Team America: World Police

Context & Trivia

The film was conceived by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who were inspired by the British series *Thunderbirds* to create a parody using string marionettes. The production of *Team America: World Police* was a considerable challenge, involving a crew of about 200 people, and sometimes requiring up to four puppeteers to manipulate a single marionette. The 270 puppet characters, which were 22 inches tall (approximately 56 cm) and represented one-third the size of a six-foot human, were created by the Chiodo Brothers. The puppet creation process involved sculpting prototypes, molding them in plaster, and then injecting foam to create a thin, flexible skin. The puppets' heads were animatronic, equipped with servos and linkages to control facial movements, eye blinks, eye direction, and jaw movements, synchronizing dialogue with jaw movement using software developed by Gilderfluke and modified by the Chiodo Brothers. The attention to detail was extreme, with elements like a tiny Uzi costing $1,000 to construct and Kim Jong-il's eyeglasses made with hand-ground prescription lenses. Parker and Stone described the production as "the hardest thing they'd ever done," as even a simple shot like a character drinking could take half a day to complete successfully. The limited nature of the puppets forced constant rewrites of the script during production. The film is also notable for its explicit content, including a puppet sex scene that resulted in multiple NC-17 ratings from the Motion Picture Association of America before its release.