Editing Labyrinth (1986 film) (section)

===Filming===
The team that worked on ''Labyrinth'' was largely assembled from talent who had been involved in various other projects with [[the Jim Henson Company]]. Veteran performers [[Dave Goelz]] and [[Steve Whitmire]] operated various puppets in the film, along with [[Karen Prell]], Ron Mueck, Rob Mills, and [[Kathryn Mullen]] (as various goblins), who had all worked with Henson on ''Fraggle Rock''. [[Kevin Clash]], a puppeteer from ''[[Sesame Street]]'' best known for performing the character [[Elmo]], also worked on the film as various creatures, as did [[Frank Oz]], who performed briefly as the Wiseman (while also directing ''[[Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film)|Little Shop of Horrors]]'' around that time). Members of Henson's family also worked on the production, including son Brian (the voice and chief puppeteer for Hoggle) and daughter Cheryl (who assisted on one of the Fireys and is also credited for building the characters). Newcomers working on the production included puppeteers [[Anthony Asbury]], [[Angie Passmore]], [[Nigel Plaskitt]], and [[Mak Wilson]] (the latter three of whom are credited for performing goblins) who had previously worked on the satirical puppet show ''[[Spitting Image]]'', while a few others, including [[David Barclay (puppeteer)|David Barclay]], David Greenaway, [[Toby Philpott]], and [[Mike Quinn (puppeteer)|Mike Quinn]], were carried over from ''The Dark Crystal''. Other goblin puppeteers included [[David Rudman]] (also known for his work on ''Sesame Street''), [[Robin Stevens (puppeteer)|Robin Stevens]], [[Don Austen]], Robert Tygner, and, briefly, Jim Henson himself. [[Louise Gold]], a veteran Muppet performer who had gotten her start on ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', cameos in the film as a masked ballroom dancer during the "As the World Falls Down" sequence, while [[Kenny Baker (English actor)|Kenny Baker]] and [[Warwick Davis]], best-known as the performers of ''[[Star Wars|Star Wars']]'' [[R2-D2]] and [[Wicket W. Warrick]] respectively, were credited as some of the "Goblin Corps". "Ambrosius", Sir Didymus' canine steed, was voiced by [[Percy Edwards]], who had previously supplied the voice of "Fizzgig" in ''The Dark Crystal''.

[[File:Lucas - Henson - 1986.jpg|thumb|right|Director [[Jim Henson]] and executive producer [[George Lucas]] on set during filming.<ref>{{harvp|Block|Erdmann|2016|page=171}}</ref>]]

[[Principal photography]] began on April 15, 1985, at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]].<ref name="Shaft">{{cite web |url=https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2014/05/551985/ |title=5/5/1985 – 'To Amsterdam – (Filming Labyrinth) – Forest – Wild Things, Shaft of Hands.' |last=Henson |first=Jim |date=May 5, 1985 |work=Jim Henson's Red Book |access-date=January 13, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816015001/http://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2014/05/551985/ |archive-date=August 16, 2014}}</ref> ''Labyrinth'' took five months to film and was a complicated shoot due to the various puppets and animatronic creatures involved. In the making-of documentary ''Inside the Labyrinth'', Henson stated that Jim Henson's Creature Shop had been building the puppets and characters required for around a year and a half, prior to shooting, but "everything came together in the last couple weeks". Henson noted that, "even if you have the characters together, the puppeteers start working with them, they find problems or they try to figure out what they're going to do with these characters".<ref name="Inside"/>

Each of the film's key puppets required a small team of puppeteers to operate it, but Hoggle was the most complex puppet of the production. Shari Weiser was inside the costume, while Hoggle's face was radio-controlled by Brian Henson (who also provided the character's voice and performed a few goblins) and three additional puppeteers. Brian Henson stated that Weiser "does all the body movement and her head is inside the head. However, the jaw is not connected to her jaw. Nothing that the face is doing has any connection with what she's doing with her face. The other four members of the crew are all radio crew, myself included," in the ''Inside the Labyrinth'' documentary. Brian Henson also said of the challenges involved with performing Hoggle that, "five performers trying to get one character out of one puppet was a very tough thing. Basically, what it takes is a lot of rehearsing and getting to know each other."<ref name="Inside"/> The film's big, ogre-like monster Ludo, whose original build weighed over {{convert|100|lb|kg}}, was similarly challenging. It would have been too exhausting for performer Ron Mueck to inhabit the {{convert|75|lb}} suit for all of his scenes, so Henson decided to have Mueck and Rob Mills exchange performances inside Ludo, as they were the same size and had a similar body shape.

At the early stages of filming, stars Connelly and Bowie found it difficult to interact naturally with the puppets they shared most of their scenes with. Bowie said that, "I had some initial problems working with Hoggle and the rest, because, for one thing, what they say doesn't come from their mouths, but from the side of the set or from behind you."<ref name="Bowie"/> Connelly remarked that, "it was a bit strange [working almost exclusively with puppets in the film], but I think both Dave [Bowie] and I got over that and just took it as a challenge to work with these puppets, and, by the end of the film, it wasn't a challenge anymore. They were there, and they were their characters."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Dickholtz|first=Daniel|title=Jennifer Connelly – I Love to Do Daring Things!|magazine=Teen Idols Mania!|year=1986|url=http://www.rattlebeak.com/go/writing/moviepeople/archivedicon/jennifer_article2.html|access-date=January 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806080511/http://www.rattlebeak.com/go/writing/moviepeople/archivedicon/jennifer_article2.html|archive-date=August 6, 2012}}</ref>

The film required large and ambitious sets constructed, from the Shaft of Hands to the rambling, distorted Goblin City where the film's climactic battle takes place.<ref name="Inside"/> The Shaft of Hands sequence was filmed on a rig that was {{convert|30|feet|m}} high, with a camera mounted on a forty-foot vertical camera track. Many grey, scaly hands integral to the scene were actually 150 live hands supplied by 75 performers and 200 foam-rubber hands.<ref name="Shaft"/> Connelly was strapped into a harness when shooting the scene and spent time between takes suspended midway up the shaft.<ref name="Inside"/>

The set of the Goblin City was built on Stage 6 at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]] near London and required the largest panoramic [[Flat (theatre)|back cloth]] ever made. Production designer [[Elliot Scott]] states that the biggest challenge he faced was building the forest Sarah and her party pass through on their way to Jareth's Castle. The film's production notes state that, "the entire forest required 120 truckloads of tree branches, 1,200 turfs of grass, {{convert|850|lb}} of dried leaves, 133 bags of [[lichen]], and 35 bundles of mossy [[Usnea|old man's beard]]".<ref name="Production"/>

Most filming was conducted at Elstree Studios, while a small amount of location shooting was carried out in England and the US. The park seen at the start of the film is part of the [[West Wycombe Park]] estate in [[Buckinghamshire]], England. The scenes of Sarah running back home were filmed in various towns in New York State, namely [[Upper Nyack, New York|Upper Nyack]], [[Piermont, New York|Piermont]], and [[Haverstraw, New York|Haverstraw]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Jon|title=Lights, Camera, Action in Nyack, Piermont and Rockland|url=http://www.nyacknewsandviews.com/2011/08/jm_rocklandfilmlocations/|publisher=Nyack News and Views|access-date=January 28, 2012|date=August 2, 2011|archive-date=June 24, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624021801/http://www.nyacknewsandviews.com/2011/08/jm_rocklandfilmlocations/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Shooting wrapped on September 8, 1985.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2010/12/01/1211985/ |title=12/1/1985 – 'Back to UK – re-shoot Hoggle' |last=Henson |first=Jim |date=December 1, 1985 |work=Jim Henson's Red Book |access-date=January 13, 2012 |orig-year=stored December 1, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819154111/http://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2010/12/01/1211985/ |archive-date=August 19, 2012}}</ref>