Community actor Danny Pudi – who was revealed to have an alien STAR TREK BEYOND cameo back in April – posted his own account of his Trek transformation, as he became the alien scavenger Fi’Ja in the new film.
For a few days last June, I fulfilled a lifelong dream and became an alien in STAR TREK. A fresh space look was put together by a brilliant costume department.
A mold was made out of my face & neck. And then I was painted, glued and assembled by the magical hands of Joel Harlow and Camille Benton.
My makeover took about 3-4 hours and I was amazed. Clearly they created a better version of me. And clearly Earth was no longer my home. Once the look was established, we moved on to learning fight choreography.
Mostly, we gathered in a warehouse in Vancouver and I tried not getting hurt. Practice fighting is a blast!
Next up was the language session with superhumans Sofia Boutella and Kim Kold. Each of us grew up speaking a different language at home, and now we were all in a room learning the rules to a new alien tongue.
It was one of the most fun rehearsals I’ve ever had.
Watching all the pieces come together was incredible and so was the amount of sweat under my fake face. As I lied there on the ground getting kicked by Sofia (spoiler), completely unrecognizable as a space reptile, I couldn’t be happier.
My brother and I spent many nights as kids watching STAR TREK and THE NEXT GENERATION, and now I was living in that world.
You can read more of Pudi’s account on the STAR TREK BEYOND set – and see more photos from his transformation to Fi’Ja at YOMYOMF.