Tristram Shandy

A Cock And Bull Story

Millennium FX

It is not every day that you are asked to create a giant womb for Steve Coogan to enact his second birth. I think this still has to be one of the funnier and weirdest jobs I have done to date. One thing I can say is that Mr Coogan will go to any length to amuse his fans.

The main part of the womb was constructed by John More and me, whilst Jared Manley was in charge of simulating contractions and the lovely Jo Grover was in charge of creating the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

The womb stood about 9ft tall made from a fibre glass skeleton wrapped in tissue and latex for a more organic feel. The front of the womb had a large vacuumed formed window so all the action could be viewed, this also lead to the ongoing joke of people pointing and saying "Hey look it’s a womb with a view." The womb also had a hatch fitted to the top of it to allow Steve Coogan to be lowed safely. The cervix also could articulate back and forwards which could be manipulated by the person inside to further sell the effect of Contractions.

One of the objectives in creating this piece was to create a womb that was semi realistic, as well as looking like an over sized biology prop. So if you are interested to see how this piece was brought to screen then scroll down and check out my behind the scenes on Michael Winterbottom’s “Tristram Shandy, A Cock And Bull Story.”

The photos above show the womb past half way in its construction. The inside is fabricated with a sheet of textured foam to act as the inside of the womb as well as to hide 8 giant air bladders that are controlled by a pneumatic system that Jared has put together. You can see in the centre picture the air hoses that will eventually feed the bladders. The lower and upper part of the womb is also covered in sheet foam to hide gaps. This will be where the womb hatch opens and the cervix articulated.

The size of the womb can be seen in relation to Steve Scotton pictured on the left. At this stage the whole fibre glass structure has been covered in a latex tissue, which adds to the organic feel. You can also see that the ovaries and fallopian tubes have been added and secured to the side. Lastly the womb is painted, veins are added and the vaccumed formed window is installed.

This was the fun bit, transporting the womb. It proved even difficult with 3 of us; this womb was not just large it also weighed a tone. For the first day of the shoot we secured the womb to a scaffolding rig. As can be seen on the right John and Jared test the air system and start to choreograph a suitable contraction effect.

Everything set up, filming is ready to start. (Left) Me posing next to the womb.

In the first day of shooting Steve Coogan has to be rigged with a harness and lowered upside down into the womb. For safety reasons one of the riggers tests it out first. (Right) Steve Coogan gives it his first go, trying to spin himself upside down, so he can descend head first.

These photos where taken during the rehearsal, and where a great opportunity to test the air bladders out with Mr Coogan inside.

One thing we were not aware of until we got to location was that they would ask us to be in the film for this scene. As the plot of Tristram Shandy was a look into the filming of a film it meant John, Jared and I featured doing what we would have been doing anyhow. The biggest test with this was not to laugh as the whole scene was just so surreal.

The second and final day of shooting. For this we had to take the womb off the rigging and lay it on the floor. This was done so we could have a person almost naked with no harness to simulate a full adult re-birth. This must have been a particularly uncomfortable day especially for Steve Coogan, firstly it was a very cold, secondly he was wearing nothing but a lycra G string and thirdly because John and myself had to soak him down with water thickened by metosil mixed the day before. It was also our job on queue to chuck 4 buckets of the cold metosil mixture over him to simulate the water breaking. It was very hard to keep a straight face especially as Mr Coogan curled up into the uterus position and started to go over his lines. One thing I must comment on is how amazingly professional he is, covered in slime in a giant womb freezing in the middle of winter and he did not complain once.

The photos above should give you a better idea how it looked in the womb, when contracted there was probably half the space.

With shooting finished we headed back to set on day 3 and started packing the equipment back up

Could not resist but add these pictures into the mix. John, Jared and myself having a little light hearted fun once filming was over.