Heroic Faun reveals secrets of the wardrobe

One of Actor Gregory Cooper's early roles was as a mobile phone. Photo / NZ Herald

Actor Gregory Cooper still has nightmares about one of his early roles. Dressed as a giant mobile phone, he was distributing brochures outside a rugby game in Christchurch when a drunken patron approached and declared: "Nokia, eh? I'm gonna Nokia you over!"

Cooper was left flailing on the ground, unable to stand up because of the costume, while the other actors, also dressed as phones, huddled around him in a protective circle.

Given these types of work stories, it's understandable he was ecstatic when cast as a "featured extra" on the blockbuster film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, directed by New Zealander Andrew Adamson.

It didn't bother Cooper that the part he originally auditioned for, Mr Tumnus, went to British actor James McAvoy _ now one of Hollywood's hottest young stars. He was happy to be part of a feature film because it was something the experienced theatre actor had never worked on before.

Then there was the regular weekly wage, which in one week added up to more than he would earn in an entire theatre season, not to mention the trailer he would share with just two others and the regular gourmet catered meals.

It was all good _ at first. Now Cooper has used those experiences in the crazy world of motion pictures as material for his one-man play, Heroic Faun No One. It is directed by Russell Pickering, who played Heroic Faun No 3 in the film. "I finally wrote the play last year but it had been sitting in my head for quite a while," says Cooper. "The process of making a Hollywood blockbuster is so surreal and it's an environment and a world that not a lot of people get to experience; yet people like to see what goes on behind the scenes."

He provides a unique glimpse into that world and explains why after three months he went from an enthusiastic actor to an extra on the verge of a breakdown.

"A role in a film like that takes over your life but of that time, I think I spent 95 per cent of it eating, sleeping and doing ablutions and 5 per cent acting. I did three months' work on the film and appeared for a fleeting 20 seconds. Even mum and dad couldn't recognise me."

As one of three fauns, he would be picked up from the hotel between 3-4am and taken into makeup to spend about three hours each morning morphing into a faun.

The process involved dressing in green CGI (computer-generated imagery) tights invisible on screen, so deer legs could be digitally implanted on to the actors during editing. He had a special prosthetic snout sculpted on to his nose and human hair stuck on in tufts all over his face and upper body.

Eventually, Cooper started to observe the quirkiness going on around him _ such as the uncredited Centaur extra Sandro Kopp wooing leading lady Tilda Swinton and hundreds of people buzzing around the set daily.

"There are a lot of people with these highly, highly specialised jobs _ like the person who was solely responsible for polishing the swords at the end of every take _ and when the director would yell `cut' suddenly three people descended on you to tuck some bit of your costume in or put powder on somewhere."

He first performed Heroic Faun No One at last year's Auckland Fringe Festival on a budget of about $50, compared to the $180 million estimated cost of the Narnia film. This year the Rebel Alliance theatre company is producing the show, which has allowed Cooper and Pickering to rework and redesign elements.

Cooper has previously toured New Zealand with the comedy The Complete History of New Zealand Abridged, which he co-wrote. He was last seen in Auckland in Le Sud as right-wing politician Lyndsay Marshland.

Rebel Alliance producer Anders Falstie-Jensen saw Heroic Faun No One when he was stage managing the Fringe Festival.

"I knew at once I was looking at the next Rebel Alliance production. It was simple, clever, utterly charming and people were spellbound. I saw it every night of its three-day season and immediately knew I wanted to help them bring it back."

* Heroic Faun No. One
Where and when: Basement Theatre, June 23-30