Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433300
THE ARTISAN WINTER 2022 • 27 "I received a phone call from Donald in January 2019, asking if me and Eva could help him create the prosthetic make-up of the character Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Stellan Skarsgård would play the character, and Donald felt it was also conve- nient to bring us on since we had worked with Stellan before. We were all living in Stockholm so life casting, make-up tests and fiings would be more practical." Donald said this was meant to be. Donald's first idea was a prosthetic make-up to make him bald and gain a bit of weight, plus a gut for a scene where he would be siing down naked in a sauna. There was some concepts made but Donald had the idea of giving him a look reminiscent of Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau. I started doing Photoshop designs that was sent to Donald, who gave us feedback, and aer about 20 different designs, we had landed in the big obese yet muscular character that became the Baron. Me and Eva were both terrified, We were used to doing character or age make-ups and now we were suddenly making a huge, naked fat muscle suit on this epic sci-fi movie. We had our usual team of Maias Tobiasson, Oskar Wallroth, and Hanna Holm. Oskar and Maias blocked out the body and then we were able to bring in David Martí and Montse Ribé to finish it. I sculpted the face and hands and we all made molds, ran foam and silicone and seamed foam suits. Eva and me pre- painted the suits and pieces. The make-up consisted of seven silicon prosthetics for the face and neck, silicon upper hands, a foam latex skin suit, a fabricated muscle and fat under suit and a cooling system, plus blenders in foam and silicon for the one shooting day where we were supposed to see the Baron naked. We also had two suits made for use under costume, since he was supposed to wear armor most of the time. These were sent to FBFX in the UK who integrated them in their armor suits. Aer the first screen test in Budapest, both Stellan and Denis loved the naked look and with a month before the shoot. The production ordered six more skin suits to be worn under thin silky wardrobe or completely naked. Application was made by me and Eva, while Maias, Oskar and Hanna helped geing him into the body suit. We shot the make-up for 10 days and then one more day for an added scene during the pandemic in 2020. The make-up process took six hours, including breaks for the naked look, and about 3.5-4 hours when he had the silky caans covering most of his body, making it unnecessary to blend the silicone into the foam. Stellan loves and knows make-up, he constantly pushes you to do more and be beer. He didn't even drink water on the shooting days to not waste time unzipping the suit and go to the bathroom. I did the same just to be able to put myself in his situation so that I would know how he felt. We also made taoos for the Sardaukars, Chani, and Stilgar, as well as Gurney's scar and some brow blockers for Harkonnen crowd. Many thanks again to Donald for bringing us on board. LOVE LARSON ON THE BARON PROSTHETIC MAKE-UP This page: Mowat with Dave Bautista (Beast Rabban Harkonnen)