Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469328
I am so grateful for the experience and the growth this arduous show provided my team and myself. Opportunities like this don't present themselves as oen as you think which might be good because the amount of energy needed to properly achieve a show of this caliber is absolutely immense. at being said, when do we start the next one? I couldn't have done this project without the help of my Local 706 family: Christi Cagle, Alyn Topper, Nani Casillas, Jorjee Douglass, Gillian Whitlock, James Freitas, Robin Glaser, Robert Matthews, Tania Kahale, Sam Wade, Rheanne Garcia, Lauren McKeever, Lesley Poling, Monte Haught, Gina Deangelis, Tiphanie Baum, Cheryl Marks, Ryan Burrell, Lynnae Duley, Aracely Reyes, Natasha Holderman, Pavy Olivarez, Tamar Izakelian, Stephanie Rives, Vanessa Zamora, Brooks Stenstrom, Misa Aikawa, Roz Music, and Cassie Lyons. • When it came to the reality of using this look on a day-to-day basis, Elizabeth was determined, but she certainly wasn't polished. I imagined she would stay up all night working and and wake up with half of her make-up wiped o, haphazardly reapplying more in the morning for a meeting. Amanda Seyfried played her brilliantly and let me make her look like crap sometimes—no easy task. I would give her clumpy mascara on one eye and not on the other as if she slept it o. en I would make it look like she had grabbed whatever she could nd available, from a desk drawer, her car, or her assistant's make-up bag. She was far from skilled at make-up but she made a diligent eort to stay in this look. In the show, my main goal was to give Amanda Seyfried a look that was very close to who we thought the real Elizabeth was: a young college student who quickly became a successful CEO and founder of a multi-billion-dollar company. Amanda was open to collaborat- ing and was also very generous to work with. She made it easy to be there for her, to instinctively know what was needed visually, and when to push the manic make-up looks, but also when to let the continuity fail for the sake of the performance. I was a little worried that I was making more work for myself continuity-wise but if you ask any of my coworkers, they would tell you that I choose perfor- mance over continuity whenever possible. I like to say continuity shmantinuity! I just don't believe make-up has to match exactly. Meaning it's easy to match if using the same color palette and staying within the lines of one's eyes and lips. I found that I had to chase aer and match, and ip op, back-and-forth on set, with quick setups pit crew style for some very long days! As for the rest of the cast, some actors wanted to give a nod to the real person and others wanted to dive deep into the physical DNA of their character. In particular, William H. Macy's portrayal of Richard Fuisz required some heavy liing. Luckily, we had the amaz- ing Vance Hartwell to deliver a brilliantly executed balding look. We did not have enough time to t him for a custom bald cap so we had no choice but to use a Krylon Glatzan cap. Vance really worked some magic with a cool technique using Opsite tape so he could do a half cap then airbrushed an unbelievably realistic sun-damaged alcoholic-type skin tone. Alexis Williams lled in for Vance one day and matched it perfectly. Since the cast of this show was pretty large, creating the best make- up team for the project was a huge priority. Coming back to work aer the high anxiety of two years of a pandemic put so much into perspective for me. Let's make art and have fun while we do it. Let's surrender to the idea that some days will be long and very, very hard but let's always have a great time while we do it. I asked Gillian Whitlock to key with me. I told production that she would need to be titled as a co-department head because taking on jobs these days that now have 2nd units in multiple locations, means you basically need a coordinator/supervisor. We are doing more and expecting more from our key than just keeping a continu- ity book. In today's new normal, Gillian and I had to cross-check every move, clear new hires with COVID Compliance, coordinate our location and accounting needs. Gillian was amazing at taking charge and following through while also working with and caring for our male lead Naveen Andrews, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Our whole team felt like it was the best of! James Freitas took care of Laurie Metcalf, Stephen Fry, Anne Archer, and a million more. Robin Glaser had Elizabeth Marvel, Kate Burton, Michaela Watkins. Cassie Lyons took care of Kirkwood Smith, Michael Ironside, LisaGay Hamilton and Camryn Mi-young Kim. e famous Roz Music day played with us, as well and basically ran 2nd unit with Cassie Lyons for much of our Wall Street Journal content. Other artists that day played and oered their talents were Misa House, Nicole Hawkyard, Margaux Lancaster, Jacklyn Evens, Ellen Vieira, and Jenni Clark Keys to name a few. ese artists are who made this show work. is team of amazing people who instinctively know how to guide each actor toward their goal of making a real person come to life on the TV screen. It's awesome when you have a great community of humans working on the same goal and having such positive vibes and we denitely achieved that on e Dropout! • MAKE-UP Continued from page 45 Top and bottom: Jorjee Douglass (left) applies make-up to Amanda Seyfried