With increasing, almost predictable normality, the Oscar electorate has shown a preference for notable characters who go to great lengths to portray other notable characters in fiction or history. Explore the list of leading actors or actresses nominated only in the 21st century and you will find a The normal trend shows how spending hours in the makeup chair influences in favor of getting a nomination. It worked for Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”; when Rami Malek learned to sing with Freddie Mercury’s overbite in “Bohemian Rhapsody”; and when Nicole Kidman added a new nose to play Virginia Woolf in “The Hours. ” This year, intense transformations have been a key detail of the announced films. This is how some have suffered for their art and their possible Oscar recognition.
When converting one icon into another, it’s worth preparing for a thorough overhaul. The close-up of “Golda” focuses on an excessive close-up on Helen Mirren’s eyes and eyebrows as Golda Meir, Israel’s first female prime minister.
The film’s hair, makeup and prosthetics designer, Karen Hartley Thomas, nearly gasps as she describes how the camera lingers on her makeup work. “So close, so close!” he says. “We tried those eyebrows. It’s hard to do things correctly and not be a caricature. »
Mirren, 78, is virtually the same age as the 75-year-old Meir was during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the period covered by the film. Transforming the elegant British, non-Jewish actress into the matronly prime minister required prosthetics for the cheeks, chin, nose and neck, plus contact lenses and a wig. The designer fashioned a replica wig after learning from Meir’s family that the leader wound her long, braided hair into a bun.
Hartley Thomas used his makeup magic to create wrinkles, shadows, and an older person’s complexion that obscures the human underneath: “Actors are a little reluctant to wear a lot of makeup because it can look like a mask. “
Although daily makeup programs may be only two-and-a-half hours long, “we try to make it as simple as possible for Helen,” said Hartley Thomas. “It has to be as natural as possible. It sounds weird with a makeup program. “It looks as big as this one, but we actually opted for the bare minimum.
The trailer for director Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” opens with shots of Priscilla Presley applying eyeliner, false eyelashes and hairspray, a snapshot of her transformation from a child to her husband’s edit of a complicated woman.
However, in this version of Presley’s memoir, “Elvis and Me,” his hair almost looks like a silent character, which stylist and branch manager Cliona Furey used to tell her story.
An ambitious, 30-day off-sequence shoot required Furey to devise a plan to evolve actress Cailee Spaeny over the course of 14 years, a procedure she said required “striking the balance between a little bit of artistic license and capturing iconic moments properly and respecting ancient precision. “.
Furey, a specialist of the time, used his private collection of antique wigs, accessories, and hairpieces, as well as antique techniques such as curlers with rain play, taunts, and inserts to increase height in more than 20 actors. Five reconstructed wigs take Priscilla from a 14-year-old girl in a ponytail and bangs to a girlfriend and mom and fashion designer with incredibly tall hair.
“I put a similar color on it for this last wig and for the first wig to help the story,” Furey said. “The one I put our hair in there. “
Hair, makeup and prosthetics designer Nadia Stacey wanted to make sure “Poor Things” audiences could revel in an emotional adventure with Dr. Godwin Baxter, the protagonist of the film’s mad scientist. Baxter, himself a surgeon, operated experimentally through his father, so Stacey had to show what Dr. Frankenstein and the monster looked like.
Stacey guided her conception of Willem Dafoe as Baxter to show how he “blended together like a mosaic of a man,” she said. Half a dozen pieces of silicone, some pre-painted and all done daily, were applied to Dafoe’s ears, jaw and chin, forehead, thumbs, hairline and one eyebrow, showing at most sharp scars or deformities.
“Their scars have to be perfect” to illustrate that Godwin and his father were professional surgeons, Stacey said. They lowered one ear to indicate that he had gotten rid of it and then reapplied it, causing his right jaw to sink unevenly to go even higher. distortion.
“You have to feel for him. If the look is too grotesque, it goes beyond how you see the character on screen,” said Stacey, a 2022 Oscar nominee for “Cruella. “They implemented prostheses in parts to allow for more muscle movement.
Once the gaze is set, Stacey and her team can make sure Dafoe is comfortable with the three-hour application process. But there were surprises to come. ” We didn’t know until two weeks later that the first 50 minutes of the film would be “going to be shot in black and white,” he explained. The update required new shades of makeup to make the face look legible.
“I think with makeup it has to make an impact, but it’s not like you realize it all the time, even with someone with adjustments as big as Baxter’s face,” she said. “You almost need to get to a point where you just settle for it, this is what it looks like. “
In “Maestro,” star and director Bradley Cooper, 48, had to age nearly 50 years to play legendary conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It’s up to makeup artist Kazu Hiro to help the actor look younger, older, heavier, and younger-looking. more like Bernstein.
When your subject is also your boss, the task could be more difficult, but Cooper was “without a doubt, the best person I’ve ever worked with,” Hiro, a double Oscar winner (“Bombshell,” “Darkest Hour’) and two-time nominee, said via email.
“I designed five separate scenes to make up the evolution of Lenny’s appearance over the years. For all steps, I incorporated vacuum-formed portions to accentuate the helix and earlobe. And [he has] a silicone nose plug to widen the wings of his nose. In the following years, computer-sculpted frame pads were added.
Here, he breaks down those steps:
(1943-46): “Bradley had prosthetic nose, upper and lower lip, and chin. I used a silicone thread in the clip of the wig, which I applied to the hair on her temples, giving a sophisticated enhancement to the corners of the eyes.
(1955-57): “This stage retained the original prosthetics but without the face-lift. The wig was positioned slightly higher, and after its application, I added gray shading to the temples.
(1967-71): “At this level they brought prosthetics for the nose, and the lips, chin, cheeks, neck, and earlobes were diminished. Given the proximity of Lenny’s hairline to Bradley’s, I implemented a bald cap, leaving the nape of the neck exposed. Stylist Lori McCoy Bell blended the wig with Bradley’s herbaceous hair.
(1977-78): “Initially, I designed and sculpted an older look, but Bradley wanted Lenny to appear more youthful and “sexy” during this period, especially since Lenny was dating a younger man. I introduced a forehead piece to the existing Stage 3 look and added old-age stipple around the eyes, along with eyebrow hair pieces. This stage also had scenes featuring mustaches and beards.
(1989): “This entire level included prosthetics for the upper parts of the head, forehead, eyelids, nose, upper and lower lips/chin, cheeks, neck, nape of the neck, shoulders, earlobes, hands and arms. “
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