Little Shop of Horrors

Frank Oz shot the whole film at Pinewood Studios in England, using every sound stage there. The Suddenly, Seymour number was staged on the huge 007 stage, too big to heat properly, so the actors’ breath kept showing; Greene and Moranis fixed that by holding ice cubes in their mouths. For Audrey II’s dialogue the puppet was filmed at 12 or 16 frames a second and played back at normal speed, so the actors had to mime and react in slow motion. Levi Stubbs’ vocals were slowed and pitch shifted through a Harmonizer. Working the largest version took around 60 puppeteers. In the first cut Seymour and Audrey are eaten and the plant takes New York. At the San Jose preview it scored 13 against the 55 percent recommend needed for release; a second preview in Los Angeles went the same way, and the ending was reshot. Two Academy Award nominations and no wins: Music (Original Song), for Mean Green Mother from Outer Space, and Visual Effects. At the ceremony the song was sung by Levi Stubbs, who voices the plant. A good fit if you want to watch how rarely the camera holds puppet and actors in one frame. Not for anyone who finds comedy fed by pain heavy going; the dentist sequence is built on it.