David Hudson has led an extraordinary life, but a three-month stint working as a human-bison hybrid alongside Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer in Far North Queensland stands as his strangest claim to fame.
"I had one eye, and I had to limp with one foot, and I had hoofs," he says with a schoolboy's grin.
The absurdity of that statement doesn't escape the Cairns artist, and his laugh cracks like a whip as he recounts the peculiar tale.
It was the mid-1990s and director Richard Stanley was on the hunt for cast and crew to populate the set of his latest project, an ambitious remake of H.G. Wells' 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau.
The novel tells the tale of a mad scientist who creates hybrid human-animal abominations through vivisection, and was described by Wells as "an exercise in youthful blasphemy".
Marlon Brando, of Apocalypse Now and The Godfather fame, was on board to play the demented doctor, and Val Kilmer would play his assistant.
'I want that bloke up there'
Stanley tracked Hudson down after seeing him perform with an Aboriginal dance troupe at the Shaw Theatre in London.
"He says … 'I saw you up on stage doing the emu and the kangaroo and the brolga, and I thought to myself, if I want anyone to do the choreography, I want that bloke up there,'" Hudson recalls.
When he discovered Brando was involved, Hudson decided he wanted more than just a choreography gig.
"I said, mate, I've gotta have a role in this."
Azazello the dog-man was already spoken for by way of New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison, and Ron Perlman was cast as goat-man hybrid The Sayer of the Law, but there was still one role to fill.
"He said, 'All right, you can become the Bison Man'," Hudson says.
"And the killer point was … he said it's going to be filmed in a place called Cairns ... my hometown."
Brando visits Kuranda
Hudson says his first on-set meeting with Brando was truly surreal.
He was in full human-bison prosthetics, and offered a forehoof for a congenial shake when the megastar strolled over to say hello.
"He goes, 'You know, the make-up on this is beautiful. I've got no goddamn idea what you look like underneath.'"
Hudson was at home with his wife when the phone rang some days later.
"I put the phone to my chest and I said to Cindy, I think this is Marlon Brando. And she said, 'Well … talk'."
Before he knew it, Brando had accepted an invitation to bring his wife and daughter to visit Hudson's family in Kuranda, about an hour's drive from Cairns.
"I told my mum, you know this bloke's lived in Tahiti so he eats the same tucker that we eat — like rice, curried chicken and fish and taro and sweet potato," Hudson says.
"So she cooked this huge meal."
Hudson, Brando and their families spent the day sitting on the grass and spinning yarns like old mates.
Brando took home a piece of Far North Queensland from the encounter — a didgeridoo that Hudson had fashioned himself for the actor from a hollow log.
Smell of latex in the morning
It has been decades since the erstwhile Bison Man watched The Island of Doctor Moreau, but he is preparing to dust it off at a special screening in Cairns later this month.
"I haven't seen the film in 20 years, so it'll be a blast from the past," he says.
His pre-screening talk will no doubt delve into the sensation of being slathered in grease, fitted with latex moulds and having "bison teeth" wedged into his mouth.
"It was stinking hot. It's like wearing a wetsuit. At the end of the day, you're like ... just get this stuff off me," Hudson says.
"It took a while to actually get rid of the latex smell on your body, because you're sweating with it.
"It was fun, who am I to complain?"
An extraordinary life
The Island of Doctor Moreau movie has achieved notoriety as one of film's biggest flops after tanking at the box office and being roundly denounced by critics.
Regardless, Hudson counts it as one of his greatest experiences – and there are plenty to choose from.
He has performed didgeridoo for three generations of the British royal family, and spent 12 years touring with Greek composer Yanni to 20,000-seat arenas, the Pyramids and even China's Forbidden City.
So how has he been able to attract these opportunities?
"That's easy, that's because I come from an old ancient culture ... " he says.
"Mine's a living culture and people overseas are very fascinated by my culture.
"I want all Australians to understand that we live in this country of ours … be proud of it and who we are."
