Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1490669
30 • THE ARTISAN SPRING 2023 to Portland for fittings). Steven loved the prosthetics although we all ultimately decided to keep the character of Mitzi Fabelman more straightforward. Since I wasn't going to do prosthetics on her and it would be day-to-day mid-century look, Angela Levin (Michelle's longtime personal) came in to do her make-up and period- correct red nails. Mitzi exemplified the modern woman of the time; red lips were Steven's mother's trademark and Mitzi had the same. Gabe LaBelle was cast as Sammy from ages 14 to 20. Steven wanted his eyes to match his green ones and I turned to longtime collaborator Cristina L-R: Eryn Krueger Mekash and Gloria P. Casny Patterson to make these lenses for me. Gabe has very dark brown eyes and it's always tough to make that big of a change and have it look natural. Cristina and I went through several incrementally slight changes to test and get the color "just right." Our director also wanted a set made with larger pupils for when he's editing. Melissa Kirkpatrick was Gabe's lens technician for the duration of the film. I made Gabe younger for Sammy as a 14-year-old, then a 15-16 year- old and Gabe's age matched up with Sammy for the end of the film. Gabe also had several levels of swollen nose and black eyes, as well as bloody noses, sleepless nights stress, and slap marks. Paul Dano played Burt Fabelman. Aging and younger looks were done with subtle out-of-kit highlight and shadow as the film progresses. Sideburns lengthen, redness and lines are added, graying at the temples and throughout the hair; stress of work and family being to show. It wasn't such a huge amount of aging that I felt I needed to do stretch-and-stipple. Different levels of beard stubble throughout dictated time change as well. Seth Rogen played Uncle Benny and Steven wanted him to have a receding hairline. Gloria created that look and Kim Ayers (my Department Head assistant) did Seth and color adjusted his head to look natural and not have his very curly thick hair stubble show through. We did all of this through COVID, the looming IATSE Strike, wildfires, and soaring temperatures. The production team was unfaltering to these challenges. Working with the cheeky David Lynch as John Ford was an absolute treat; running up three flights of stairs to where he was sequestered at our location and back down to set to show Steven placement of the lips on David with my phone camera 3-4 times was excitement all on its own. We had so many big background days on this, as well as a large cast. Up to 25 artists daily were part of my department. They took care of 250 background actors in various periods from 195. movie goers, Boy Scouts, everyday people, high school kids, bikinis to prom dresses! We all know that tattoo cover is one of the biggest parts of period-film accuracy. There were little children that made up the Fabelman family in the earlier days, as well as teens. We had a large daily cast to get ready, as well as chasing these little actors around; teeth were falling out as they aged and "flippers" were used to make sure there was a semblance of tooth continuity throughout our filming. Looks for Gabriel LaBelle MAKE-UP Continued from Page 28 Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord