KNB EFX built a giant mechanical elephant to smash cars in Africa

When a script demands an animal to crash through a vehicle or attack actors, real creatures present severe safety and ethical limits. For the television production 1923, the filmmakers needed a full-sized African elephant capable of violent stunts. They turned to KNB EFX Group and shop supervisor Carey Jones. The studio engineered a massive, hyper-realistic animatronic beast capable of taking a beating on set.

Digital Modeling Meets Old-School Sculpting

Creating a double for a real, living animal requires absolute precision. The production team measured a specific elephant on location in South Africa, recording everything from trunk length to limb circumference. A 3D artist modeled the beast from this data. The digital design was then milled out of high-density 4B foam. Once the massive pieces arrived at the shop, artisans hand-carved subtle details and deep wrinkles directly into the foam.

Making Fake Skin Look Alive

To achieve organic realism, Carey Jones and his crew molded the entire body as a single giant piece to avoid visible seams, leaving only the ears and trunk separate. However, the true illusion lay in the fine details. The team realized the elephant looked artificial until they applied fine hair across the entire body. Hand-painted glass eyes, complete with a meticulously sized iris, and delicate eyelashes finalized the transformation from puppet to living character.

Steel Bones for a Heavy-Impact Stunt

This prop was built for violence. Inside the half-inch thick fiberglass skin sits a heavy-duty steel ribbing system. This structural skeleton prevented the body from cracking when it slammed into a truck. The tusks, constructed from heavy epoxy resin instead of lightweight fiberglass, withstood the impact. Cable-driven mechanisms allowed puppeteers to sweep the ears and curl the trunk while the entire unit rocked on a custom gimbal system.