If you thought that in the age of neural networks, 3D, and digital filters no one used puppets anymore, David Fincher has a surprise for you. One of the most anticipated episodes of the fourth season of Love, Death & Robots was created using… 13,000 marionettes.
The episode, titled 'Can’t Stop', is dedicated to the iconic band Red Hot Chili Peppers and named after one of their famous hits. Fincher decided to recreate the concert scene and the dancing crowd using real puppets — to achieve a sense of organic, elastic madness. As the director himself explained, it all started as a joke:
"I always wanted to use marionettes in computer graphics. I tell the showrunner Tim, 'We need to make a crowd.' He goes, 'How many people in the crowd?' I say, '12, 13 thousand.' He nearly fell over."
But Fincher didn’t abandon the idea. As a result, the studio created thousands of miniature marionettes — not just of the musicians, but also of fans dancing, clapping, and jumping to the music. Their movements were recorded using motion capture, but the core was real physical models.
Practical effects were combined with digital animation to convey a sense of rock, chaos, and raw energy. The result is a striking hybrid: animated puppets inspired by early 2000s music videos, and a powerful visual style in true Fincher fashion.
The episode has been available since May 15 on Netflix as part of the fourth season of the anthology. Viewers are offered 10 new episodes — each different in style and content, yet all continuing the project’s main theme: the fusion of love, death, and robots in the most unexpected forms.
