A hand in the process
Former Yarmouth resident Burton LeBlanc heads makeup department on the Emmy-winning series
Burton LeBlanc grew up in Yarmouth and now heads the makeup department on the Emmy-winning TV series, The Handmaid’s Tale.
You may look at the faces of the actresses and actors on the drama series The Handmaid’s Tale and assume they’re not wearing any makeup. Or so it seems.
It’s that subtle approach that former Yarmouth resident Burton LeBlanc loves about his job.
Like the cast whose movements, dialogue and nuances set the mood and tone, as a makeup department head on the series, LeBlanc and his team are also responsible for what you see. Or, perhaps, what you don’t see.
“It’s kind of like a no-makeup look, but every single person is wearing makeup,” LeBlanc says.
Lead actress Elisabeth Moss portrays the defiant baby-making handmaid slave Offred in this adaption of Margaret Atwood’s novel. LeBlanc’s job is to give Moss the right look at any given point in time.
“She’d come in, maybe looking like she had too much sleep,” he says. In other words, looking too well rested. “I’d have to make her look worse. But then the next day she’s in a scene and maybe it’s the opposite.
“When there’s a tight camera shot it has to be exact. There might be a pickup from that scene a month down the road and you have to match her to that day,” he says. “And when she has the flashbacks to her normal, pretty life, we get to do nice, soft makeup.”
LeBlanc, the son of Mel and Eva, grew up in Brooklyn, Yarmouth County. In 1998 he moved to Toronto, where much of his career’s work has been, although it has also taken him to other cities and countries.
LeBlanc says the first day back on the set on Sept. 21 for filming of season two of The Handmaid’s
Tale was an exciting day, given that it was just days after the show won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, in addition to seven other Emmy wins for outstanding lead actress, supporting actress, guest actress, directing, writing, cinematography and production design. The series, which had received 13 Emmy nominations, made history as Hulu became the first streaming service to ever win a primetime Emmy in the best series category.
“It’s all fantastic and amazing to be a part of it,” LeBlanc says. “When you have all of these amazing people around you it just makes you up your game.”
As a kid growing up in Yarmouth, LeBlanc always saw himself as artistic. His parents put him and his sister in after-school art classes with local artists and sisters Trudy and Paula Garson. He views that as the start of developing his artistic talent.
In between graduating from Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School and moving to Toronto, it was at the Joe Blasco Make-Up Centre in Orlando, Florida, where LeBlanc says he received his training specifically
for film and television, in addition to other education he pursued. Throughout the years on projects he worked his way from the bottom to the top and for the past eight years has been a makeup department head.
Asked about favourite projects in his career, quickly coming to mind is My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
“Even though a lot of comedies on the set aren’t laughing all day behind the scenes, that one was. You just laughed and carried on and we had a great time all day,” he says. “The Incredible Hulk, that was another great one. Cinderella Man. Those kind of stand out.”
Another highlight was working with actor Mickey Rourke in 2005 for the movie Killshot. Other television series and feature film credits include American Gothic, 12 Monkeys, Poltergeist, Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D, Warehouse 13 and Pompeii.
Asked how he came to work on The Handmaid’s Tale, LeBlanc says he got a call from friend and producer Joe Boccia.
“He said ‘I’ve got this project, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Handmaid’s Tale.’ I’m like, wow, of course I’ve heard of it. He said ‘I think you’d be really good with Elisabeth Moss.’”
Boccia arranged a phone call between the pair.
“Within a couple of hours she calls me and we chat for about five minutes about what her expectations were for her and the makeup and the look of the show and what I would do and what my thoughts were,” LeBlanc says.
A few hours later he called Boccia to ask about the next step. Would he be coming in for an interview?
“He said, ‘No, that was your interview, you’re hired, you’re on the show,’” LeBlanc says.