It’s all about stimulating the next generation at Wētā Workshop.
Writer Rebecca Barry Hill and her family discover the dark delights of Wētā Workshop Unleashed
I leaned into the creature’s mouth, half expecting to smell its ghoulish breath, and screamed. The scream hurtled back at me as my daughter manipulated its echoes on a panel like a DJ, a wall of prosthetic faces peering at us from above.
We were partway through Wētā Workshop Unleashed, the globally award-winning attraction in Auckland, and the Oscar-winning special effects company’s first tourism venture outside of Wellington. In this vast interactive workshop, a series of immersive make-believe film sets that snake their way through a 2000 sq m labyrinth, it felt like we were on another planet.
My 6 -year-old Zoe was thrilled to find her face contort into an alien in the mirror, to control the movements of a robot simply by looking at it, and to prod the “skin” of a disturbingly lifelike prosthetic man.
“What is that?” became her catch-cry, as we approached another creature of questionable origin. Curious guests can grasp at its glowing organs in an Operation-style autopsy, the creature’s lizard-like legs occasionally springing to life and shuddering on the table.
Whereas Wellington’s famous Wētā Workshop is where guests can walk through the public part of their film props creatures and costumes workshop, this guided 90-minute experience in Auckland is a fantastical version, as though a wacky wizard has invited you into his creative lair.
That wizard is Richard Taylor, the co-founder of Wētā Workshop, famous for providing the special effects, prosthetics, creatures and props for The Lord of the Rings, among many other films and games — and for making the giant sculptures of New Zealand soldiers seen at Te Papa’s Gallipoli exhibition.
With help from his animatronic mate Jeff — a salt-of-the-earth troll who chortled to life as the steward of Unleashed – along with Harri, our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide who moonlights as a film-maker herself, the spirit of Unleashed is one of stimulation and surprise.
“It’s about inspiring people to become makers themselves,” explains Wētā Workshop Unleashed Attraction Lead Sylvia Richards “Anyone can create — sometimes all you need is tinfoil. This is all about inspiring the next generation of makers, but it’s also important for adults not to ignore that voice at the back of their minds. It’s never too late to be creative.”
The original idea for Unleashed was first floated in 2016, with building at SkyCity’s former convention centre starting in 2019, and the experience opening at Level 5, SkyCity, 10 months later in 2020.
Unleashed is based on Wētā Workshop’s three conceptual films, Fauna, an 80s-inspired horror, Age of Ever-Clan, a fantasy, and Origins, a sci-fi, the ideas behind each displayed throughout the experience, via everything from complex storyboards to simple sketches and scribbled thoughts. For instance, an art department note on the fantasy set, a full-scale miniature environment featuring a grand castle and surrounding gardens, suggests to workers that the surface of the castle must be intricately patterned due to its eventual close-up.
They’re details that are catnip for movie fans, as is the retail store at the end, selling some of Wētā Workshop’s most prized creations, from polystone collectibles to Middle-earth replica jewellery.
But the experience is just as appealing to anyone keen to ignite their imagination. My 6-year-old coped just fine with the darker aspects of the horror production (we were able to opt out of taking a haunted corridor that invites those who enter to “fight” their way through in the dark). But we opted into everything else.
Matching every display of innovation and awe-inspiring technology was an invitation to touch, inspect, experiment and make — in the fantasy realm, we crafted goblins made from tinfoil. Visitors wanting to take things further can also take creative workshops with specialist crew and try their hand at making movie props and prosthetics.
As Harri explained, while much of the wizardry Wētā Workshop employ is ahead of its time, they also re-purpose the everyday — even old shampoo and conditioner bottles have been given a new lease of life to decorate the space. A lifelike sleeping artist has also been rendered as a looming giant at a scale of 8.1, making it one of the largest they’ve ever made. If he stood to full height he’d be about 16m tall.
Finally we arrived in a prototype sound stage, presided over by an enormous 3D-printed alien robot and crashed spaceship, one last manifestation of otherworldly imagination. Then Richard reappeared on screen, leaving visitors with a powerful message: release their own creative lunacy on the world.
To book tickets to Wētā Workshop Unleashed, visit Tours.wetaworkshop.com/unleashed