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Why the filmmakers chose practical animatronics
Director Emma Tammi said the production committed early to practical animatronics. She wanted the characters physically present in the restaurant setting and able to respond to actors in real time. In her view, that shared physical space brought a dimension that a CGI-only approach would not have delivered. She and game creator Scott Cawthon could also assess how the characters looked and behaved during filming, rather than judging every movement after it had been created digitally.
Tammi recalled, “I had never worked, as a director, with puppets before, and certainly not with animatronics,” in a 2023 interview with Film Stories. The choice shaped both the look of the characters and the practical work of staging scenes around large, operated figures.
From small maquettes to full-size builds
Creature Shop lead supervisor Robert Bennett said the design process began with highly detailed, small-scale maquettes. These models let Tammi judge a character’s appearance and mobility before the team committed to full-size fabrication.
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The full builds also had to accommodate the demands of shooting. The team made duplicate versions and modular kits with extra limbs and universal fittings, allowing parts to be exchanged or a figure to be prepared for a different shot without rebuilding it from scratch. That flexibility helped when a character needed repair, a stunt setup, or a different configuration for the next camera angle.
How each character was operated
The characters did not all use the same performance method. Freddy, Bonnie and Chica had stunt versions worn by performers, with animatronic heads controlled remotely by puppeteers. Foxy and Cupcake were fully animatronic; Foxy’s operation required a larger team because his limbs, torso and head had to be coordinated.
| Character or group | On-set method | What the crew controlled |
|---|---|---|
| Freddy, Bonnie and Chica | Stunt versions with performers inside suits | Remote puppeteers operated the animatronic heads; Tammi also described remote control of expressive features such as eyes, eyebrows and ears. |
| Foxy | Fully animatronic, with no performer inside | Bennett said six people operated the legs, arms, torso and head when Foxy was on his feet. |
| Cupcake | Fully animatronic | The source interviews identify it as a fully animatronic character but do not specify an operator count. |
Bennett described Foxy’s operation in a Novastream Network interview: “Then Foxy was a full animatronic and it took six people to puppeteer him for the legs and the arms and the torso and the head!” That six-person figure refers specifically to operating Foxy on his feet, not to the entire effects crew or every character.
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A coordinated performance, not a lone puppeteer
Operating the characters meant coordinating performers, puppeteers, actors and the camera team. Tammi described directing scenes while multiple puppeteers worked on the animatronics at the same time. “For all of the characters, there were multiple puppeteers operating at all times on them,” she told SYFY Wire.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe suit versions added another practical constraint: a person inside a large character needed to be kept safe, and the time they could remain inside was limited. Bennett discussed those considerations alongside moving the figures around set. The production’s duplicate builds and exchangeable parts helped the crew manage the demands of individual shots while keeping filming moving.
Keeping the game characters recognizable on camera
Bennett said Cawthon supplied the character designs and stayed in contact with the Creature Shop from design through filming. The team knew the characters’ silhouettes and proportions, but translating their digital appearance into convincing physical materials was a separate challenge. Game textures had to read as aged, tangible surfaces under film lighting, rather than as a flat copy of a render.
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Tammi said the first game served as the main adaptation blueprint, rather than trying to fit the franchise’s full lore into one movie. The effects team therefore had to preserve the recognizable designs while finding practical ways for the characters to move, fit the camera’s framing and interact with actors. The result depended on balancing fidelity with the realities of texture, motion and performer safety.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the puppets changed during filming
The practical work continued after the designs were approved. Tammi said Bennett and the Creature Shop team kept making adjustments to the puppets through the final day of production. That ongoing collaboration mattered because a movement or detail that worked in a model or workshop could need refinement once the character was being operated alongside actors and photographed on set.
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For more on the build and operation, read the interviews with Tammi and Bennett at SYFY Wire, Film Stories, Novastream Network and Rue Morgue.
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