Hollywood’s prosthetics renaissance

Now more than ever, film’s most famous faces are being transformed — into penguins, televangelists and more. The people behind it all explain how and why

SARAH PAULSON LINDA TRIPP PROSTHETIC MAKE-UP DESIGNER: JUSTIN RALEIGH TIME IN THE CHAIR: JUST UNDER THREE HOURS

To become White House whistleblower Linda Tripp, who was instrumental in the Bill Clintonmonica Lewinsky scandal put to screen in Ryan Murphy’s Impeachment: American Crime Story, Sarah Paulson underwent a surprisingly subtle physical transformation. Prosthetic make-up designer Justin Raleigh worked with Murphy to fine-tune the changes, which included a new neck, nose, dental veneers, and a bodysuit for the actor. “Ryan wanted to see more of Sarah,” Raleigh explains. “He was worried that if we pushed the likeness, which included a lot of the weight gain, that it might be a little garish or take away from the performance.” Still, such an extreme transformation was somewhat familiar ground for Paulson and Murphy, whose longstanding collaboration has seen the former play, among other things, a two-headed woman in American Horror Story. Impeachment was a 100-day shoot, which meant 100 individual castings for Paulson plus an array of “finite and delicate” pieces of make-up to help her become Tripp.

COLIN FARRELL THE PENGUIN PROSTHETIC MAKE-UP DESIGNER MIKE MARINO TIME IN THE CHAIR BETWEEN SIX AND EIGHT HOURS

While Matt Reeves’ The Batman has garnered hype for Robert Pattinson’s big arrival as the new caped crusader, Colin Farrell’s mega metamorphosis into the Penguin, aka Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, has proven an equally major talking point. Reeves was initially inspired by Farrell’s transformation in The North Water, for which the actor had just put on some serious weight. But Farrell declined to keep on the extra pounds, so new cheeks, a nose, dental veneers, a neck-piece and a bodysuit turned the actor into the villainous Oz instead. Reeves says he was adamant that Farrell’s talent as an actor would not be compromised. “It can’t interfere with the emotion; I didn’t want a mask,” he recalls telling his prosthetic make-up designer Mike Marino. The results surprised him: “It was so much further than I had ever imagined. I just felt like coming off that sculpture was this radiating character,” Reeves says. “I actually don’t know Colin as much as I know Oz, because he almost always spoke in character, and that’s the way he looked.”

JESSICA CHASTAIN TAMMY FAYE SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS CREATED AND APPLIED BY JUSTIN RALEIGH TIME IN THE CHAIR 1 HOUR 15 FOR STAGE ONE, TWO HOURS FOR STAGE TWO, 2.5 HOURS FOR STAGE THREE

Jessica Chastain had plenty to learn about televangelist Tammy Faye to play her in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, but the first thing she had to accept was that she could never really be her. “She had to understand it’s never going to be a perfect likeness, as everybody’s proportions are different,” Justin Raleigh, her special-effects make-up artist, explains. Chastain’s modifications changed in phases to match Faye’s timeline in the film. Initially, the actor was given two cheek-pieces, a chin, and a piece of tape to give her more visible nostril openings. To become Faye a few years later, she donned a new neck, larger cheeks, a larger chin and fake lips. “About two-thirds of her face is covered in prosthetics,” Raleigh says. “You want to keep it as subtle as possible, even when you’re pushing things as far as possible.” The result? A transformation pushing the limits of both prosthetic and beauty make-up — to understand the mindset of a woman who had no limits when it came to her work, marriage, faith and sense of self.

JARED LETO PAOLO GUCCI PROSTHETIC DESIGNER GÖRAN LUNDSTRÖM TIME IN THE CHAIR FOUR HOURS

Göran Lundström was given just three weeks to figure out how to turn Jared Leto into fashion-house heir Paolo Gucci in Ridley Scott’s House Of Gucci. Lundström stepped in as a last-minute replacement on the shoot, and only managed to consult with Leto on the part, never with Scott directly. “Jared read the script for another part, but he loved Paolo Gucci so much that it was his idea to do something make-up-wise, as he doesn’t fit the character physically,” Lundström explains. Leto’s drastic transformation included a three-piece bald cap, a new nose, and a neck-piece. “I think we did the look 12 times while filming, and towards the tenth I finally started understanding it. I’m as surprised as everyone else that it looks pretty good!” Lundström says. The metamorphosis reflects Leto’s all-ornothing mindset: he wouldn’t turn up to set without his prosthetics, not wanting to recognise his own reflection in the mirror. “I don’t know if he cared what other people saw, but he didn’t want to see it,” Lundström says. Whatever his process, we ended up with a truly memorable creation — a character with, as Leto puts it, “olive oil for blood”.