All his experience has paid off, and Tucker is now president of Illusion Industries.
“I spent 15 years working as a special effects artist and creative director, supervising feature films and television shows,” he said. “A few years ago, I started my own production company and began directing and producing in addition to doing makeup effects. In 2010, I partnered up with Ron Halvas and founded Illusion Industries.”
Tucker has set the bar for himself and his company very high with eight feature films coming out in 2013. He and his team at Illusion Industries designed and created the makeup effects for GI Joe: Retaliation, Smurfs 2, The Iceman, The East, Fort Bliss, Fright Night 2 and The Devil’s Pass. Illusion’s television shows include Sons of Anarchy, Wizards of Waverly Place, Big Brother and The Conan O’Brien Show.
Tucker continues to be passionate and is honored to play such a crucial role in creating the looks of these make-believe characters as they come to life.
For GI Joe: Retaliation, he oversaw some of the special characters required for the film, a sequel to Stephen Sommers’ Paramount project. “With the help of key artists Martin Astles and Joe Colwell, we designed and sculpted the looks for the characters in clay, which were then molded and fabricated into prosthetic appliances,” he said. “For the Zartan character, we created 90-year-old lace eyebrows, moustache and beard. There was a prosthetic piece from the nose up, one from the nose down and forehead and neck. We did it so that we could show the appliances for a Chinese makeup on actor Arnold Vosloo. It was a three piece silicone makeup with lace eyebrows, mustache and beard. The makeup was applied by myself and Bart Mixon and took about two-and-a-half hours to apply.”
With a three-month build in his shop and another two months of shooting at the end of summer going into fall 2012, GI Joe: Retaliation is one of Illusion Industries’ most diverse builds, ranging among old-age makeups, burn makeups, likeness makeups and realistic full-scale dummies of some of the lead actors that were needed for stunts. “Todd Kleitsch and his team did an amazing job with additional on set prosthetics, straight and beauty makeups,” Tucker said. Illusion’s NOLA crew included Tim Jarvis, Adam Walls, Pat Roig and Tommy Hebert.
For the movie The Iceman, Illusion Industries created a 65-year-old makeup on actor Michael Shannon and helped create the period look for Chris Evans. Shannon’s prosthetics were realized in silicone and applied by Tucker and Mixon.
Tucker produced and directed a family film titled Monster Mutt, which was a Wal-Mart exclusive before getting worldwide distribution. The film was distributed by Lionsgate in the U.K. and won best comedy at the International Family Film Festival. In January, it was released on Direct TV, iTunes and Vudu. Next, Tucker will be directing a supernatural action-horror film. “I come up with a storyline and wrote a 20-30-page outline, then I work with a screenwriter to create the finished script,” he said.
Looking to the future, Tucker has high goals for himself and his company and will not give up until they are achieved. “The goal is to continue creating iconic characters for films and television while also directing and producing more in-house projects,” he said. “What can I say? I love what I do.”