‘David Bowie Was a Crazy Workaholic’: Labyrinth at 40 – an Oral History

As a lifelong Labyrinth fan, I devoured this oral history. Ann Lee’s snippets from cast and crew are full of backstage treasures—cast pranks, ingenious but temperamental puppets, and the mix of triumph and disappointment that followed the film’s release. You can feel the crackling energy of Jim Henson’s set, a place clearly full of magic. How I wish I could have been there to see David Bowie casually leaping onto his dressing table to play a flute.

Brian Henson, the voice of Hoggle (a cowardly dwarf who reluctantly helps Sarah), and puppeteer coordinator: My dad [Jim] wanted a huge rock’n’roll icon. He was pretty much only considering Sting, Michael Jackson and David [Bowie]. I was a big cheerleader for David. I had seen him in The Elephant Man on stage. Modern Love was my favourite song. Let’s Dance was my favourite album. So I was thrilled when my dad decided to offer it to him.

Labyrinth started filming in April 1985 at Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, with a $25m budget. The five-month shoot involved multiple animatronic creatures and puppets.

Karen Prell, a puppeteer for the Worm (a blue-haired worm with a cockney accent), Firey 2 and the Junk Lady: There were two versions of the Worm. There was a large hand-puppet used in closeups, but for the wide shots it was a little finger-sized worm. For the large worm, I had a joystick for the eye controls. The firey gang [hedonistic, orange-furred beasts] were very big bunraku puppets, where different puppeteers would hold different body parts.