Director Kali Bailey had one rule from the start: no full CGI for the robot. She wanted the actors to engage with a real character on set. So she reached out to Backhaul Studios, giving DeWitt a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—building a robot that would play a starring role in a Hollywood movie.
Bringing a robot character to life
To meet the needs of the movie’s storyline, Newt couldn’t just look good. The robot had to act, move, and feel like a living character. That meant the build started with a lot of creative brainstorming. The team worked through concept sketches to imagine what Newt would look like in the film. From there, DeWitt began creating digital 3D CAD models to finalize the design.
After several rounds of revisions, they settled on a look—Newt would have a unique projector-style head. With the digital design locked in, it was time to bring the robot into the real world.