12 Times Makeup and Costume Made It Hard for Actors to Work

Have you ever stopped to think that behind the great characters in movies and series there is a great team of costume and makeup artists who transform actors and actresses into completely different people (or creatures)? Depending on the movie, this process can take several hours. Ralph Fiennes lived this drama when he played Voldemort in the movie Harry Potter and Angelina Jolie went through something similar in the movie Maleficent.

O awesome.club separated 12 examples of actors who went through this and had to face ups and downs to be characterized.

The adaptation for the cinema of the famous novel Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice, was a great success in the 90s and surprised both by the dynamism of the plot and because of the strong cast that was brought to the screens. Among the protagonists were Tom Cruise, who plays the vampire Lestat, and Brad Pitt, who plays the melancholic vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac.

But what not everyone knows is that during filming Brad Pitt was not at all happy with his characterization and even thought about giving up the project. “It was horrible. Almost 6 months in the dark, contact lenses, makeup. One day, I collapsed. I called David Geffen, the film’s producer, and said, ‘David, I can’t take this anymore. I can’t. How much will it cost me to get out of the movie?’ And he, very calmly, said to me: ‘About 40 million dollars’”, commented the actor in an interview. Lucky for us, the actor decided to stick with it and the movie became a huge hit.

Although Helena Bonham Carter’s head was digitally edited to appear three times life-size, the actress had to wear a forehead prosthesis that pushed her hairline back and a heart-shaped wig that weighed nearly 1.5 pounds. kg.

In addition, to complement the desired visual effect, the actress had to wear a very tight dress and a very high collar to further enhance the illusion that her head was huge. Stylist Colleen Atwood commented that it was necessary to tighten the waist and emphasize the neck to achieve the desired effect. That is, the costume and makeup were not at all comfortable for the actress.

The Friends series left many unforgettable moments for fans and launched some trends that became true references to popular culture. One of the characteristics that people usually mention is the style of the protagonists, especially the famous haircut of Rachel, a character played by Jennifer Aniston, which became one of the biggest trends of the 90s.

However, the actress never hid that she hated the cut, a creation of hairdresser Chris McMillan: “The ‘Rachel’ cut was horrible. It was a lot of work. I always got annoyed with Chris when they came to do my hair. Three brushes were needed, it was almost like having surgery!”, said the actress in an interview with Marie Claire magazine. Despite all this, the cut was very successful and was back in fashion in 2021.

Each new season of Stranger Things introduces a new villain to scare the town of Hawkins. This time, the terrifying Vecna ​​is responsible for threatening our heroes. The role of Henry, or Vecna, is played by British actor Jamie Campbell Bower, who from the first moment was very excited to be part of the cast of this great success.

But what he probably didn’t realize is that to get into character and film the terrifying scenes, he would have to spend up to 7 hours in makeup. Despite the long process, the result is really impressive and made Jamie very scary indeed.

After the first three films playing the eccentric student Bella Swan, Kristen Stewart was finally ready to face the changes her character would go through, changes that required a lot of patience from the actress, who needed to be made up several times.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn was divided into two films that were recorded in a disorderly way, that is, the actress faced the different “versions” of her character several times in the same week. For the pregnancy stage, the directors used visual effects and digital editing and for the vampire version, the actress had to wear red contact lenses, which bothered her a lot. “She condensed 4 years of complaints into a few months”, declared Robert Pattinson, her co-star.

Actress Zoe Saldaña started playing Gamora in 2014. Many people thought that the hardest part of the role was the stunts and fight scenes, but what bothered the actress the most was the lengthy process of characterization to go green.

On average, Zoe spent 3 hours sitting on a chair so that uniform tone was achieved. But worse than the lengthy application process was the process of getting the ink off the skin. “I used compounds to activate all my natural oils and release what my pores consumed throughout the day. Then I’d come home and take a hot shower, go to sleep and wake up to do it all over again.”

For many people, the Joker played by Heath Ledger is the best of them all. The performance was very successful among fans and received great praise from critics; among the many awards received by the actor, the highlight was the posthumous Oscar for best supporting actor. But one of the important aspects for success was precisely the makeup.

To simulate a macabre smile, the make-up team designed prostheses that were placed on the actor before he entered the film set. However, as they were easily removed from the face, the actor kept licking his lips all the time. Despite the inconvenience, Heath ended up incorporating the gesture into the interpretation, making the character’s speech even more peculiar.

In a period production, actors always need to be willing to dive headlong into different costumes appropriate to the era portrayed. For the Bridgerton actresses, this meant wearing corsets, which no doubt always poses a challenge on set.

In the second season of the series, the actress who plays Kate Sharma, Simone Ashley, declared that wearing the elegant dresses was a wonderful experience, but she did not imagine that the underwear would be so uncomfortable. “I noticed that when a person wears a corset, he just doesn’t eat. The corset changes the woman’s body. My waist got very small quickly. When you stop using it, your body goes back to normal. I was in a lot of pain and I think I even dislocated my shoulder at one point!”, she added.

When Ralph Fiennes was called to be part of the cast of the Harry Potter saga, he did not imagine that he would have to go through a long process of characterization to bring the terrifying Voldemort to life. Despite the digital editing, the actor endured many hours of makeup to achieve the villain’s pale and frightening appearance. In addition, he had to wear large tunics, which gave the interpretation an even more dramatic touch, but which made it difficult for him to move around.

Although he has found ways to deal with these difficulties, a few years after the films were released he declared that he no longer intends to go through these lengthy processes of characterization. “I hate makeup. I hate sitting in a chair getting makeup done. My God, how I hate it,” said the actor in an interview with Vanity Fair.

Angelina Jolie had to put prosthetics on her cheeks, nose, ears and teeth to bring Maleficent to life. The make-up team took 3 hours to make changes to the actress’ image and transform her into the film’s villain. The process of getting everything out took about an hour, and she had to stay that way for 16 hours straight.

Some of the structures where the horns were placed caused a lot of headaches for the actress, and she couldn’t always hear what people were saying. “I asked if we should drill holes so she could hear better and she said, ‘No, no, that’s fine,’” says hat designer Justin Smith. Despite the pain, the actress faced the challenge and did a great job.

One of the standout aspects of The Addams Family was the costume design, which was in the hands of stylist Ruth Myers, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work. Morticia, a character played by Anjelica Huston, is one of the highlights of the film, but although the dresses created by Ruth were simply wonderful, they barely let the actress walk.

Anjelica also had her face modified by wearing thick makeup. “The makeup was too heavy. She wore stickers on her face and back of her head, a wig, heavy false nails, and a corset. It was very difficult to move,” said the actress. In the end, everything worked out, but on the last day of recording she decided to burn her wig and corset.

Actress Elizabeth Banks was in charge of playing Effie Trinket in the Hunger Games saga. The character’s colorful clothing was used to highlight that she was a person from the capital. Effie always appears with extravagant clothes, colorful hair and exaggerated makeup, and none of that was very comfortable for the actress.

Elizabeth commented that using some elements was almost torture, but the hardest thing was keeping her nails always manicured. “The whole process took an average of 3 hours, including the nails, which were the worst part. They are really amazing, but very impractical (…). The big problem was that I couldn’t go to the bathroom alone,” said the actress. Precisely because of this, the actress ended up using some very original gloves.

If you could wear a character’s costume and makeup for a day, which movie or series would you choose? Tell us in the comments!