The Monster Effects Artists Behind Heidi Klum’s Halloween Costume

: Casey Love sitting in his studio with two halves of Heidi Klum’s worm costume, black and white photography. Image by Cassie Fuertez

Heidi Klum is the queen of Halloween. Her brilliantly bizarre costumes have become the stuff of legends, and the unveiling of her yearly monster masterpiece is something of a pop culture tradition.

The actress, model, and TV host works with the very best in the SFX industry and subjects herself to hours of fittings, body castings, prosthetics, and makeup to bring her Halloween dreams to fruition. From apes and aliens to werewolves and robots, she has slayed every red carpet and seasonal soiree for over a decade — and 2022 was no exception.

This year, in a surprise reveal, Heidi slithered onto the red carpet for her annual Halloween bash as … a gigantic worm!

“Squeams & Screams”

Heidi’s longtime friend and collaborator Mike Marino and his team at Prosthetic Renaissance Inc. had the daunting challenge of turning the superstar into a queen-sized invertebrate in time for the festivities. Mike assembled a dream-team of industry legends, designers, technicians, sculptors, painters, model makers, and more — all of whom worked tirelessly for months to make Heidi’s “squeams and screams” vision a reality.

Mike’s artistic army included (among others) William “Bill” Bryan, Jerry Constantine, Noah Rivers, Brie Ford, Alison Kellerman, Kevin Carter, Mike Fontaine, Trent Taft, Paul Komoda, and Sideshow’s own Casey Love.

As well as being a part of Sideshow’s creative team and paint department, Casey is also a special effects industry veteran and world-renowned mask maker. Over the course of his career, Casey has worked for industry giants such as studioADI, Tatopoulos Studios, Steve Wang, The Character Shop, KNB EFX Group, Rick Baker’s Cinovation Studios, and Guillermo del Toro.

When he’s not painting collectibles for Sideshow, Casey works on select private commissions, including this exciting and challenging painting project for Mike and his team.

Behind the Scenes Photos

Sideshow Photographer Cassie Fuertez captured the behind-the-scenes action from Casey’s busy studio, giving us an in-depth glimpse into the creative process that helped to bring this “monsterpiece” to life: