Celebrities endure hours in the chair getting poked and painted within an inch of their lives. And yet, it’s all worth it to see these stars’ characters transformations in some of the finest examples of makeup artistry, special effects, and costume design.
Eddie Murphy, ‘The Nutty Professor’
Makeup artist Rick Baker did it again with ‘The Nutty Professor,’ earning himself an Academy Award for his incredible job transforming Eddie Murphy into Sherman Klump, a well as his entire family in sequel, ‘The Klumps.’ Murphy essentially disappears under the mountain of chins, cheeks and rolls.
Jim Carrey, ‘Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas’
Time in the makeup chair: 4 hours to apply and an hour to remove each day for five monthsFor his role as the Grinch, Jim Carrey endured five months of a ‘hair’ suit, consisting of individually dyed yak hairs hand swen onto a lycra spandex suit. It took makeup artist extraordinaire Rick Baker 4 months to make it.As for his face, Carrey was slathered in makeup and rubber and even had to wear oversized contact lenses, which, he explained, ‘really push you over the edge.’
John Travolta, ‘Hairspray’
Time in the makeup chair: 4-5 hours/dayTravolta’s transformation into Edna Turnblad, a character originally played by Devine, included a fat suit, wig, plenty of makeup, as well as having to get used to treated differently.The actor described his experience, telling movieweb.com, ‘You know how, with a pregnant woman, everyone feels like they have the right to touch her stomach? And sometimes her breasts? Where does that come from? Why do you feel you suddenly have this right? Well, everyone felt they had the right to touch my breasts and my bottom. I must have been a slut, because I said, “Go ahead.”
Marlon and Shawn Wayans, ‘White Chicks’
Time in the makeup chair: 7 hrs/day each Transforming African-American brothers Marlon and Shawn Wayans into blond, blue-eyed hotel heiresses for the 2004 comedy, ‘White Chicks’ took over seven hours a day, per actor. The process was long and arduous, and included making plaster casts of the brothers’ faces.
Ron Perlman, ‘Hellboy’
Time spent in the makeup chair: 2.5-5 hours/day
Jake Garber, the makeup artist for both ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Hellboy 2,’ explained to howstuffworks.com that Perlman’s makeup was all foam prosthetic pieces, including his pecs, a skull cap, and full-facial prosthetic that covered everything except his lower lip.
Mike Myers, ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me’
With the help of Oscar-nominated makeup artists Michele Burke and Mike Smithson, Mike Myers went from Hollywood actor to ’60s British playboy Austin Powers faster than you can say, ‘Do I make you horny, baby?’ Myers was fitted with a bad wig and even worse fake teeth, as well as an abundance of body hair.
Ralph Fiennes Lord Voldemort ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’
To create He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, the essence of evil in the wizarding world, creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman and his team of artists subscribed to the theory of less is more. They used minimal prosthetics to make Ralph Fiennes’ skin look sallow and translucent, with veins running down his skull, arms and hands. In post-production, visual effects were used to digitally re-shape Fiennes’ nose, flattening it and adding slits to make it look snakelike.
Johnny Depp, ‘Alice in Wonderland’
As Depp put it, ‘It was a couple of solid hours in the makeup chair everyday but it really helped. You start to understand who the guy is through all that weird kind of Carrot Top kabuki,’ the actor told EW.
Helena Bonham Carter, ‘Alice in Wonderland’
Time in the makeup chair: 3 hours/day
Makeup artist Vallie O’Reilly slathered Helena Bonham Carter in white powder, blue eyeshadow, painted eyebrows, and heart-shaped lips to transform her into the Red Queen. In post production, the special effects team enlarged the actress’ head.
Rebecca Romijn as ‘Mystique’ in ‘X-Men’ and ‘X-2′
Time in the makeup chair: 8-9 hours/day
Playing the shape-shifting, head-to-toe blue Mystique in the X-Men franchise was no easy task for former Victoria’s Secret model Rebecca Romijn. Sure, she’s modeled panties, but being nude except for body paint and covered in scales? Not exactly model behavior.
Benicio Del Toro ‘The Wolfman’
Time in the makeup chair: 3 hours/day
The Wolfman’’s makeup artist, six-time Oscar winner Rick Baker, divulged all the details of Benicio Del Toro’s terrifying costume in an interview with EW. ‘The part that covers his nose and his brow is what we call an appliance. It’s made up of a foam, latex piece with tissue-thin edges that covers part of Benicio’s face and blends into his own skin,’ Baker explained. ‘Then we have a wig and dentures that change his teeth into the giant Wolfman teeth. Most of the hair on his face is what we call ‘aid.’ It’s actually loose hair that we apply little bits at a time with glue to his face.
Martin Lawrence, ‘Big Momma’s House 2′
Martin Lawrence squeezed himself into a 40-50 lb. bodysuit and full-body prosthetic makeup to portray Big Momma not once, but twice. Now that’s getting into character!
Brad Pitt, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’
First, makeup artists cast a mold of Pitt’s head, and then, as David Ulbrich, Digital Domain’s executive vice president for production explained to the NY Times, ‘They created a sculpture of him well into his 80s, and then did another one of him in his 70s, another one of him appearing to be in his 60s.’ Then, using a motion-captures system, they scanned Pitt’s face through more than 120 expressions. After using body doubles and image-analysis software, Pitt’s electronically aged face was inserted into film footage.
Robin Williams, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’
Time in the makeup chair: 4.5 hours/day
In ‘Mrs. Doubfire,’ comedian Robin Williams plays Daniel, an out-of-work voice actor who transforms himself into a 60-year-old British nanny to spend time with his kids after his wife files for divorce. While Daniel gets his brother to create his nanny costume, the actual makeup process took 4.5 hours to put on. But it was all worth it — the film won an Academy Award for Best Costume.
Emma Thompson, ‘Nanny McPhee’
Time in the makeup chair: 1 hour/day
