Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541402
LOCAL706.ORG • 21 Oregon so, I had to think about who I wanted to take with me to help with this very large task of make-up work. I had worked with Pamela Goldammer before on Ghostbusters: Afterlife and felt she was a perfect fit to help with application as my key make-up artist on the show. The make-up application times ranged anywhere from 2.5 hours to 6 hours, depending on the make-up stage. I was a little worried in the beginning when I first met Chris, as I didn't think he fully grasped the scope of the make-up work and how many times he would be in the chair covered in glue for hours on end—but he approached it as a form of body art, and said he would just go into "monk mode"—and that is exactly what he did. He was a dream to work with. I was so grateful he was able to embrace the entire process, as the production and shoot itself were difficult enough. Stage 1 involved textured cheek and full forehead prosthetics, and a 3/4 wig that blended in with Chris's own hair on the sides and back, and discolored veneers. This stage starts when a very sick- looking Blake enters the basement unable to speak or understand his wife, continuing through when he is laid down and they try to communicate with him. Stage 2 appears when they are trying to flee in the pick-up truck. It consisted of enhanced facial, neck, and hand prosthetics, with a second 3/4 wig with thinning hair. A longer stubble was applied by creating static via a small water balloon rubbed on my shirt, and then dipping and laying the hairs that way. This stage also included the initial set of wolf teeth. Stage 3 starts when he comes back into the house after the fight: full head, face, chest, arm, and hand pieces were used, as well as hand-laid hair on his jaw and chest area. This is when he vomits and starts losing his fingernails. After the fight with his father in the house, we see Blake going through more changes outside on the ground, morphing into Stage 4. A combination of lace body pieces and laid hair was used for this stage, as using only laid hair would have been too fragile for the scenes and elements we were in. This is the point where Blake turns on his family and they lock him out. Stage 5 appears in the barn after he chews through his own leg to free himself from the bear trap, and continues through the chase into the hunting blind where he faces his wife and daughter in the climax. This stage also had the brightest lenses and the most body hair—a combo of lace pieces and hand-laid hair, as well as full head, face, chest, arms, hands, and feet prosthetics. I never designed Blake with a final look in mind as he does not make it past sunrise and never really fully transforms. Jessica Nelson designed and painted the contact lenses for all the wolf characters, including each of Blake's five stages. The eyebrows and a lot of the facial hair had to be punched after the prosthetics were shipped to New Zealand, so Pamela and I would both take home sets of prosthetics to be finished overnight and on the weekends whenever we could. As for all the dental work, I did those myself between sculpting the make-ups. For Chris's application, we mainly used thinned-down Westmore silicone adhesive; for the lace and wig work we used PPI spirits and we stippled a matte mixed Pros-Aide for the hand-laid hair sections. To paint and color, we used a combination of Skin Illustrator and Blue Bird palettes with a Kryolan grease paint mini palette and a Make Up For Ever cream flash palette called "Harmonie Cinema." (I love this palette but of course they stopped making it.) The silicone lab work ranged from denser cowls to softer Super Baldiez facial pieces. We Julia Garner (Charlotte) and Matilda Firth (Ginger)