1 By now, you may have seen promo photos of me and Brendan Fraser for my upcoming Halloween special this Sunday on the Hallmark Channel.
2 To create the fabulously eerie Halloween setting in my equipment barn, a team of talented set decorators got to work first, by building a 'false' wall.
3 The 'false' wall, complete with window was constructed and painted to exactly match the wainscotted walls of the equipment barn.
4 Preliminary plans
5 The designers found amazing props like these old beetle prints.
6 Many, many boxes of props were brought to the set.
7 Testing out one type of fog maker
8 Amazing shells adorned the walls.
9 Set Decorator Aaron Caramanis pointing for proper placement
10 Move to the right! It's still crooked!
11 Props ready for integration
12 Scaffolding behind the 'false' wall for behind-the-scenes action
13 After my day in New York City, I was happy to check in on the progress.
14 Laura Acuna, my housekeeper was aghast!
15 A large mummy mirror
16 Curio nooks filled with unusual items
17 Even taxidermy and cremation ashes!
18 Wriggling snakes
19 Spiders and more bones
20 Skulls and owls
21 Eyeballs galore
22 Shredded curtains helped to provide an eerie light.
23 Strange masks beneath glass domes
24 And of course, a rat!
25 Great succulents were borrowed from my greenhouse.
26 How did such a little cardinal lay such an enormous egg?
27 Smoke was pouring from the boggy sink.
28 Another horrible vignette
29 Even rotting apples
30 Brendan and I would love to pick your brain.
31 Just what are those brains made of?
32 Why, it's cooked shrimp for shrimp cocktail!
33 Mary Ann VanDerventer - Coordinating Field Producer - standing by
34 Director, Gary Nardilla, was stunned by my yellow eyes!
35 Brendan was a really fun Halloween guest.
36 With the August heat we were battling flies.
37 Interesting vials
38 More bottles and jars
39 Fright Night Tonic
40 Toasting another great Halloween special
41 Brendan wearing one of the masks
42 Now I am wrapping Brendan with the mummy bandages. What Brendan doesn't know is that he is actually on a spit over a fire!
43 Oh no! The spit slipped and Brendan landed on the fire!
44 Paul, Gym, David, Daniel, and Aaron were all needed to rectify the situation. Poor Brendan!
45 We succeeded in transforming Brendan into a complete mummy.
46 Doesn't he look great?
47 To fly the bats, we had professional puppeteers on set.
48 This puppeteer is Matt Leabo.
49 Puppeteers Barbara Busackino, Basil Twist, and Matt Leabo
50 Lan Cheung - Set Stylist, Hosanna Houser - Set Decorator, Aaron Caramanis - Art Director, me, James De Meo - Crafter, and Paul Moreno - Decorator
51 Christina Deyo - Supervising Producer, me, and Lisa Rechsteiner - Executive Producer
52 Franny was slightly confused.
53 But she was happy to pose for this shot.