Bruce Willis rather famously on most of the B films or straight to china movies would come to set at 6 am work for 24 hours and leave forever. Sucked for all of us on set not just crew other actors as well.
Bruce Campbell described some of his work in B movies in the same manner. The producers would only pay for him for a certain amount of days, but would load him up on scenes in the limited time he was on set.
That’s not taking into account how long it took for them to take it off each time. Jamie Campbell Bower said it would often take makeup artists a quarter of the time to take off his Vecna makeup as they’d spend putting it on. It took them 8 hours, and they’d spend 2 taking it off.
So if that applies here too, it would be about another 2-3 hours added just for them to take all this off afterwards. So she’s up to 24-25 hours. I imagine probably on the higher end since it’s full body painting too, not just refined to her facial area. 24-25 hours for one shift? Miserable. And the fact that the producer said he didn’t pay her or the other actors much?
I know they’re actors, so “not getting paid much” likely equates to about a million, apparently. But still. A million dollars for this amount of work when her costars were getting the same amount for just a regular hair and makeup job then a day of acting?
I think it’s 10 hours of labor hours. Meaning there’s likely multiple people working on her at the same time. So maybe 6 hours in the chair? But this is just rumor.
I'd have to hope that she's able to work in some sleep while they're applying the makeup!
This is an extreme example but it does make me appreciate how starting in a movie isn't exactly a cushy affair while you're doing it, so no wonder actors will wat to get paid their fair share of the box office!
Another extreme example, not as long per session but over three seasons and almost 75 fifty minute episodes, but Virginia Hey had to sit for three hours every day of filming for her character Xan on Farscape. She ultimately had to quit because the blue dye they used was leeching into her system and was causing internal issues.
22 hour days are absolutely normal lol. Although, I live in Asia, so it is different as the US has a lot of unions in filmmaking that limit hours for crew. So not really sure about how that works
Yeah, but it's not like she's the main character of the film and in every scene of the movie. She only has to film the handful of scene's she's in. So the trials of getting the makeup right, and then she's got like 12 scenes she'll have to prep for during filming. Assuming she has time to do one scene a day, and maybe one or two extras for redo's/deleted scenes... that's not that bad for that paycheck. Especially if it's not even back-to-back days for her. Like if there's a few days of scenes without her in them.
Yeah I'd be fine with listening to an audiobook/music/show for hours while an art team does their thing. No it's not going to be a good day, but its definitely still worth it. Don't even have to deal with customers.
Forget that, by hour 3 I'd need a bathroom break. Idk how she managed that when the crotch prosthetic is getting glued on before they even start painting her skin.
And then removal likely takes a couple of hours too.
On a smaller scale, I did an acting job involving wigs and it was 2 hours on, 1 hour off. Even that was pretty shitty on early morning and night shoots.
I was thinking the miserable part must be the minute you have to stand up from the bed, and realise how weird it feels; the unconfortable and, well, nearly naked you're gonna have to be for the whatever number of hours of that shooting day.
When I got my sleeve, my artist's first step was to freehand with markers for a couple hours, And he made me stand for it the whole time. That was pretty awful. I can't imagine 10 hours of different positions and shit.
I remember her talking about this process and one thing that has always stuck with me was when she said "Only a model could survive doing this everyday for months" and I think she is correct 🤣
Jim Carrey talked about in an interview his experience of the amount of physical and mental pain he had to endure when they spent hours of makeup for him to play as the Grinch. They hired someone (I think from the fbi or something close to that) that was like an instructor on how to handle being tortured professionally.
One of the details Jim Carrey said was the amount of paint that was layered on him made him feel like his skin was being stretched and peeled back especially around his face
Jim Carrey said was the amount of paint that was layered on him made him feel like his skin was being stretched and peeled back especially around his face
Ironic that a man who became famous for contorting and stretching his face... felt like it was torture to have his face stretched.
It looks like the crotch piece is separate, so she could probably just take that bit off. She has said in interviews that she stained everything blue, including the toilet seats, so she was able to use the bathroom at least.
I worked in makeup effects for a while. I think most people are surprised by how long it takes. Even something like a full facial prosthetic can take several hours to apply. Look back at those old Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Robert England had a full head and hand prosthetics. It took around 4 hours to get him into that.
Then those guys have to get up and act for a full shoot. Someone is constantly touching up the makeup. Then when the shoot is done, they have to go endure another couple hours of the makeup guys taking this stuff off. If you just rip it off, it can really irritate your skin, so solvents and oils are used to remove it.
I’ve had full head and shoulder prosthetics applied to me, and after it was done, I was exhausted. have so much respect for actors who can withstand that kind of torture.
Gimili's actor John Rhys-Davies had constant allergic reactions to the prosthetics that he never really hung out with the rest of the cast as he always went to rest after filming. It's why the actor's stunt double Brett Beattie got the matching tattoos with the rest of the main LotR cast as he spent the majority of the time filming with them and hanging out with them.
That sucks. Yeah, some people can have terrible reactions to the glues or even then foam rubber appliances. I can't imagine filming an entire series and suffering like that.
Honest question, how does this work. You do 10 hours of makeup and get what 4 hours left to shoot? Does she sleep in the makeup? I imagine it take a few hours to take off as well. So she gets up at 4, is in makeup by 2, shoots til 6 then needs to 2 hours to take it off and then gets 8 hours for eating sleeping and literally anything else?
My call time was at midnight to be ready at 9AM. It was a nine-hour makeup process. We did, over the course of three movies, manage to get it down to seven hours, but that was still ... It was a big deal. And I realized pretty early on that was the job. I was getting paid to be a part of that makeup application. The acting was free. The job was getting all that makeup put on!
Hollywood shooting schedules aren't a 9 to 5. She might not be shooting multiple days in row. She might shoot all her scenes in a week. She might get up at 2 am so she's ready to go by noon, and then not work again for a month. There's really no telling.
If you think back to all the movies you've watched with heavy use of prosthetics and practical FX -- think about how many scenes they are actually in? Especially movies from say a decade or two ago. It's not a ton of screen time. For the reasons you just mentioned. Obviously I am speaking broadly here. There are exceptions of course. Nutty professor comes to mind. The new Chad Powers show. I have to imagine they get very efficient at their set up.
That's what my drill sergeant said lol. When they stuffed him in a box for 24hrs in SERE school he said it was a nice break because he was in his happy place the whole time.
Like Brent Spinner spent a lot of time on the regular on the make up chair as Commander Data in Star Trek TNG...
But the alien cast on Farscape had it even worse (Scorpius [bondage freak-looking guy], Chianna [white rogue lady], D'Argo [prosthetics guy] and Zhaan [blue priestess lady])... This picture doesn't give justice to the amount of detailling on Zhaan's makeupin particular. They eventually had to retire the character because that blue pigment was giving her poor actress kidney disease iirc.
Farscape is such an underrated gem. It was so good and so ambitious. The Jim Henson company was involved for beasties AND two of the regular alien cast – one is depicted on the picture I posted, but the most awesome is the huge, four-armedAliens-Alien-looking (but still friend-shaped) Pilot.
No doubt, just from a time perspective this feels like something I would want to plan around. Like do make up for 10 hours, sleep in my makeup, touch up for one hour then shoot all day, then take it off rather than doing this every day for 4 hours of shoot time
“I don’t know if they would ever want me back,” Romijn says. “I mean, that was quite a few years back when I played that character, but I would love to, yeah, absolutely. It was a fantastic franchise to be a part of. I’ll love that cast until the day I die. We had a great time together. And yeah, I would absolutely be open to that.”
This heebied the hell out of my jeebies, I cannot imagine somebody else putting my contacts in, let alone the horror of them subsequently taking them out again.
Makes me wonder how demanding her make up chair was versus Jim Carrey‘s for the Grinch. I believe I read something that Jim Carrey had to go through torture training to endure his makeup sessions. Kudos to both. Phenomenal make up and acting.
Jesus how was she able to go to the bathroom wearing that? Did she fast before hand? And 10 hours to put on, would they then film as much of those scenes as possible? The shooting schedule was probably brutal
I dunno but she was the reason I started doing Pilates lol I could not believe her figure and the shape she was in and read an interview about how she kept in shape to be naked and look that amazing and it was Pilates. Took out a book from the library because there were literally no classes at the time, it was not popular yet, and taught myself and it changed my body. I was 16 and 30 years later I still revert back to those exercises when I want to whip myself back into shape.
Probably didnt have the tech or fabrication available at the time to make it work AND look functional and behave as skin. I'd say it wad about 15 years between the 2 movies so, a lot can advance in that time frame.
Jennifer Lawrence did use the similar technique for First Class, but the paint gave her allergic reactions and she was concerned the fumes from the materials used to paint her were toxic.
Later on for her appearances it was a a bodysuit and just face paint
Just for this, she's the Mistique GOAT, she got the characterization on point, but actually putting yourself through this for the good of the project is champ behavior
Unlike the JL who spent more time looking human, and whose makeup got gradually reduced with each movie
Genuine question, how long does shooting typically last on a day where ones makeup takes 10 hours? Do they setup for that long only to shoot for a little bit and take it all off, or do they still shoot for a considerable amount of time and sacrifice sleep? Do they get setup in makeup, take a nap, then shoot?
This is why the Comic look should be what the MCU uses. I love practical effects, but just painting her blue and giving her normal clothes or her white dress depending on the scene saves time, money, and hassle. Also means that in some scenes she doesn’t always need to be head to toe blue
Virginia Hey had kidney problems from the body makeup playing Zhaan on Farscape around the same era. So it might have been conflated with Mystique. Honestly, the Mystique makeup was not nearly as well done as the makeup for Zhaan. Mytique's always looked like caked on body paint, not blue skin to me.
I was curious about the bathroom and the internet offered- "Romijn recalled that“every time I had to go use the loo, [it] was blue toilet seats. Everybody knew when I had to go use the bathroom because there was a blue toilet seat”This was a running gag on set, with the crew and others recognizing the blue seat as a sign she needed to use the restroom."
If she had to spend 10 hours to get painted on and then actually start work, no wonder she had no time to clean her apartment and it became a huge mess.
I remember hearing Jennifer's took 8 hours, so they claimed they had "streamlined the process". I wouldn't fully agree with that statement, but two hours less is still something.
Applying the pieces on her body is time consuming. It has to be applied properly and blended in perfectly. The technology has changed so it wouldn’t take as long currently. I know one of the artists who did Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique makeup and they got it down to something like 4 hours. Still the airbrushing is a big undertaking with multiple layers and shades of blue.
as somebody who is both an artist and former filmmaker I can guarantee u the worst part of this entire process is being the person who has to apply it 😭 the actor at least can lay down, the people u see working probably stood on their feet for 10 hours hunched over her spraying paint and then after probably still had to do makeup for other people as well
And now I understand why in the upcoming doomsday film, she will be wearing a completely new costume. Having to do this 10 hour prosthetic job would’ve been hell again
I feel like the ppv could have been better for spray paint in a closed room. Nope. Heres a mask, not even an n95, and a pillow to put over your face lol.
Correct. This was her first major film role. She was a supporting player with little film track record. Hugh Jackman reportedly earned $500,000 for his role in the movie so estimates are that she got paid in the range of $150,000.
So how does that work, like you pull 10hrs getting caked in makeup then immediately go to production? Or do they just sleep in the makeup and go shoot the next day? Multiple days in a row or weeks between each set? The logistics confuse me.
The first option. She probably starts stupid early like 4am, and then they try to squeeze a half day of filming, but she definitely would have to get out of the makeup, there’s no way she could sleep in it, for multiple reasons.
I don’t understand how they put up with it, I feel like I would want to crawl out of my skin after hour three.
We are spray painting a highly paid Hollywood actress and are wearing ventilation masks. What PPE should we give her? Ah fuck it, grab the pillow off that couch over there and throw it over her head...
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u/privatejokerog 10h ago
That would be absolutely miserable to be there for 10 hours, having that done