In the old days, when someone said they were making a movie in Brownsburg, Indiana, or Valdosta, Georgia, they would have been called “a bunch of hacks.” So says longtime special makeup effects man Toby Sells. But the rise of independent films has literally “changed the way the industry works.” Sells, who runs Atlanta-based effects shop Toby Sells Creature Makeup FX now calls his hometown the “Hollywood of the South.”

And it was in the Peach State that Sells managed what may be his biggest success yet, this Fall’s undead masterpiece Zombieland which was filmed in Valdosta, Georgia. The surprise hit, which gave star Woody Harrelson his first box-office number one, fooled even horror-veteran Sells.

“When I read the script, I had no idea it would be this big,” he says.

Though Sells insists he was only a “hired gun” on the set of Zombieland and credits Special Makeup Effects Designer Tony Gardiner with the film’s zombie vision, it’s clear Sells was hired for his gory chops (check out Toby Sells’ Zombieland gallery). Sells has a resume splattered with recent gross-outs like Hunger, Laid to Rest, and Dead Silence – and horror classics Deep Star Six and Phantasm II. And it turns out he has a special expertise for making the dead come alive.

The MPPC caught up with Sells at his Atlanta home and asked him about Zombieland and his long career. We were also dying for him to settle a debate among zombie fanatics: what’s the best undead look? The more modern freshly-dead, wet zombie? Or the classic Night of the Living Dead rotted corpses reanimated?

Veteran FX man Toby Sells

Sells wouldn’t bite. A mercenary in artist’s clothing, he says he’ll conjure zombies based on “whoever’s cutting the check.” He did tell us it’s easy to create the “fresh” look with an actor of any size and physical condition. For players of more ample size (“a big guy like me,” Sells quips) it’s almost impossible to create the gaunt, sunken and skeletal look needed to render classic zombies. But at the MPPC, we’ll take a stand: freshly dead zombies or die!

Sells said his path back to the South ran through California, just like many aspiring to work in the movie business. After spending years cutting his teeth in Los Angeles (literally, as Sells trained as a dental lab technician before making the move to films), he returned home to Georgia and hasn’t looked back. He’s even been able to work locally with one of Atlanta’s brightest stars, Tyler Perry.

Though a departure from his horror work, Sells got to create some of the old-age and fat suit effects in Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and Madea Goes to Jail. He uses silicone-filled appliances to produce realistic body folds and contours. And appliances partially painted ahead of time cut down on the hours an actor usually spends in the makeup chair. Unlike the glued-on foam latex pieces from films of the past, Sells uses modern plastics that are chemically bonded to the skin.

Woody Harrelson dispatches one of Sells' zombies

“It’s applied just like a fake tattoo. We peel and stick, and you can’t tell it apart from real skin.”

A master movie craftsman who works with his hands instead of a computer mouse, Sells isn’t particularly worried about computer generated images taking away his job.

“Did anyone see The Incredible Hulk?” he asks, taking a jab at the subpar graphics of director Ang Lee’s superhero flop.

And he points to the critically-acclaimed work of director Guillermo Del Torro, the man behind Hellboy and the exceedingly creepy Pan’s Labyrinth. “Those characters are all men in suits,” he says. “People want to see Jack Nicholson. Not some cartoon-rotoscoped version of him.”

Sells actually believes that movies are best when they combine CGI with the physical effects he creates, as in the scene in the undead campy classic Shaun of Dead, in which a female zombie is impaled on a spike. Flesh hangs loosely from the wound, which the audience can see right through. “The CGI and the special makeup effects combine to pull the gag off,” Sells says.

One of Sells' too-real creations

For now, Sells plans to remain in the Hollywood of the South where he’s working on, what else, a new zombie flick, Collapse. Sells says the movie features MPPC favorites freshly-dead ghouls and promises it will contain a great twist on the standard zombie tale. He’ll also continue work on his website, www.tobysellsfxshop.com.

He counsels those who want to break in to the business to “stay away from makeup schools” and “get exposed to people in the industry.”

Got any job openings Toby? We’d love to learn from a master.

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