Oldman went without food and sleep to perfect Churchill look
GARY OLDMAN’S remarkable transformation into Winston Churchill for Darkest Hour has earned him numerous award nominations.
But the actor deserves as much credit for his dedication to preserving his make-up and prosthetics through the gruelling hours of filming.
Oldman did not sleep and barely ate in order to keep his make-up looking fresh, helping the team which created it earn their own nomination for a Bafta at tonight’s awards ceremony.
Kazuhiro Tsuji, the top make-up and hair designer who masterminded Oldman’s metamorphosis, described details of the painstaking process at a question-and-answer session yesterday.
To start with, five $8,000 (£5,700) state-of-the-art wigs were made in Los Angeles and shipped to London. Each was so delicate that it lasted just 10 days before it had to be replaced, according to the team, which also included David Malinowski, a prosthetic make-up supervisor and Lucy Sibbick, a prosthetic hair and make-up artist.
Mr Tsuji said: “The base we used was English lace, which is the finest lace you can get, and it’s constructed on Gary’s head shape [using] baby European hair mixed with angora.
“It was a final decision to get that wig from LA, so after we did the film test, as they start to shoot, I cut and dress the wig and ship it to London, where Lucy matches it to the other wigs. We made a total of five, because they’d only last 10 days because the lace is so fine and after 10 days we cannot use it any more.”
Oldman spent four hours each morning being transformed into the wartime prime minister and went to extreme lengths to ensure that the make-up and prosthetics remained intact, the team added.
“He’s so respectful of our craft – he would sit still in the chair for four hours,” said Mr Malinowski. “He wouldn’t sleep in the trailer – lots of people, they fall asleep and there’s either the impression of their iPhone on their face, or a pillow, you know; you get red lines, all sorts of stuff.
“But Gary didn’t want to sleep. He didn’t eat and if he did he would just have really small bits of food.
“So a lot of it is down to Gary. It’s not just us looking after it – it’s him looking after it for us.”
Oldman even wore the full costume on rehearsal days, the team added.
The 59-year-old has previously talked about the lengthy process of transforming him into Churchill for the Oscar-nominated film, which involved a 1.45am pick-up from home and several hours in a make-up chair.
Without prosthetics the veteran actor bears little resemblance to the former prime minister, making the transformation job even tougher.
Mr Tsuji said that, with Oldman’s face shape being oval, while Mr Churchill’s was rounder, the team had to create an optical illusion by bringing his neck forward and chin up using prosthetics. Earlier, Ivana Primorac, a hair and make-up designer, spoke about the difficulty of finding a whole cabinet of actors who resembled their historical counterparts.
“At one point I said to Joe Wright, what cast number do we stop insisting that we try and make the characters look like the real people?
“There were certain characters which we paid great attention to. They’re not in the film very much but we just really wanted to make them look period and to make them look like the person so we could help them become that character.
“Some of the politicians we’d never even heard of, who were in the cabinet, we thought, well actually we should pay attention to those, but it was really to help the actors perform.”
The film has been nominated for a total of nine Bafta awards, including Oldman for best actor, and the hair and make-up, and costume design teams.
‘He’s so respectful of our craft, he would sit still in the chair for four hours. He wouldn’t sleep or eat’