A CLYDEBANK man who began making action figures as a hobby has just finished working on a huge project featuring famous actor Eugene Levy.

David McGurk was approached by Nissan USA in December and was asked to make 50 figures for the car manufacture.

The 44-year-old had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before being told more details and was forbidden to reveal any information until a release date.

David said: “I was told they were releasing this new motor, the 2023 Nissan Z. The commercial for the car was going to take the first spot during the halftime show at the Superbowl, starring Eugene Levy.

“In the advert, he looks like a completely different guy. He plays some sort of tough guy.

“I was asked to jump on a video call and there were around nine people. I thought they wanted a couple of figures of Eugene for the promotion of the car, but they said ‘some of the first people that buy the car will get these figures. We need 50 of them’.

“I’ve done that many before, but it took me ages. They wanted them by three weeks. They told me they had two deadlines, one of them was the first showing of the commercial on Superbowl day.

"So, I had to design the figure from start to finish but I had to cross in with their art company as well and that was insane.

“It was really strange, but I agreed to it anyway. We’re now at the point where Eugene’s got one and he loves it. The project had to go through legal, so it’s an official release.”

Clydebank Post:

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David had always dreamed of being able to produce figures since he was a young boy. He first decided to give it a shot in 2019 and has since reduced his hours at his work in a bank due to being so busy with requests.

He said: “I get people contacting me a lot. It’s getting busy now whereas it was more of a hobby before. I can’t do it full-time yet but that’s what I really want to do.

“The Eugene figures went through the proper channels; the proper artwork has been passed. So, it’s a big thing for someone from Clydebank. It’s a huge thing to have happened, which is cool, but they now want more.

“People get the figure in a box when they buy the car. Eugene shared a picture of his on Twitter. It’s pretty crazy.

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“I’ve never really been in a situation where someone’s like ‘this is what we need’, and it’s something I can and want to do.

“The first one that I made of Eugene I couldn’t get it; I just couldn’t get it. I must have just been really nervous.

“Nissan didn’t even give me a picture at first, but they then gave me a concept drawing. I mirrored the figure around this drawing.

“Turns out, when I sent it back to them, they were like ‘mmm no, we don’t want him smiling’. So, I had to go back to the drawing board, and I managed to get something that worked.”

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David only had three weeks to produce the dozens of figures and worked from morning to night to make his deadline.

Despite the hard work, the dad-of-one said it was all worth it.

David has previously worked on figures for Leigh Francis, who portrays the fictional character Keith Lemon, Andy Goldstein MBE of talkSPORT, and is in the process of creating a figure for a well-known singer.

In 2020, he hit the big screen in Hollywood when he had his work featured on TV after his creations were spotted by American producer Adam F Goldberg.

READ MORE: Meet the artist whose handmade figures have appeared in US shows The Goldbergs and Schooled

One of David’s figures from the 1990 movie Ghost appeared on an episode of Schooled as a prop.

To view his work, visit lightning_boltz_action_figures on Instagram.