What I Learned about Being in Monster Make Up for a Film. And No, I'm Not the Guy in the LOTR Ph
Hey all. Wednesday night I performed in a one-minute comedy written and directed by Lawton Meyer, the same film maker with whom I worked recently on a music video. In this latest project, I play a demon who gets punched in the nose by a terrified home owner and in consequence we have an awkward social moment. The project is Lawton's submission in the Film Riot film competition.
I had to sit for about 45 minutes of make up to get myself to look like a rotting, terrifying demon. The make up was done by the wonderful Kingston, NY-based make up artist Laura Cina. This was my first experience with being made up to look like a monster, and it was eye opening.
Once the make up was on I had to be very careful not to smudge or ruin it. And here's the thing: you know how if you are in a situation where everybody expects you to be quiet you just naturally develop this infuriating urge to cough? It's like the need to not cough makes coughing happen? In a similar vein, once I was in the make up and it was vital that I not scratch my head or face too much, I got this urge to scratch. Maybe the make up had something to do with it, but I'm pretty sure it was just psychosomatic: I just got an itchy face and head. It was so distracting. All I wanted to do was scratch Laura told me don't scratch: just rub carefully wherever it itches so I would not mess up the make up, but rubbing does not have the satisfaction of a good, virile scratching. So, that was something I learned about being in monster make up.
Another thing is I could not lay my head on the couch. We were using somebody's house and we had to make sure not to mess up the place, so I didn't want to stain the couch. So I sat up straight while I was waiting for my next shot. I also walking around very gingerly to make sure I did not smear passersby.
All this make me wonder how difficult an experience it must have been for Lawrence Makoare. He is the actor who played Lurtz in Lord of the Rings. He had, I heard, 10 or 11 hours of make up to get him to look like this:
Wow. That is a look of work. And then he probably had to spend all day long being careful where he sat and how he scratched his head, to say nothing of how much work it must have been just to eat lunch. I hope they paid Mr. Makoare really, really well for going through all that.
Meanwhile, it took 45 minutes to get me to look like this:
Another interesting factoid about being in monster make up: somebody told me I looked a little like Uncle Fester. So I guess that's a win.
Oh, here's Laura and me:
So thank you again Lawton, for another fun night on a film set. Good luck with the competition! And thanks to Laura for her terrific work. And if you want to learn more about Film Riot, go here: https://filmstro.com/filmriot
