Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538122
22 • THE ARTISAN FALL 2025 We were repeatedly told to bring every possible option for each character with us to set, as Ridley decides the final pieces of the character on the spot. The scenes in the dope houses depicted each gang that prevails in the different neighborhoods of Philly. As Ridley walked through the set, he changed wardrobe from jackets and hoodies to shirtless or tank tops. We ran behind him and covered bare skin with tattoos to complete the gang members' ink before cameras rolled. The AD called on a Friday, saying that Ridley would like to see a fully naked, very large skinhead man covered in tattoos get chased out of the shower on Monday. Background casting said they did not have enough time to find someone. I called shops local to New York and New Jersey in hopes of finding someone who had "cleared" images to cover a naked skinhead but found nothing. I asked a friend in Los Angeles to go to Frends Beauty and pick up off-the-rack images for this character because they would already be cleared. She jumped on a plane to Philly to hand deliver the tattoos the next day and helped me prep them. Every episode had a challenging death to create. Dope Thief was a bloody mess of chaos and massacres. The usual murder and mayhem were done out of kit. The first challenge was to find three burned bodies—with no decision on whether this was a burn or a char, and how to identify the bodies. This wasn't something Ridley could decide on the day. Luckily for us, Tinsley Studios was not yet busy with another show and was able to roll with the constantly changing states of the bodies. It ended on three completely charred bodies with beautiful pieces of partially exposed tissue details that we would cover in ultra wet. Ridley likes shine. The articulated bodies were placed in the position that the actor ended in after being shot. Ray, played by Brian Tyree Henry,and Manny, played by Wagner Moura, are best friends who met in juvenile detention in the early Ving Rhames as Bart Spenser Granese as Rick Jandel Camilo as Sicario Nesta Cooper as Michelle Marin Ireland as Mina