Los Angeles Times

Strong women of conf licting makeup

Much of the fun of ‘ Agent Carter’ involves its female adversarie­s

- By Libby Hill

The makeup trailer for “Agent Carter” is unpleasant­ly warm as three beauty pros buzz around the tight space with a frenetic but precise energy.

In the eye of the storm sits Wynn Everett, looking like a lifesized porcelain doll, the type your grandmothe­r let you admire but never play with. Her blond curls are immaculate, her lips scarlet and her eyes wide, the same clear blue as the afternoon’s Southern California sky.

Then the makeup artists descend. But instead of enhancing her perfect creamy complexion, their tools produce an unsettling fissure.

The crack is deep and dark, spider- webbing from just below Everett’s hairline to her jaw, as though revealing a darkness that lurks deep.

All seems lost until the actress glances at a visitor in the mirror and cracks a wide, warm smile, saying, “When my daughters f irst saw me, they said, ‘ Mommy has a sticker!’ ”

That “sticker” is present because Everett’s character, the villainous Whitney Frost, had come into contact early in the ABC show’s second season with Zero Matter, an extra- dimensiona­l energy that seems to corrupt her over time and grants her the ability to absorb any living thing she touches.

In the Marvel- created series, Frost is a physicist and actress — a strong and complicate­d composite of her time. Frost possesses beauty and a brilliant mind, but her value to society is measured by her looks, not her contributi­ons to science.

If that sounds familiar, it should. Frost is the “Agent Carter” version of a Marvel character better known as Madame Masque, who made her debut in 1968 and

The makeup team from the ABC series shows how it transforms actress Wynn Everett into the villainous Whitney Frost.

 ?? Ji m Kunz ?? WYNN EVERETT is made up, courtesy of Robin Beauchesne, to ref lect her character Whitney Frost’s encounter with Zero Matter.
Ji m Kunz WYNN EVERETT is made up, courtesy of Robin Beauchesne, to ref lect her character Whitney Frost’s encounter with Zero Matter.
 ?? Byron Cohen ABC ?? KEN MARINO in a scene with Everett. Her Frost is the “Agent Carter” version of Marvel’s Madame Masque character.
Byron Cohen ABC KEN MARINO in a scene with Everett. Her Frost is the “Agent Carter” version of Marvel’s Madame Masque character.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States