Foxy Isn't Like The Other Animals In The Five Nights At Freddy's Crew
When "Five Nights at Freddy's" creator Scott Cawthon first began advertising his new game, only three animatronics were displayed — Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, and Chica the Chicken. The reason behind the decision was to add to the scare factor of the game, catching players off guard when suddenly a pirate fox with a hook for a hand came sprinting down the halls of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. It was extremely effective, and given the character's different design from the main three, many fans find Foxy to be the scariest of the original animatronics. Foxy is somewhat of a lone wolf (err ... fox) compared to the rest, performing in a special themed area called "Pirate's Cove" rather than with the rest of the band on the main stage. Because of this, he also sports a distinct, dilapidated pirate look.
Compared to the other animatronics that have flat teeth, Foxy has sharp, canine teeth and a jaw that hinges lower than the rest. He also moves ridiculously fast, capable of running while the rest seem to hobble around. As he's in the worst shape of the core four, he also gives off an even more unsettling appearance than the already questionably cute creatures. It's hard to find him as adorable when he looks like he's rotting from the inside out. These differences have led some fans to theorize that Foxy was behind some of the more gruesome mysteries in the "Five Nights at Freddy's" lore.
According to a recent interview in SFX Magazine, Foxy was also a nightmare for the creative team bringing the animatronics to life, especially if the suit needed to be able to be worn by a human being.
'There's no way we'd ever get a person in there'
Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica are all suit-performed animatronics, not unlike the folks inside the mascot costumes that can blink or move their ears. Given Foxy's deteriorated frame, the animatronics team had to take a different approach. "Foxy was the most difficult, I guess, if we're going to talk about humans being in the costumes," lead designer Robert Bennett told SFX. "Foxy has holes in his chest; if it has holes all over it and damage scars, there's no way that we'd ever get a person in there. Even if we did it with greenscreen, it would be so expensive to fix it and put everything back in."
For this reason, Foxy became a full animatronic rather than a suit-performance. "His torso all the way up, his arms, torso, head, neck is all animatronic, and then his legs and feet were rod-puppeteered," said Bennett. "We got a big boom arm and attached him to the end of that. So when he's walking through set, or down the hallway, we would position the boom arm where you couldn't see it — they would have to paint out a little bit of it."
But Foxy isn't all machine. Bennett estimates that it took approximately seven people to puppeteer him, with a performer on the head and face and another on the arms. "He was, in my opinion, the most impressive on set because he is an actual animatronic," Bennett said. "So when we got him set up and it was all lit and everything, it was very impressive." Having seen Foxy in action, it's confirmed that Benett is right on the money. If you thought Foxy was scary haulin' it in the video games, you won't believe your eyes when he's terrorizing the halls in live action.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" heads to theaters and Peacock on October 27, 2023.