No disguising the skills of the men who turn TV beauties into beasts

From a psychopathic freak in the horror film Creep to the fantasy character of Gimli in the Lord of the Rings, Guiseley man Mike Stringer and his business partner Mike Bates have ‘created’ them all.

For transforming beautiful celebrities and film stars beyond recognition has become something of a mission for the two Mikes who have worked with some of the most popular personalities in show business.

They run Hybrid Enterprises FX – an award-winning prosthetic design and special effects make up company – which is based right here in Wharfedale.

So successful is their company, that they have worked on a number of big screen productions as well as undercover programmes – where they disguise celebrities – and gory hospital dramas and soaps.

Their work, transforming Britain’s celebrity duo Ant and Dec, even managed to fool Pop Idol guru Simon Cowell into believing they were credible rap contestants for his US version of the show.

And so believable are their transformations that they left one pretty young actress in tears after turning her into a heavier version of herself.

“She looked into the mirror and literally burst into tears,” said Mike Stringer.

Now the 42-year-old, who hails from Guiseley, tells what it is like to smother the rich and famous in masks, hair and glue.

Mike said: “It is a great business to be in and I really enjoy my work. It’s very demanding and intensive but we have met some wonderful people and it is fantastic when you create something so life-like that it fools everyone.

“We worked on an Irish undercover celebrity programme called Anonymous where we had to dress up famous people like Ronan Keating. They would then go out into the street in broad daylight to fool the public.

“That was a real challenge – working on film or television, where you can use lighting to create the right effect is one thing but sending someone out into the street, where you can’t touch up their mask or change the way their face is lit and be able to fool the public is another thing altogether.

“We spent all day worrying, thinking – will they be okay, will they need a touch-up? In the end it always worked out fine and we had some real fun watching the show.”

The company originally set up in Leeds back in 1997 and moved to Guiseley ten years later.

Mike said: “I had always been involved in creative work and met Mike Bates through his involvement with a re-enactment group. He worked in the city as a trader at the time but was also a creative guy. We got talking and realised with his business knowledge and what I had learned over the years we could start a business.”

The first thing the pair did was create a new silicone prosthetic, more malleable and easy to wear than traditional materials.

Its success won them the contract to work with John Rys Davis – the actor who played Gimli in The Lord of The Rings.

Mike said: “It was an incredible start for us. We had been trying to create a material which moved and looked more like skin. We sent it off to New Zealand trying to get work on the Lord of The Rings and they were excited by it and desperate for us to help them out.

“We were sent original moulds all the way from New Zealand to Leeds and then spent some time out there ourselves. Basically it was just the start we needed.”

Work continued to flow for the business from the word go.

Mike said: “We began to work a lot in television and got the contract to work with Ant and Dec – it was great fun. They are both very professional and very much like they are on television. They were friendly and chatty but kept their distance. You have to respect each individual you are working with and be led by them and while some celebrities let you in a little to their lives, Ant and Dec kept their distance. They were very pleasant but it was kept professional.

“Most people we have worked with have been absolutely fine even though we are sticking glue all over their face and hair.

“But sometimes, especially if you are working with film stars, you can get the odd person who becomes difficult.

“It’s not easy for them going through the same routine, having make-up and masks and glue stuck on them day after day but part of the job is knowing how to cope with that. You don’t just have to be good at model making, you have to be able to work with people in those stressful conditions – after all our work is very intrusive on them.

“When people see how much they are changed by what we do they are usually pretty impressed, although I find in general that the ladies don’t like ageing. We reassure them that that is not what they will really look like when the time comes but they still don’t like it one bit.”

Work on prosthetics begins by making a mould of a person’s face. This is then used to make the silicone mask.

Mike said: “We use some freelance sculptors to help us with our work. We always start off with research and the better the research the better the finished product. This is essential for hospital programmes where you may find yourself creating something gangrenous or sceptic.

“We have done some gory work and scary stuff but I think the best kind of work is the undercover disguise. There is a huge amount of work that goes into making the masks to ensure that they look real.

“At the end of the day they usually end up in the bin and you watch all that work being thrown away, although you do have it on film.

“We work on all sorts of different projects – from making gangrenous toes, to sculpting faces or body masks.

“We made Ant and Dec up as two Jamaican ladies which was quite good fun – it was incredible how much they transformed.”

One of their most ambitious projects to date was work they did for the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.

The company was asked to cover a dancer with a fake breasts and a stomach to make her look like she was pregnant.

Her enlarged stomach, was also fitted with special lighting to make it glow when touched.

Mike said: “That was all a bit surreal. It was a real challenge to make the cast but we did it. Then we found ourselves watching the launch of the games with all theses characters going out into the arena and our pregnant lady, who was really a dancer, coming out dressed in a floaty see-through top.

“She was like mother earth, and as she caressed her baby it lit up like the moon. It was all very deep but I remember Mike and I looked at each other and said ‘Do you realise where we actually are?’ It was incredible.”

Most of the work carried out by the company has been for television programmes or soaps including Coronation Street, The Royal, Shameless, Undercover Dads, Heartbeat and the Red Riding Trilogy to mention a few. But they have also worked on horror films like Creep – based in the London Underground.

Mike said: “In Creep, we worked with Sean Harris who played moors murderer Ian Brady in the television drama. He is a pretty intense actor and it was incredible creating his character for the film.

He played a mentally ill hermit called Craig who lived in the London Underground and he really became the character, not just in how he looked, but how he acted. He was incredible.”

Although satisfied with the work that they do there is one famous actor Mike would love to work with.

He said: “It would be amazing if someone like Mel Gibson actually asked for us to do his prosthetics. But apart from that we are both quite happy with what we do. The work can be sporadic but it is great fun and there’s nothing I’d rather do.”

The company has now set up a school at the Guiseley base teaching others how to create life like masks and prosthetics.

Mike said: “It keeps us busy and it is great to teach others how to do this work properly. We are really looking forward to getting some talented pupils on board.