Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541402
48 • THE ARTISAN WINTER 2026 48 • THE ARTISAN WINTER 2026 SINNERS SINNERS B Y A D A M B R A N D Y A N D J O H N R I Z Z O RUNNING AMOK For Ryan Coogler's most personal piece of filmmaking yet, the complex and layered Sinners, there were many early discussions about setting, and how best to bring the complicated history of a region that was a melting pot of cultures to life on screen. Servicing the make- up and hair needs in particular, presented intricate challenges but also provided fertile ground to create something truly extraordinary. Make-up designer Siân Richards began this project with an impressive amount of pre-production work for the principles and background in advance, assembling some amazing mood boards that set the tone for the film's overall look. All this work would give honesty in the time capsule of the 1930's Mississippi Delta. Ken Diaz was brought on later as Department Head Make-up. Both of these celebrated Local 706 artists had worked with Coogler on Black Panther, so they were very excited to be part of his ambitious period project told through a Southern Gothic lens. Richards was also Michael B. Jordan's personal make-up artist. e actor playing the dual roles of twin brothers, Smoke and Stack, and her work helping to visually differentiate each distinct role was a masterclass in the art of subtlety. e challenge of changes, sometimes several in a day, meant that she needed to apply color palettes that would define each brother's look fast, and without costing the production time and money. Something Richards handled with great success. But other things needed to be locked down. e look of the blood on camera also needed to be addressed. Aer some initial visibility issues, Diaz and Oscar-nominated prosthetic make-up designer Mike Fontaine, along with his right-hand man, Kevin Wasner, worked to determine the optimal combination of products that would be most visible in low light and on darker skin tones, while maintaining continuity. is was achieved by applying a mixture of bright and dark products that would look wet but not run off the skin. e upcoming scenes would require many gallons of pumping blood. Wasner created a custom stage blood, starting with the old Dick Smith formula but adding more zinc oxide to make it brighter and opaque. Another challenge that needed to be overcome was Coogler's insistence that the vampires have tapetum lucidum, that eerie and highly reflective eyeshine seen in predatory animals at night. Everyone involved wanted this effect to be achieved practically, if possible, so Richards and Fontaine put in a call to Cristina Patterson, one of the industry's premier contact lens painters. To their amazement, she revealed she had been secretly developing that exact effect and was on the verge of perfecting it. Patterson