Ghostbusters is an iconic horror-comedy that has solidified itself in pop culture to this day. Not only the title song, but also symbols and specific ghosts are known beyond the fans. Among them is the Marshmallow Man.
Everyone has heard of the Ghostbusters. The mix of absurd humor and horror elements captivated audiences not just in 1984, but across generations. It wasn’t only the title song that stuck in the minds of many viewers. The ghosts also remained in memory.
Alongside Slimer, the Marshmallow Man is probably the most iconic monster in the series. However, to bring the giant to life in the film, filmmakers used movie tricks instead of CGI.
The Ghostbusters have also found their way into various games:
A miniature that could be destroyed
How was the Marshmallow Man created? In the film, the Marshmallow Man represents the major challenge in the finale. As a giant, he tramples around New York and appears almost invincible. Many original ideas for the film were discarded, but the Marshmallow Man was a must-have for the film, as CineFix explains on YouTube.
After the production company decided on various concepts for a design, they had to develop the scene. Originally, he was supposed to be much larger and rise out of the Hudson River. However, that would have been too expensive, which is why the Marshmallow Man was scaled down.
Since no CGI was used here, a miniature of the city had to be built. They opted for a 1/8 scale model, but a problem arose. Such scales were unusual, so there were no suitable miniatures for the cars. However, the model supervisor discovered police cars in a toy store chain that fit.
He called branches of the chain, procured the toy cars, and modified them for various purposes. The fine details in the Marshmallow Man were also not CGI.
You can see CineFix’s video here:
Foam and a burned head
What is the Marshmallow Man made of? To represent the monster well, several foam suits were created. For the head, there were 3 sculptures. The heads were made of fiberglass and a cable system to control the various facial expressions.
For the scenes where the Marshmallow Man is on fire, other arrangements had to be made again. For one, a suit was built for the climbing scene that could be worn by a stuntman while he was on fire.
On the other hand, another miniature had to be built to film the final demise of the monster. They only replicated the head and placed it next to a miniature of the roof where the Ghostbusters are fighting. Then they used 3 propane heaters and filmed for 20 minutes at one frame per second as the head melts.
Is such an effort worth it? Nowadays, many studios rely on CGI, but practical effects, miniatures, and built sets have the advantage of being timeless and looking good even decades later. Especially with CGI, one can notice that not everything is up to date anymore. Star Wars also used ingenious tricks: Star Wars: In the pod race, there are no real spectators – They tricked with an everyday object
