How did you establish the overall hair and makeup direction for this adaptation of Wuthering Heights?
My brief was to imagine the film through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl, as Emerald had been when she first read the book—a kind of fairytale with the epic quality of an Old Hollywood melodrama. Through close collaboration with Emerald, production designer Suzie Davies, and costume designer Jacqueline Durran, it became clear that period accuracy would not be tantamount to the resulting hair and makeup designs.
This is your second collaboration with Emerald Fennell following Saltburn. How did your design process with her evolve on this film?
It is always wonderful to work with likeminded people again, where a shorthand has been developed. With Emerald, this privilege is even more of a bonus. Her process is so rich and exciting, starting with a mass of her incredible mood boards. It’s all about collaboration and testing ideas—a kind of cross-pollination between Emerald and the HODs. Finding the ‘inch’ as it became known between us; the space in which something just worked to suit, and that certain something became the result of an amalgam of broad inspiration, with an eclectic but tonal quality.
How did you structure Cathy’s hair and makeup transition from Wuthering
The brief for Wuthering Heights was to portray a sense of wilderness, freedom and a life outdoors, all without the trappings of wealth. Cathy’s look was natural and windblown: flushed skin, freckles, and bitten lips from childhood through early adulthood. We mainly used Margot’s own hair with added pieces, and a wig for young Cathy.
At The Grange, Cathy becomes a doll of sorts—something Isabella can style and display, echoing the Cathy doll in the dolls’ house. Using wigs with hairpieces, the silhouettes evolve from newlywed to lady of the house to femme fatale, culminating in the ‘horned’ funeral style. The makeup becomes more visible and is a tool used for dress up and play during the passage of time through boredom, isolation and the caged existence of life at The Grange, with makeup looks applied by Nana Fischer, Margot’s personal HMUA, and wigs styled and applied by Cheryl Mitchell with myself and Laura Morse.
How did you develop the distinct “Wuthering Heights complexion” across the cast?
The Wuthering Heights’ complexion, is not only about where the sun and wind hits the face but it’s also all about flush; the first flush of youth becomes, in adulthood, arousal, anger, anxiety, embarrassment and emotional distress. We used this blushing effect across the cast to varying degrees, to help portray the emotional rollercoaster unfolding, as the story develops.
What was the process behind Cathy’s freckles?
Freckles were part of my initial brief to complement the windblown flush of life at Wuthering Heights. I first tested the look by hand during Margot’s initial wig fitting with Emerald, while also working with Waldo Mason to create a freckle template for both young and older Cathy to ensure speed and continuity. After 3D face scans, vacuum-formed masks were made and I mapped the freckles onto them before puncturing the pattern with a hot knife. A custom Skin Illustrator mix was then airbrushed through the masks onto Margot’s and Charlotte’s faces, giving a seamless, long-wearing application every time.
Mr. Earnshaw and Heathcliff undergo major physical transformations. How did you approach those changes technically?
Earnshaw’s transformation was designed for creation with non-prosthetic makeup techniques. I had two wigs made for Martin Clunes; the first a sandy color, connecting to Cathy’s blonde, without any recession in the front hairline and relatively modest sized sideburns. With a natural, healthy and more youthful makeup complexion, we were able to contrast this later by greying the same wig and facial hair with an airbrush and by applying some slight aging makeup. Finally, the second wig, grey, longer and unkempt with a receding hairline, with larger mutton chops, was used alongside an aging makeup that also displayed his alcoholism and jaundiced skin, with the use of rotten teeth made by Fangs FX. All done with MaqPro Fard Cream palettes. Application by Cheryl and help from me with wig cutting, styling and application.
The key transformation for Heathcliff fell between the long wig and beard seen at Wuthering Heights, applied by me using a skin parting piece, and Jabob’s own hair and sideburns, which I cut into the style for his return. Formerly flushed and grubby, he comes back transformed and with a gold tooth where a gap once existed.
How did you create Cathy’s final deterioration?
Using Margot’s own hair with pieces, the deliberate and natural root smudge seen at Wuthering Heights had grown out further (hidden by wigs) which Margot and I wanted to take advantage of, and with an unwashed effect, this look was lackluster and lifeless. Her skin tone was knocked back, removing the flush previously seen, and her eyes were sunken. As Cathy’s deterioration progressed, Nana focused on the facial makeup, while the sepsis effect on her legs—artwork created by Waldo Mason and further developed by me in Procreate—was applied as decals by Cheryl and me. We used Skin Illustrator to freehand any gaps in between. Ultimately, it was all hands on deck approach for the death look. Emerald wanted her to resemble wet concrete, so we relied primarily on MaqPro Fard Cream and Death Liquid with some PPI glazing gels.
What did you enjoy most about working on this project?
The world that Emerald creates, with her cast and crew, on and off camera, is a joy to be part of. The HODs, of which the majority are women, are an inspiration bonded in friendship, respect and laughter. The scope of creative possibilities and the passion is hard to beat.
Words Shannon Levy
Photos Courtesy of Warner Bros.
