http://livingriver.eu/?p=2206 How did you come to work as the Makeup Designer on Cyrano?
I was really interested because I saw director Joe Wright for the first time in Los Angeles for the premiere of The Darkest Hour. I was impressed by his speech before the presentation for the movie and I thought, this director is amazing and I would like one day to work with him. And it happened with Cyrano; it’s Joe Wright and the 18th century which is one of the magical periods so used and abused in movies. It was a rare opportunity to do something truly beautiful.
http://reborn-babies-dolls.com/reborn-baby-doll-classes-online-a-guide-to-making-collecting/ What sort of research did you do to prepare for Cyrano?
There are no real pictures from the 18th century, as the camera was not invented yet. There are only paintings, but what’s represented in the paintings is not reality. For the makeup, they used the same products painters used. Then there were illnesses, like smallpox, which left the skin with scabs and marks. If you’re an aristocrat, you told the painter to cover all the scabs and make you beautiful. What we know from the paintings is the reference of the colors and the wigs. It’s more interesting for the hair side than the makeup.
How did you approach the makeup and hair for the character of Roxanne?
Haley Bennett is beautiful. My obsession was with the skin which I wanted to make white but I had to find the right tone; a little bit ivory, a little bit pinkish, but not too much. We used Temptu airbrush to completely cover the skin and two or three different foundations. I was obsessed about the hands, ears, chest, neck —everything was completely covered and buffered to make it soften like a marble. There is a statue of Antonio Canova in Rome called Amore and Psyche, where the man holds his hand on the legs of the woman and the finger goes softest in the marble. This is a perfect reference of the idea to make the skin look ethereal. The rest of the audience, was a completely different way. Roxanne, Cyrano and Christian are like a different part of the movie –one world in another world. It was a long experiment to find the right color white. I’m really happy about the results.
How did you design the makeup for Peter Dinklage as Cyrano in the city versus the war?
In the city, he was more boyish; it was natural. When we need the makeup, we use the makeup. The war scene is driven by nature because of the environment; it’s the snow, the cold that inspires us. The town of Noto inspired us with its beautiful baroque and atmosphere. You have to be on location and feel the vibe of the atmosphere. Same for the top of the volcano when we do the war scene, and at the end of the movie when Peter is sick, and almost going to die. We just removed all the redness; redness is life. When you remove everything and go to blue, grey, green, then it becomes sick without prosthetics or stipple or a fake wrinkle. We just used the colors to make the effect. I had some hand-laid beard to add more white in his beard and the skin was a little bit dirty.
What were the must-have products you couldn’t have done this film without?
We used the same colors for everyone, apart from Roxanne. For the audience, it was Kryolan White Supracolor for the face, MAC Russian Red for the lips, and Kryolan Supracolor 078 for the cheeks. Men and women without distinction. Makeup was like a social representation. Peasants don’t wear makeup, just aristocrats. There was more makeup on the men than the women in that period. For Haley, I used Serge Lutens fluid foundation for the white and Dr. Barbara Sturm Brightening Serum. We started with a primer to glow the skin. On top, we airbrushed this one amazing color Temptu made for me. I don’t use a lot of powder. The cheeks and lips were always grease products, not powder; I used Benetint liquid stain for her lips and cheeks because you can just blot it on transparent and Tata Harper Very Naughty tres Coquine for the cheek sometimes. It was important not to expose any real skin, and that all the skin was completely covered, close to the hair and inside the ears with the airbrush. For the rest of the actors, it was a white from Kryolan and Temptu.
What were the challenges of shooting in October 2020 during Covid in Italy?
It was not challenging, it was quite magical. We left all the places where Covid was king and went to a little town where it seemed like Covid didn’t exist. The city was closed; it was quite surreal. You couldn’t walk in the road without seeing the cast and crew. It was just us. We can convert the tension of the rules of Covid protocol to our advantage. We’ve all been together in this beautiful villa in the center of Noto — there’s Makeup, Hair, Costume, Prop, Production Design — all in the same place that’s also the set. We were happy to be there to do what we like to do. It was amazing. In a certain way, Covid was something that made us bond together.
Words Shannon Levy
Photos courtesy of Peter Mountain/MGM
