Make up is and always has been a big part of the movies.
These days, however, an awful lot of the special effects that make up aesthetically complex
characters are non-practical - generated, for example, using sophisticated CGI.But there's
something a bit more charming about old school make up.
If and when it's possible to make a character look fantastic via the magic of make up artistry,
that should always be the first choice for any production.There have been some amazing
transformations throughout movie history using practical make up effects and this video will
look at some of the best.
Here are ten of the craziest movie make up transformations you won't actually believe.
Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight The late Heath Ledger gave an Oscar-winning
performance as Batman's arch-nemesis The Joker in The Dark Knight - and his make up certainly
helped.
The remarkable thing about Ledger's make up in this movie is that there really wasn't
much of it - it wasn't very "heavy" - but Ledger was still totally unrecognisable and
mysterious under the face paint and scar prosthetics.
Costume designer Lindy Hemming came up with the anarchical design, which took inspiration
from pop artists like Pete Doherty, Iggy Pop, and Johnny Rotten.
It was made up of three pieces of stamped silicone - a "new technology" at the time
- and took less than an hour for the movie's make up artists to apply.
Jeff Goldblum in The Fly 1986's The Fly was a remake of the 1958 movie
of the same name and, as you would expect, the make up effects were vastly improved on
the original.
Jeff Goldblum played the lead role of Seth Brundle, who transformed into the hideous
"Brundlefly" when a common housefly joined him in a teleportation pod of his own invention
and their bodies merged.
Chris Walas both designed and executed the Academy Award-winning make up that conveyed
the transformation over seven different stages, culminating in a terrifying final form that
was asymmetrical and deformed, looking almost cancerous in nature.
Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice won the Academy Award for best
make up, as the effects created by the make up team were fantastic throughout the movie,
but none were more iconic in appearance than the titular character himself, who was played
by Michael Keaton.
Ve Neill, Steve LaPorte and Robert Short were the make up geniuses behind the movie's fantastic
aesthetic, with Keaton's twisted and perverted Beetlejuice made up to look like a disgusting
rotting corpse.
And yet somehow the character was actually quite likeable?
Weird.
Linda Blair in The Exorcist Linda Blair's make up in the terrifying horror
classic The Exorcist turned her from an innocent and pretty young girl into a horrifying-looking
victim of demonic possession.
Blair's character, Regan MacNeil, was made to look like the demon inside her was destroying
her body from within, as her face turned a sickly shade of pale green and became covered
in painful-looking sores.
Dick Smith was the man behind the make up for the movie, which also involved making
Max von Sydow's character, Father Lankester Merrin, look 74 when the actor was only 44
at the time of filming.
Jim Carrey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas How the Grinch Stole Christmas saw the wonderful
Jim Carrey transformed into Dr. Seuss' iconic character, the grumpy titular Grinch.
Transformation into the green, furry, pig-nosed miser was a real chore for the actor.
The prosthetic make-up took around eight hours to apply by a team of make up artists - and
it also took around an hour to get out of.
Carrey deserves a medal for spending 92 days wearing it, as he felt so horribly confined
and uncomfortable in the latex skin that he needed counseling from a CIA agent, who taught
him torture-resistance techniques to deal with the discomfort.
Ron Perlman in Hellboy/Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Ron Perlman already has the gruff, square-jawed look that made him perfect to play Hellboy,
but the make up that finished the job was pretty damn great.
Matt Rose at Cinovation Studios was responsible for the design and transformation, which gave
Perlman a red face, clipped horns, a big hammer-like hand and left his eyelids as the only part
of his body that were visible.
Incidentally, in 2012, Perlman visited a sick young boy named Zachary in full Hellboy make
up - and he looked every bit as cool as he did in the movie itself.
In a way, he looked very similar to Tim Curry as Darkness in Legend, who is also very worthy
of a mention on this list.
Charlize Theron in Monster The incredibly beautiful Charlize Theron underwent
an unbelievable transformation into serial killer Aileen Wuornos for 2003's brilliant
crime drama Monster.
Wuornos - a former prostitute - killed six men, and Theron's resemblence to her was uncanny
by the time her make up was applied.
Theron put on 30lbs of weight, shaved her eyebrows and wore both contact lenses and
prosthetic dentures to portray her, but it was the work of make up artist Toni G that
really made the transformation so spectacular.
Theron's skin was aged and freckles were added.
Combined with an Oscar-worthy acting performance from the actress, the transformation was complete.
Eric Stoltz in Mask The make up Eric Stoltz wore in The Mask was
fantastic.
Portraying Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, Stoltz's make up augmented a performance that was already
both extremely heartfelt and, frankly, emotionally draining.
The make up emphasised the devastating nature of Dennis' condition - craniodiaphyseal dysplasia
- without exaggerating it in a crude or disrespectful way.
Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek were the creative masterminds behind a transformation
that rendered Stoltz completely unrecognisable.
John Hurt in The Elephant Man John Hurt portrayed Joseph Merrick AKA the
Elephant Man in the brilliant and moving 1980 movie of the same name, and the make up involved
was incredible - so incredible, in fact, that it holds up nearly forty years later, in an
age when unbelievably realistic CGI is commonplace.
Make up artist Christopher Tucker designed the look for Hurt's character - who suffered
from severe cranial deformities - from actual casts of Merrick and it made such an impression
that the Academy decided to add a category make up category to the Oscars, as protest
letters were sent to them for not giving The Elephant Man an award for it.
Rebecca Romijn & Jennifer Lawrence in the X-Men Movies
Both Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence have portrayed the shapeshifting mutant known
as Mystique AKA Raven Darkholme in the X-Men franchise - and the transformation both actresses
underwent was pretty damn amazing.
Mystique's natural form is a beautiful blue scaly work of art, and Romijn and Lawrence
had to each undergo around seven hours' worth of make up being applied by fairly large teams
of make up artists, whilst half naked, to become the character - and we think you'll
agree that both of them looked absolutely awesome.
Thanks for watching our list of 10 craziest movie make up transformations you won't believe.
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