Every day until the Oscars ceremony we’ll be highlighting a different category or movie here on the LAMB! Here’s a link to all the posts written so far .

Today, Zoe Rose Smith of Zobo With A Shotgun is here to look at the Best Hairstyling & Make-up Category.

Tnx Zoe!

Best Hairstyling & Make-up

The Hair and Make-Up category for the nominations may not necessarily be as popular or well spoken about as the others, but it certainly is an important one. Many films can lose their sense of realism and completely obliterate characters if their look does not please the audience, which is why hiring a talented aesthetics artist is a vital aspect to getting it right. The Oscars 2019 sees three films up for the nominations, and shows just how much work goes into perfecting the look and transforming actors for their roles.

Border

Not only is this Swedish film nominated for Best Foreign Language film, but it’s also nominated in this category. Border from director Ali Abbasi, completely changes the look of two of its central characters and changes them into real-life trolls. The man behind these masterpieces was Göran Lundström who also worked on Beauty and the Beast. He aimed to completely take the look of the actors away and provide features that did not distract the audience too much but made the actors underneath recognisable, and it seems he succeeded. Working closely alongside him was the very talented Pamela Goldammer, who worked on applying the everyday make-up the stars of the film.

Mary Queen of Scots

Most of us are accustomed to seeing Margot Robbie looking outstanding in her natural beauty, but for her role as Queen Elizabeth in director Josie Rourke’s Mary Queen of Scots, she was made to look rather ghastly. Alongside her was another known for her fair grace, Saoirse Ronan, who plays Queen Mary and perhaps doesn’t look quite as remarkably different, but still underwent quite a transformation by Make-Up and Hair artist Jenny Shircore. There were some days on set when Robbie was sat in the chair for over three hours with the artists working their magic to make her mouth narrower, nose smaller and apply heavy make-up. There’s no doubt that Shircore understands exactly how to portray an iconic character and give a sense of realism.

Vice

Something that has always fascinated me is Christian Bale’s ability to completely transform the way he looks for a role that he is playing. Most notably he reinvented himself in the Batman films which his buff exterior, and in the Machinist where he lived off supposedly an apple a day to become anorexic to the point of serious concern. It comes as no surprise that once again Bale has transformed his look for his role as Dick Cheney in Vice from director Adam McKay. However, that look did come with some ample help from Hair and Make-up Stylist Greg Cannom. He used his skills to take Bale through the ages, which included prosthetics, nose appliances and specially designed wigs. Bale is almost unrecognisable in this role.

But who does the title belong to? It’s hard to say due to how much dedication, hard-work and effort goes in from not only the hair and make-up artists themselves, but also the crew they have assisting. There might be one we think is the winner, but let’s leave it to the official winners announcements.

Tags: Border, Mary Queen of Scots, Vice, Zobo With A Shotgun