Behind the Scenes of Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar Nominees – WWD

With her gold tooth and grill, wig made of horsehair, razor-thin brows, shiny charcoal-smeared eyes and cherry-red cheeks, Viola Davis is remodeled as ‘mom of blues’ singer Ma Rainey in George C. Wolfe’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
“It’s an unimaginable feeling when a number of artistic minds come collectively and one thing surprises all of us,” mentioned Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Davis’ private make-up artist, who collaborated with Mia Neal — hair and wig designer and make-up division head — and Davis’ hairstylist Jamika Wilson to create the actress’ look in the movie.

Viola Davis, nominated for Best Actress, as Ma Rainey. 
Courtesy of Netflix

The shock got here three weeks into filming whereas taking pictures the opening scene. It was a sensation he felt whereas admiring his environment, the hanging consideration to element on set, and seeing the Roaring ’20s come to life by the design, costumes and actors: “I do not forget that evening and all of us strolling round with goosebumps. Viola didn’t seem like Viola, didn’t sound like Viola. She disappeared. She was nowhere — till they yell minimize. Then Viola comes proper again.”

The movie is nominated for 5 Oscars this yr, together with Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The class acknowledges “Emma” (hair and make-up designer Marese Langan), “Pinocchio” (make-up artist Dalia Colli, hair designer Francesco Pegoretti and prosthetic designer Mark Coulier), “Hillbilly Elegy” (make-up division head Eryn Krueger Mekash, hair division head Patricia Dehaney and prosthetic designer Matthew Mungle) and “Mank” (make-up division head Gigi Williams and hair division head Kimberley Spiteri).

Bringing Ma Rainey’s look to life was a collaborative course of between Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Jamika Wilson and Mia Neal, hair and wig designer and make-up division head. 
Courtesy of Netflix

For a creator, the first step taken when beginning a challenge is often to dive into analysis. For Lopez-Rivera that included understanding the lack of entry Black ladies needed to cosmetics at the time (no shade choices for concealer and basis) and learning pictures from the period and of Rainey.
“I requested myself, ‘What was accessible for ladies of coloration? What was the socioeconomic standing? What was her stage of schooling? Where did she study to do make-up?’” he mentioned. “If I couldn’t discover particular historic info, I needed to put two and two collectively.”
For “Hillbilly Elegy,” the place Glenn Close and Amy Adams play real-life mom and daughter Mamaw and Bev Vance, respectively, Mekash referenced the household’s dwelling movies.
“We have an enormous quantity of accountability to pay towards the those that Glenn and Amy and the relaxation of solid had been portraying,” mentioned Mekash. Set in the late ’90s and early 2000s, the movie — directed by Ron Howard — is predicated on the 2016 memoir by J.D. Vance.

Glenn Close, who performs larger-than-life Mamaw in “Hillbilly Elegy,” with make-up division head Eryn Krueger Mekash and hair division head Patti Dehaney. 
Courtesy of Netflix/Lacey Terrell

While collaborating with the relaxation of the inventive crew, Mekash labored to make the actors’ bodily transformations exact but lifelike. Adams’ character, a heroin addict and younger mom, is given a “arduous” magnificence look with chunky eyeliner and mascara, whereas Close as Mamaw is depicted at totally different phases of well being and getting older. Both ladies wore prosthetics.
“We made positive that these had been delicate makeups, that the performing was doing the heavy lifting, not the hair and make-up,” mentioned Mekash.
Meanwhile, on the set of “Mank” — main with 10 nominations — Williams was experimenting with texture, shadows and coloration for the black-and-white manufacturing.

“Everyone needed to have tan pores and skin, darker pores and skin than the whites of their eyes, as a result of of the filters used,” Williams mentioned of her work on David Fischer’s Hollywood movie, centered on screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in the ’30s and ’40s as he completed “Citizen Kane.”
“We needed to do weeks and weeks and weeks of testing cosmetics and foundations and lipsticks and eyeshadows to see their tonal worth in grays,” continued Williams. “We checked out all of these samples with the noir setting on our iPhone, and then we whittled them all the way down to eight lipsticks and a number of basis colours.”

Amanda Seyfried, nominated for Best Supporting Actress, as starlet Marion Davies in “Mank.” 
Courtesy of Netflix

Working with Fischer — a recognized perfectionist who does over 40 takes a shot — Williams settled on an “eggshell” end. “Not matte, not excessive gloss,” she mentioned.
She couldn’t use make-up from the occasions (“as a result of all people would seem like cracked desert,” given the movie’s excessive decision), opting as a substitute for Nars Cosmetics’ tinted moisturizers on the pores and skin, together with different numerous foundations; for lips, she turned to MAC.
“We all hang around very near the monitor,” she mentioned of the collaborative vitality on set. “I actually really feel like that is an unimaginable piece of artwork.”