Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1542690
LOCAL706.ORG • 33 B Y Y U N E A C R U Z D E P A R T M E N T H E A D H A I R F ootball is a team sport—and creating the character Chad Powers was no different. Bringing Chad to life required the talent and collaboration of an extraordinary crew, from the artisans at VVDFX Studios who sculpted and fabricated the prosthetic appliances, to Ally Vickers and her hair department, who completed the transformation and helped anchor the character in a believable physical reality. Every department played a vital role and every detail mattered. From the very beginning, the tone of the show called for something more than a simple disguise. The producers and Glen Powell (Chad Powers) were deeply committed to building a version of Chad that felt authentic, grounded, and truly memorable—a character that honored the original Eli Manning- Chad Powers sketch while expanding it into something emotionally real, comedic, and surprisingly human. Vincent Van Dyke I was brought on as the prosthetic make- up designer on Chad Powers early in the process to start having conversations about the approach to his look. I tend to start sculpture right away on projects like this and have multiple busts of the talent going at the same time for different iterations. My lead sculptor, Daniele Tirinnanzi, and I handled these 5-6 looks at the same time so that we could then present them to the showrunners and Glen for their moved into the final chosen Chad look and could start creating the hero work for this. Mold shop supervisor Carl Lyon headed up the team—with Rob Freitas and Adele Wurl. Silicone prosthetic supervisor William Thornton and silicone lead Stephen Imhoff Jr. got into casting all the prosthetic pieces for the run of show. Sasha then created the hero wigs, while keeping in tight communication with Ally who did all the final cutting and styling. With the focus of this show being the disguise, there is a lot that has to be taken into consideration—creating something that you know the audience knows is fake. It was important to me for it to still feel like a very realistic transformation. I knew that Alexei and Kevin would execute this. They also both have a great background in working at shops and understanding the whole process, which for a show like this was crucial. Especially when coming up with gags on the fly and working them out—this was something I really left up to the guys to do on the ground in Atlanta for every new mishap he would get himself into each episode. They pulled these off incredibly well every time. Alexei Dmitriew Kevin Kirkpatrick and I were responsible for applying Chad's prosthetic make-up throughout the run of show. What began as a 90-minute application, gradually evolved into a streamlined process that now takes just under an hour—a small but meaningful victory on a fast-moving set. Chad's make-up is built from a multi- piece silicone prosthetic: a nose, cheeks, forehead, and upper lip, carefully blended into the skin. The look is completed with lace eyebrows, a mustache crafted by Sasha feedback. The great thing about this process is also allowing for a live creative session where these sculptures can be worked on in the moment to really dial in and gain approval quickly—this was crucial for us to get this work done in the time frame we had. It also allowed for the general silhouette to be looked at here as well, because we are blocking in sculpted hair, just in a very loose gestural way—but this helps narrow down the broad strokes of hair concept early on as well. Once we had a good idea of the parameters we were going for in design—we started to break down three looks for make-up tests. We had three consecutive days to do this with Glen and explore each look per day. It was also a crucial time for where I brought in Alexei Dmitriew and Kevin Kirkpatrick to do the prosthetic make-up on Glen for the run of show—having them be there to establish these looks with myself. Ally Vickers, the amazing Department Head Hair, was also present for these tests, and could go over the different options we were creating at the studio by our department hair lead artist and designer Sasha Camacho Van Dyke. Sasha could also test the variety of eyebrow and mustache options here that would complement the wig choices. A variety of different dentures were also tested—small baby teeth, overbites, crooked etc. … these were created by our dental artist at the studio, Jason James. Once these tests were completed, we Alexei Dmitriew (left) and Kevin Kirkpatrick (right) start the Powell make-up