Local 706 - The Artisan

Winter 2021

Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1331269

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 36 of 71

THE ARTISAN WINTER 2021 • 37 A Q & A W I T H G I G I W I L L I A M S D E P A R T M E N T H E A D M A K E - U P Q: You've been working with David Fincher for seven years, since Gone Girl. I've read that Mank is a deeply personal project for him, so how long ago did you fi rst hear about this project and how was it initially described? Gigi Williams: Last February, we were in prep for World War Z when it went on hold. With an unexpected break in his schedule, David turned to Mank, a script his father had written. For 25 years, it was his passion project and now seemed the time to do it. This was a black-and-white movie about the writer of Citizen Kane set in the '30s and '40s during MGM's heyday. Q: What initial direction and notes did you receive from David Fincher for this fi lm? Did it differ at all from previous projects with him? GW: The notes he gave at the beginning were very, very M A K E - U P specifi c and they were technical. We would be shooting in high contrast, black and white using fi lters to give a period look so the skin tones of the actors had to be at least a shade darker than the whites of their eyes. Everyone had to have a tan. And NO prosthetics. We did make-up camera tests for weeks with the DP on lipsticks, on foundations, on sheen vs sweat. David wanted everyone to be smooth and matte, except for Gary Oldman who plays the title character, Mank. Most of the characters in the fi lm are real people—Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst, Irving Thalberg, David O. Selznik, Orson Welles, John Houseman and a slew of wives, executives and historical fi gures that would have to be duplicated as closely as possible. Q: You've worked on a number of period pieces over your career, from A Single Man to Argo, to Inherent Vice to Mindhunter. But these are all post-war fi lms or series, some of which are even set in decades in which you lived, where you could draw from personal experience and memory Continued on page 40

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Local 706 - The Artisan - Winter 2021