In anticipation of discovering all the winners of the 2022 statuettes, Collater.al asked makeup coach Nina Viola Maggiorani to analyse all five films nominated in this edition, starting with a single character. From Jared Leto to Emma Stone, from Dune to Cruella, Nina Viola pointed out some interesting facts about the makeup nominees and why they are the best seen in Hollywood over the past year.
HOUSE OF GUCCI – JARED LETO
It is Göran Lundström, assisted by a very Italian Federica Castelli, who does the make-up for Jared Leto, who is used to playing the part by exploiting body modifications or wearing prostheses (see: Suicide Squad, Mr. Nobody and Dallas Buyers Club). It was impossible to recreate a completely identical copy of Paolo Gucci, and in such cases one can get caught up in the idea of creating an artistic artefact, which therefore only looks beautiful, when verisimilitude is better achieved through flaws.
In this make-up there are eight pieces of silicone to modify the nose, neck and jaw/cheek area in total and they are thick because Leto’s physiognomy is more geometric and to round it off towards Paolo Gucci they had to create massive prostheses.
The cap is made in three pieces, not the standard procedure but the only possible method since they could not initially rely on the actor’s presence for the test and also given the amount of Leto’s hair which made the head enormous. Anna Carin chose the option that is also used for the cap on actresses with very long hair: tucking it into the clothes, covering the part that comes out with the wig and a piece of silicone simulating the back of the neck directly attached to the cap.
Obviously in this film no other actor wears prosthetic make-up, so there was a real possibility that Leto might look strange, or ridiculous. The choice was a bold one, and although Paolo Gucci is not a familiar face, the almost parodic result annoyed me slightly.
DUNE – STELLAN SKARSGÅRD
The head of the makeup department, Donald Mowat, is my winner. Having previously worked with Villeneuve on more noirish projects such as Nocturnal Animals, Blade Runner 2049, 007: Skyfall and Millenium, I had no doubt that he would be able to pay homage to the complex atmosphere of Dune and, as with Millenium, he again used Swedish artists Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr and their studio The Makeup Designer.
The inspirations were the bone structure of the gorilla, the mimicry of Marlon Brando and the colours of Doctor Moreau.
The transformation took seven hours for each application. That started with silicone on the face, neck and hands, for a total of nine pieces. Skarsgaard wore the cooling suit that is always needed in these circumstances, followed by another padded structure with pads that replicated the shape of the muscles and areas of fat, and finally the skin, created from latex foam. The result was impeccable, the suit thanks to a first layer of padding and the prosthetic skin made of foam latex, absorbed the pigment, obtaining a viscous effect very similar to that of a peat, useful to make the character even more monstrous.
Paul and his mother Rebecca, on the other hand, have an inverted aesthetic development during the film. Paul matures and this can be seen in the hardness of his features, undoubtedly emphasised by the makeup shadows, while Rebecca frees herself from the constraints of House Atreides and appears rejuvenated. A stylistic choice consistent with the plot.
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE – JESSICA CHASTAIN
Head of makeup Linda Dowds has been working with Jessica Chastain since 2011 and is joined by FX professional Justin Raleigh, who said the total prosthetics set for the duration of the shoot was around 90 pieces.
Eye makeup was the first step of application, followed by prosthetics, then perfected in blending with Dowds’ base, and finally wigs, gowns and lastly nails. Even the choice of products used is not obvious, not the usual ones used for bare skin, as Chastain has many prosthetics.
The film spans about four decades, so it was important to develop the makeup in line with the trends and fashions of the various eras. For the scenes from the 1960s to the early 1980s, light cheek implants, a small chin blender and a small nose lift were used. From 1985 full cheeks, neck, a different and rounder chin blender, with the addition of the upper lip to the nose lift prosthesis. For the 90s the original eyebrow tattoo and lip contour of the real Tammy Faye is also included in the makeup, which is particularly difficult to render with makeup. I believe that thinner, shorter, transparent eyebrows were sewn into the prosthesis and then covered with a pencil stroke to resemble the ink of the tattoo.
The colour development follows the character’s downward parabola, starting with very soft colours, which then turn darker and also follow the eyelashes, which slowly become more loaded with mascara, encrusted with a spider effect on the false eyelashes, which then sanctions the final fall of Tammy Faye’s empire. What I find interesting about this film is the little use of ageing software and blurring of lights for rejuvenation. The Oscar would be more than deserved.
CRUELLA – EMMA STONE
The make-up for Cruella is the only one that, apart from any wounds and bruises for the action parts, has no prosthetics. Nadia Stacey, brings to the film her inspiration for the baroque and Galliano’s Rococo Dior, which we see in the final scene, when Cruella has her confrontation with the Baroness (let’s not forget that she did the make-up for La Favorita).
There are references to the Union Jack and the smokey eyes of Camden Town, the protagonist needs this makeup even more than the outfits, this is how she goes from being Estella to Cruella.
The mask of the ball is made up of two light resin structures set with stones and feathers, attached in the area of the dark circles, while the rest is made up of the same appliques, but glued directly to Emma Stone’s skin.
Difficult to notice on film, but if you take a look at the close-ups you will notice that the face is sprinkled with white powder, more like the cosmetic habits of the 1700s than our own powder.
The eye makeup is all horizontally and outwards, to make the look more intense and mean, a challenge given Emma Stone’s very delicate, round-eyed bone structure.
Cruella’s looks had the misfortune to come out at a time when the makeup world was sluggish and lazy from the pandemic and therefore did not get the outcome they deserved or that Euphoria’s did, which come from the same stylistic roots but evolve less widely.
COMING 2 AMERICA – EDDIE MURPHY
This film is not only a sequel to the events of the first film, but also a passing of the baton between a great FX artist and his successor. It is providential that the sequel is entrusted to Mike Marino, a pupil of Rick Baker.
Obviously the most complicated character is that of Saul, a white Jew, who therefore has a Caucasian physiognomy and the opposite phototype to Eddie Murphy. The mask is made of silicone, the application starts with the back of the skull (luckily Murphy has shaved hair) which is then joined with solvents to the chest and neck area. Then we move on to the face, where the nose and upper lip are applied in one piece, followed by the cheeks and cheekbones and then the temples.
The spots and skin textures are made with a brush using what is known in the trade as skin illustrators, which are the basic shades you need to have in order to recreate the skin’s natural discolourations. Mike Marino’s good fortune was also to work with an actor who was used to prosthetics, helped by the directing techniques he honed. Characters were inserted in motion control, with much higher image definition than in the first film.
Marino – who, by the way, has worked on Birdman, The Black Swan and later on the new Batman – did not disappoint, also thanks to Carla Farmer and Stacey Morris of the hair department.
