July 21, 2007

6+ awful and awesome movie and tv ice sculptures: “Hollywood on ice” revisted

one of a few movie and tv ice sculptures that I’ve done, my gator head ice sculpture for the movie “All the King’s Men” (2006)

updated 7/17/23 and 7/18/23 with seo, formatting, links, a yarn and youtube videos related to these movie and tv ice sculptures, and also a couple heading changes, one in the old article

some random movie and tv ice sculptures

This article originally appeared in a newsletter in January of 2000, so it’s more than a little dated. (It’s mostly intact from when it was originally published.) But in it, I talk about about some prominent and not so prominent movie and tv ice sculptures that I’ve run across.

Since I wrote this article, I’ve had one of my own ice sculptures in a movie, All the King’s Men, which is pictured above. I wrote about this experience and another tv shoot that I was able to help with in an earlier article that I wrote for this site. Strangely, I didn’t mention my tv work (in 1995 for a sci-fi show called Earth 2) in the article below. Maybe I was modest or embarrassed? (I wasn’t really happy with how it turned out) I’m not sure.

Btw, I have more than one article on the site about movie and tv ice sculptures, so check the links at the end!

Hollywood on ice

by Dawson List

Ice sculptures can create a very striking visual statement and also convey a feeling of whimsy or extravagance. Thus, the entertainment industry sometimes incorporates ice sculptures into their background sets and in some cases makes the sculptures a significant part of the stories. Sometimes the sculptures are fake and sometimes the director is obviously not paying attention to real life details, but as an ice sculptor I always keep an eye out for ice on film. It’s even possible to get me to see a movie by telling me that there’s an ice sculpture in it. Some examples that I’ve run across are noted below.

Batman and Robin

Probably the worst abuser of fake ice that I’ve run across was “Batman and Robin.” Ice is everywhere in this flick because Batman’s enemy is Mr. Freeze. Unfortunately it’s almost all artificial and it shows.

Apparently, Mark Daukas did some actual ice work for the opening logo, but after that, fake ice is all over the place. Now obviously, using real ice would be difficult or impossible for most instances in this movie, but it’s too bad that the fake ice looks so fake. If you pay attention, you’ll even see that “icicles” often flex when they move. What kind of ice is that? The upside of this movie is that Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a super villain/ice sculptor (well, sort of).

Edward Scissorhands

Another offender in the fake ice department is “Edward Scissorhands.” This is another instance the where “ice” sculptures are not ice. However, this whimsical fairy tale somewhat redeems itself by providing a neat, ice sculpting-related reason for snowfall and winter. Can I borrow those hands for my next competition?

late night movie department

A fairly ridiculous example of fake ice shows up in “Nightmare on the Thirteenth Floor.” This is one of those movies that you run across at 3 a.m. I know because I did. A kitchen scene shows a chef “carving” a pretty impressive horse. Now the horse is artificial, but it’s sitting on top of a real block of ice lying flat on the table. The funny part is that the chef’s boss comes in and complains that the horse looks terrible, when in fact it would be pretty difficult to execute if it were real ice. The chef’s response is that he’s no Michelangelo…

risque' ice

Speaking of Michelangelo, “My Best Friend’s Wedding” includes a scene incorporating an anatomically correct ice version of “David.” A bridesmaid manages to get her tongue stuck in a very inappropriate spot and a hairdryer must be brought in to free her. This is an amusing scene, but the sculpture is obviously fully tempered so getting her tongue stuck would be impossible. Look for another example of a risqué ice sculpture in the movie “Scandal.”

ice on tv

Ice sculptures show up on television too. An episode of “Northern Exposure” has a party scene where there’s a sculpture of the state of Alaska in the background. This is obviously a real sculpture because you can see the piece change temperature from scene to scene.

Unfortunately, the fact that they shoot scenes out of sequence is all too evident, because the sculpture goes from fully tempered to frosty at one point. Oops…

Television commercials also have their share of ice sculptures. I can think of a number of local commercials that I’ve seen with ice sculptures featured. However, the best commercial I know of “with ice sculptures” never shows one. Visa ran a commercial a while back that has a new father who’s concerned about his baby daughter’s future. At the end, the baby girl tells daddy that she wants a wedding “with ice sculptures.” What a great plug for our industry!

well done ice

Finally, the best example I’ve found of ice sculpture on film was in the movie “Groundhog Day.” Bill Murray’s character lives the same day over and over again, so in his ample spare time, he decides to take up the art of ice carving. Randy Rupert did the sculpture for the scene, even though you see Bill Murray “carving” it and Ice Crafters provided the tools. Not only is it a good sculpture, but it’s a good movie too. I wish things always turned out this way.

celebrity ice sculptures are just like regular ice sculptures

So one can see that ice sculptures are not always done right when it comes to film. However, they are just movies, and they are just sculptures of frozen water, so you can’t be too critical. But I’m going to keep looking for ice in the movies and on TV. If you know of one of the many examples that I’m sure I’ve missed, please email me at icecarvingsecrets@mac.com (email address changed) and I’ll add it to my list.

1 really old comment

The following comment was on the original blog entry. After some technical difficulties, the blog had to be reconstructed, and this was the only way to keep the original comment. But Jim Ottens (Icewiz) adds a great comment about his own movie ice sculpture experiences, which is exactly what I’m looking for. Thanks Jim!

1 Comment

ICEWIZ

Gus Stempke, a great friend and mentor who passed away in 2000 did a Giant Snail for the Movie “Rocketeer”, some years ago, The funny thing was that if you stop frame the shell as it is sliding out of control, one of the last frames shows the snail with the head and in the next frame, the head is missing. I had the honor of doing a piece for a movie a few years ago called “View from the Top”. I did a DC-10 which was in a banquet Scene. Honestly, it was quite boring waiting on the set all day but it was great to see it in the movie!

Monday, July 30, 2007 – 01:25 AM