Real-world ‘wise monsters’ inspired the creatures in Netflix’s The Sea Beast

In the world of Netflix’s The Sea Beast, heroic monster hunters take to the high seas to kill fearsome creatures in order to keep waters safe for seafarers — or at least that’s what everyone believes. Red Bluster, which is a huge red sea creature and can swallow whole rowboats, is perhaps the most fearsome of all sea monsters.

[Ed. note: This feature contains some slight spoilers for The Sea Beast.]

Image courtesy of Netflix

But when seasoned monster hunter Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) and savvy stowaway Maisie Brumble (Zaris-Angel Hator) end up stranded on an island full of sea monsters, they discover that these beasts aren’t the bloodthirsty fiends they expected. The Red Bluster actually takes a special liking to Maisie. Red Bluster is a powerful, yet gentle beast that can be transformed into a giant when it’s at its best.

It took two iterations before the final design for this large-eyed monster and compassionate guardian was achieved, as is typical with animation. Director Chris Williams tells Polygon that his creative team looked at real animals that they considered “the ultimate monster” in a given biosphere, but they also wanted animals that convey a certain wisdom. This led to them choosing big cats such as tigers and lions. To bring across the Bluster’s ability to transition out of sea and onto land, pinnipeds became a natural fit.

“We did a lot of research,” Williams says. “We looked at images and videos of sea lions, seals and walruses, and whales, just to see how they moved and how their physiology made sense [as] creatures that live in the water — that could go on land, but were more comfortable in the water. And that pointed us in a certain direction.”

Image courtesy of Netflix

But while the design elements took many iterations, some aspects of the movie ended up perfectly panning out in one go — especially Hator’s performance as Maisie Brumble. Williams said that Williams brought the perfect amount of sophistication and spunk to her role. He was blown away by Hator’s performance — especially seeing her transition from her own reserved personality into Maisie’s fierceness. Williams was astonished by Hator even when Williams had to deal with the harder and more complicated scenes.

“Oftentimes with actors, we’ll approach those scenes multiple times, just to give them an opportunity to approach the moment from a different direction,” says Williams. “And there were moments that we thought were going to be the most challenging that she just attacked and nailed straightaway.”

Williams explained that voice actors are not supposed to provide sound effects in order to create animation. However, Williams said it works the other way around, and the actor is the one who does the speaking. This means details in the actors’ performance can often inspire the end result.

“The animator is listening to the performance and just feeding off of every every bit of nuance and every bit of spontaneity they can find,” says Williams. “[Hator] was able to provide so much to our animators, and they couldn’t wait to get their hands on her scenes.”

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