthetic, and your body has to be
comfortable with it and you have to mentally make it part of
yourself," she said.

Ms Vessey told a little boy: "I'm a little mermaid" when he asked what
happened to her legs and the idea stuck.

Weta Workshop director Richard Taylor, more used to winning Oscars for
visual effects from movies such as Lord of the Rings, was delighted to
make it happen.

"She was very patient. We haven't always been able to fulfil some
requests. We were engaged in it pretty quickly because it was a
challenge."

Weta costumer Lee Williams, who worked on the suit between film
projects with seven other staff, told Close Up she "wanted [Nadya] to
be beautiful and sexy".

After seeing Ms Vessey test the tail in Kilbirnie pool then frolic in
the harbour, Ms Williams was stoked. "It was absolutely amazing. It's
beautiful to watch Nadya swim and to see that dream come true and to
be a part of that. I feel quite blessed."

The suit was made mostly of wetsuit fabric and plastic moulds, and was
covered in a digitally printed sock. Mermaid-like scales were painted
by hand.

Mr Taylor said not only did the tail have to be functional, it was
important it looked realistic. "What became apparent was that she
actually physically wanted to look like a mermaid."