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How the deadly duck from ����ý Three's new horror comedy-drama Wreck was made

As horror fans know, masked killers are some of the genre’s scariest foes – but ����ý Three’s Wreck takes it to the next level. Jason Voorhees in his hockey mask and Michael Myers in his white Captain Kirk mask have spread fear for decades. But none of them match up to the feathered fear that Quacky strikes among the cast of Wreck

The show (streaming now on ����ý iPlayer) begins with Pippa (Jodie Tyack) meeting Quacky, the mascot of the shady company at the heart of the series, Velorum on board the cruise ship Sacramentum. The mascot, however, turns out not to be a friendly duck but a murderer in a mallard mask. The person in the suit might have to contend with walking in giant webbed feet, but he does a good job of chasing down Pippa with a knife until she has no choice but to jump off the boat.

Though Quacky is far from the only bad guy on board the Sacramentum, his appearance in the show starts things with a bang. It also introduces the first of the ����ý Three series’ many classic horror references. The 1997 horror classic Scream, after all, also begins with a character we assume is our lead losing their life at the hands of a masked killer.

For Wreck writer Ryan J. Brown, however, Quacky was much more than a reference to the history of masked killer movies. In fact, he was foundational to the idea of the show. ​​Asked when he thought of the idea to open with the duck-suited killer, Ryan said it was “at the very beginning” of his idea for the show: “One of the first images for me was Quacky, chasing Pippa at the very opening of the show.” 

The idea of having this cute mascot as a knife-wielding maniac was more than just a striking way to start the show for Ryan. In fact, for him the character has a deeper meaning. The Wreck writer said: “Quacky embodies Velorum. He is this big, squeaky clean, shiny, friendly face of a corporation that are actually very corrupt.”

That made designing the duck more difficult. After all, he has to be believable as the sort of cute mascot a cruise ship’s company would have, but also sinister enough that he is scary when he needs to be. As Ryan put it: “it was a fine line, because you had to make sure he was believable as a mascot and wasn't going to make people run away. There's a balance of you don't want to meet him on a dark night on your own, but also if you're at a kid's party, he makes complete sense.

How to find that balance? Through trial and error. “There were so many iterations of Quacky, all of them terrifying.” Among the versions of Quacky they used before settling on the one we see on screen was a latex version, but it was a hard plastic and fur version that they ended up using.

Though we only see people take off the head on the show, in reality the suit is made up of multiple parts. Padded underwear allows the costume to keep the same shape whoever wears it. The torso is one part, with the wings, head, legs and webbed feet all separate. The pieces all clip together with hidden poppers to make the Quacky costume as we see it on screen.

Ryan loved the result: “He's perfect,” the writer said. “He's got that dead eyed stare.”

It was Wreck director Chris Baugh's job to make sure that the Quacky costume looked suitably menacing on screen. "The biggest challenge with the Quacky suit was really just the angles that you shoot it at," he said. "The way you see his face and how much shadow it is in. Because you can very much oscillate between looking very creepy, and not looking great depending on what the angle is."

The Quacky costume also offered some issues for the performers who wore it. As Chris put it: "It is definitely hot in there, but as the set was so cold, hopefully that balanced it out a little bit. 

"And then the performer inside couldn't really see. So there was a lot of me setting up the camera and holding the head and shifting it a little bit this way, a little bit that to make it as creepy as possible."

Actor Harriet Webb, who plays Karen, was among the Wreck cast members who could not resist trying the duck suit on. She said of the experience: “It was incredible to be able to put it on…there’s this whole under-thing to put on. It’s amazing structurally.”

As for Warren James Dunning, who plays the ship’s second-in-command Beaker, he had some concerns about Quacky when he read Ryan’s script. “When I thought about it, I was like, ‘is it going to be just a mask? Is it going to be a bit slapdash?’ But when I saw it I thought it was perfect and they’ve hit the nail on the head.”

Wreck airs Sundays and Mondays on ����ý Three and all six episodes are available now on the ����ý iPlayer.

Originally published 12 October 2022.