Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents.
Joanne Rowling’s Harry Potter series began as a single novel, published in 1997. Its astounding, unexpected success spawned a total of 6 sequels, each with its own theatrical adaptation (with the last chapter, The Deathly Hallows, receiving a two-parter treatment). Despite the overwhelming quantity of Monsters scattered throughout the novels (and films), only one of the stories took the basic narrative curve of an actual Monster Novel or Movie*: The Chamber of Secrets, published as a novel in 1998 and adapted into a film in 2002. In the second chapter of the series, in fact, the plot is centered around petrified bodies and the announcement of the coming of Slytherin’s heir — who unleashes a Horror from a secret Chamber. A Creature whose stare is deadly: the Basilisk.
Like the sheer majority of the Monsters featured in the series, the Basilisk is based on the homonim legendary animal. Spread across European History (with references even from Leonardo da Vinci in his bestiary), the name ‘Basilisk’ can be dated back to the Bible. Latin author Pliny the Elder was, however, one of the first sources to write a very detailed description of this being in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia, published in 77-79 AD. Here, the Basilisk is described as a small Serpent of about 70 centimeters. The reptile produces such massive quantities of venom that it leaves a trail of the substance wherever it slithers. In addition, the stare of the Basilisk is lethal, much like that of another legendary animal — labeled as the Catoplebas. Pliny’s description is as follows:
“There is the same power [the deadly stare] also in the serpent called the Basilisk. It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful Monster the crow of a rooster is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the Basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the Basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.”
Tradition progressively associated the Basilisk with roosters and mythical animals linked with them, among which the Cockatrice. The traditions regarding these Monsters ‘melded’: as such, the deadly snake from time to time acquired the head, legs (sometimes more than two) and wings of a rooster; in addition, for a Basilisk to be born, its egg — a common snake egg — was to be hatched by a rooster. Other characteristics, including a varying size and the ability to breath fire (derived, most probably, from Dragons), were added in later times.
Original concept art.
Joanne Rowling in the novel combined various traditions; she did not portray the Basilisk very detailedly, and did not go farther than describing it as a considerably large Serpent of unidentified length or size, with “yellow eyes” (a key feature) and “fangs as long as his [Harry's] sword.” The same went for the script for the film adaptation, allowing considerable creative liberties on the actual design of the Monster. Curiously enough, Rowling’s Basilisk did not seem to be able to locate Harry by tracing his heat signatures, or by actually smelling his presence — traits common to most Ophids. Instead, it relied mainly on sight, and sound (as demonstrated when Harry throws a rock away from him and the Basilisk follows that sound) when blinded.
Paul Catling, the main designer for most supernatural characters and Monsters in the Harry Potter film series, conceived the appearence of the Basilisk featured in the film adaptation of The Chamber of Secrets. The beastly design features a general Snake-like configuration, with other reptilian characteristics — such as ostheoderms and thorns scattered across its scaly body, and many design aspects reminescent of Dragons (the head most evidently).
John Coppinger and Graham High add some touches to the full-size sculpture.
Nick Dudman and his special effects team collaborated on all of the Harry Potter films, and took on the duty to bring to the screen a practical Basilisk. Gary Pollard led the creation of the full-size sculpture — which would be the base for the moulds for the skin. The interior of the Monster’s mouth was sculpted and moulded separately from the rest of the body. Astrig Akseralian was the lead painter for the Basilisk and oversaw the whole process. The skin was moulded in foam latex, and actually featured many layers and a polyfoam backing against a net. Two life-size models were built: one was a featureless prop, used when the dead Basilisk lies dead on the floor of the chamber; it was painted by Elaine Cartwright Best and other painters. The other model was a fully animatronic hero Creature; its eyes are already gouged out, as the shots featuring the Basilisk with its peculiar yellow eyes were all planned prior to be computer generated sequences. The mechanized Basilisk’s skin was painted by Astrig Akseralian and other painters. The entire building process took place in an old Airplane factory in Leavesden Studios, Hertfordshire. The finished animatronic Basilisk featured a jaw-opening mechanism, moving eyelids, nostrils and tongue. As a peculiar piece of trivia, the controllers of the Basilisk were actually capped with pool balls.
The completed animatronic Basilisk.
In addition to the Basilisk models themselves, the special effects team also created the life-size shed skin — found in one of the scenes immediately prior the onscreen appearence of the Basilisk. The shed skin was made of urethane rubber with fibreglass inserts to achieve an organic appearence, and was painted by Elaine Best.
“When we did the Basilisk for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we made the head and 20 bits of the body so it was enough for the close-up interaction,” Dudman said, “but there’s no way you can make a 70ft sliding snake.” A great majority of the shots featuring the Basilisk in the final film was, in fact, obtained with key frame computer generated imagery — created by the artists of Framestore in London. The textures of the 3D model were painted by Jason Horley. Apparently in-keeping with Pliny’s description (although no sources cite direct inspiration), the Basilisk frequently moved with its head erect above the ground.
For more images of the Basilisk, visit the Monster Gallery.
*Which explains why this article is not in the Guest Stars category, as you might have wondered.
