How Long Bale Dick Cheney Makeup

For three-fourth dimension Oscar winner Greg Cannom—the makeup designer behind Dracula, Mrs. Doubtfire and Titanic—nil about Vice was simple. For this radically unconventional pic, his first with Adam McKay, he was asked to transform Christian Bale into Dick Cheney, and was honest virtually the fact that he wasn't sure he could pull it off.

During six weeks of makeup trials with Bale, Cannom was put through the ringer, designing not for ane Cheney, but many. Ultimately, George W. Bush's infamous VP would be seen on screen in many iterations, encompassing over 50 years of history, both personal and political.

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In collaboration with McKay, Cannom was given complimentary rein. In his 40-plus years on the task, Cannom has predominantly worked with directors who know picayune nearly his craft, and the caste of complexity at hand, in terms of demands on his department. "When I did Dracula, information technology was only supposed to be an old-age makeup, and I ended up doing a bat creature, and a wolf brute, and an old-age bat fauna and everything in information technology. I'd evidence sculptures to [Francis Ford] Coppola, and Coppola would but go, 'I know null about makeup effects. You do whatever you want,'" the artist explains. "So, I practice what I recall is right. I always use my eye, and I use every little fox in the book I tin call up of."

While Vice was an unusually complex project for Cannom, he constitute in McKay the all-time collaborator he could enquire for. "He'south so nice, and he's ever positive," the makeup designer says. "One day I was on set in the outset, and he walked in, and was just like, 'How do you do this, Cannom? Are you a witch?'"

Not every bit easily impressed was Bale, who "had a lot to exercise" with the Cheney nosotros see on screen, and pushed back at every stage, until he was sold on what he was seeing in the mirror. For Cannom, though, the procedure was fun, "because I'd much rather take someone who'southward going to be function of information technology than not."

With Cannom focusing on Cheney transformations, information technology would take the piece of work of an array of makeup and hair artists to bring Vice to fruition, transforming actors like Amy Adams, Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell into well-known, real-world figures. Remarkably though, in the end, an illusion was crafted that fooled not only Bale'southward eye, but Cannom himself. Cheney was in the room, and Bale was not.

What were your get-go impressions when you read the script for Vice? What did you answer to in the material?

There wasn't a script when I started on information technology, then I simply had to go past what they were telling me about the motion-picture show—that they wanted Christian to play Dick Cheney. That was quite a challenge. Only we had to do some quick tests, and then if they liked information technology, they would dark-green light the moving-picture show. The script wasn't ready for months, and then I didn't become to read anything [for] a while. And then, it was fun: What I liked about the script, as a makeup artist, is they're showing him onetime, and everybody knows what he looks like when he'southward onetime. But it also jumped around to where he was 21, 35, 27, 75, and 40s and 50s. Information technology was all over the place, which is fun for us makeup people. Because then, you become to come across the ages adjacent to each other.

Bale is an actor known for transformative roles of this sort. What made you nervous or uncertain near the prospect of turning him into Cheney?

Well, he had never worn appliances before. You never know how someone'south going to react with that, because he'southward done all these films just by physically changing himself. So, that worried me a lot. The first fourth dimension I put him in the makeup, he was similar, "Am I going to be able to turn my neck?" I was like, "Oh, yeah. It'south like flesh. Don't worry nigh it." So, that was a problem in the beginning. He started gaining some weight, besides, considering he wanted a very strong, thick cervix—because he but wasn't sure nearly the prosthetics.

We did the tests, and that worked pretty good. It was plenty to green light the film. Then, we actually started in a few months later on, and nosotros had to but go full-diameter on information technology; we kept changing things, trying to get the [63]-yr-old await downward first, the one that everybody knows.

A couple weeks before shooting, I did a exam on Christian, and I actually liked it, simply Christian still wanted to make it better, change information technology, a fiddling thicker cervix and everything. I was arguing with him, "No, information technology's besides much." But Christian wins out every fourth dimension, and so the producer said, "Do information technology." I think we but had 5 days to redo the whole affair. That Sabbatum before shooting, he was in the office, put on the accommodate, and I was like, "No, it's too fat, I think." He put on the fatty suit, and spectacles, and teeth, and walked in the room, and everybody merely could not believe it. I was like, "Oh my god, yous were absolutely right," and that's what'southward in the movie. He looked merely dead on.

The skillful thing about that [was], he thought information technology was interesting equally we were going along, but he wasn't really happy. Simply that solar day when he put it on, you lot could only tell he was then happy. He just kept looking in the mirror and smiling, and he really became excited at that point.

With Vice, you were transforming an array of actors into living political figures. How did you approach this challenge, in a general sense?

One reason I call up I'm adept is dorsum on Dracula with Gary Oldman, I did an old-age makeup on him, and it was beautiful, but it didn't await like him at all. I was using pictures, so I started to really expect at his face cast and learned from that. I'grand pretty practiced at doing old-age makeups, but keeping it look similar the actor, which is really difficult to practice.

For this, I went in the other direction, like I did in Mrs. Doubtfire, where you lot just take to practice something completely different. It's thinking of sculpting, trying it, and making it work. I never thought it would piece of work every bit good as it did on [Bale] because he's got such a long face, totally different than anything Cheney had. When he's 21 in the film, nobody knows what Cheney looked like back so, and so we could go abroad with looking more like Christian. Even though Cheney, y'all could never recognize him in his photographs—a football game player type guy—it was pretty astonishing. Nosotros only had to keep working on all the stages and making information technology then [the materials] would smoothly alloy into each other.

What materials did you use in crafting Bale's prosthetics? What kinds of pieces did you put on him?

We started with Christian with a confront cast; information technology had to be a really practiced face cast of him. From that, nosotros made duplicates in special material, and sculpted on it. We would number the front of it, what age it was, and sculpt him, and keep alternate and working on him in the clay. Then, once yous get that done, you cut the pieces upwards for overlapping pieces, which means that the cervix is carve up from the cheek, but the cheek has to blend over onto the cervix, so you tin can't see whatever seams. Then we molded all that, each piece, and injected silicone into information technology, and popped that out. Then, you had a silicone appliance of a cheek, or a chin, or a neck.

He had two tiny pieces on his nose, merely to strengthen his olfactory organ and brand it a picayune rounder on the very bottom. Then, he would accept these plugs that Chris Gallaher had made, footling circles that you tin put up your nose to widen your whole nose, and still breathe through them. It was a lot of lilliputian gimmicks going on, besides all that, and he wore those all through the film.

Then, we started with cheeks and mentum in the earlier years, and by the fourth dimension we got to the [63], 68, information technology was about ix appliances. He had appliances on the back of his hands, and we had to brand those upwardly every day. Information technology's pretty crazy. It takes about three and a half, four hours with the wig considering at some signal, we tried to get the whole top of the head done, while nosotros were still working on the makeup and coloring information technology. Then, they started on the wig, to try to become it down equally fast as we [could].

Vice wasn't shot in chronological guild. How, then, did yous manage Cheney's visual transformation over time?

We did do charts and everything—huge charts. And then, we but had to gauge. Sometimes, nosotros'd be on a location and we'd take to exercise him at 65, and and so maybe at 35, then we'd have to have him out during the twenty-four hours and put him into a whole nother makeup. Sometimes, you lot only had to gauge at what you remember is going to work, to alloy into the shot y'all did two weeks ago, when he was 5 years younger. You had to figure out the years exactly. Between a few years, you lot'd sit down there and take the wig, and perchance arrive a footling whiter, or a fiddling darker, so that information technology would alloy into the next wig. That was done all the fourth dimension on his makeups. So, I would become in and perchance make more of an eye bag, or a little more painting, make the lines around [his] mouth be a niggling more than or a little less, to match. So, it might take been eight or 9 stages, merely there'southward probably 25, thirty stages when y'all get technical about information technology.

Were whatever shooting days especially challenging, as you worked through all this?

At that place was ane day where we did iii different looks. I retrieve it was nine hours of just makeup. It was all menstruation, from the '60s downwardly to the '50s—a huge amount of menses work, besides the pilus work and everything.

What would Bale exist doing, as he sabbatum in the chair for all those hours?

He was commonly insulting us, somehow, for fun. [Laughs] No, he's very funny. He'd be going over his lines, and he'd exist looking in the mirror a lot and working on the grapheme, and watching a lot of footage of Cheney. He did and then much research on that film—unbelievable. It was really fun making him upwardly, and watching him become this character.

What was the process, when it came to your supporting cast?

Well, I did Christian and Amy's makeup. I was supposed to have done Steve Carell'south makeup as well, but because of the small exam time, Christian wanted me to really concentrate mainly on him. So, they brought in Donald Mowat from Canada to do Steve Carell'south work. Kate Biscoe was the head of the makeup department, and she had 130 people to make upwards, everybody else in the cast. Her assistant was Jamie Kelman, who's a really adept makeup artist, and Jamie did Sam'due south makeup; he did a nose on him, and makeup, and it worked really well.

Were the bulk of your principals wearing wigs? Was whatever dyeing done?

Occasionally they would utilise their pilus. Sam Rockwell, I think it was his. They cut and trimmed information technology and everything, and used information technology for the film, but a lot of it was wigs. With Christian, we used his hair for the 21-twelvemonth-onetime and shot it, and fabricated sure [it looked] skilful. Then, nosotros shaved his caput every mean solar day and just used the wigs, because at that place were so many looks, and information technology was pretty thin pilus. Amy, I call back all of hers was wigs, and I think we did nine or x wigs and pieces on Christian. Everybody else, because of the catamenia stuff, it was mostly wigs, trying to get that done. Information technology was quite a jaunt to go through this motion picture considering all of u.s.a. were only scrambling, trying to go information technology right. Just it turned out really nice, all the hair and makeup, and the costumes and everything. Wes Wofford, who used to work with me all the time back in the day, he moved back Due east, but he came out and did Colin Powell [Tyler Perry]'s makeup, which was fun.

Vice is a film that wouldn't work without the correct hair and makeup. Was your department'southward budget any college here than it might commonly be, given all the makeup the moving picture required?

No. Information technology was the type of thing where, when nosotros were starting, they're going, "Well, we might desire one wig for Christian," and I'grand just laughing. I called upward my hair guy, Justin Stafford, who makes the wigs really good, and they aren't cheap. I just said, "Look, we're starting on this now. We have virtually six weeks. Can yous showtime on it? They will pay you lot. It'll take a while to make the deal, but can yous come in tomorrow and get-go making wigs?" And he did. He was working on another prove, only he only dropped everything, and came and started working on it. Then, they found out how much a wig is, but at ane betoken, you've but got to go, "Look, this is how it has to be."

You've washed a lot of boundary-pushing work over the years, even winning a Technical Accomplishment Accolade from the Academy in 2005, "for the development of…special modified silicone material for makeup applications used in move pictures." That said, how did Vice compare, in level of difficulty, to films you've worked on in the by?

Wes Wofford and I came up with that silicone; I came up with the skin, and Wes made it work. We were the kickoff to use overlapping silicone appliances back and then—the rest of the silicone, as far as I was concerned, didn't work. You couldn't make it upward; it wouldn't stick. We came upwards with this incredible silicone that was a rubber skin, and I could put makeup on it, but like I always do, and it worked beautifully. With that, we did incredible age makeups over the years; it was on Bicentennial Man that we came upwards with that, and it's only been trying to perfect it for years. Coloring it is one-half the trouble. On Benjamin Button, I thought that turned out pretty good, only information technology still wasn't quite perfect, what I wanted to do.

This film, I actually wanted to have it further, and I establish a new fashion of using my makeups, mixing information technology with a tattoo color that works fantastic. Actually, we took our time to get the coloring down, and it actually went pretty smoothly, this film. Once we got into the realm of it looking like [Cheney], then information technology was just fine tweaking it. Everything just fell into place.

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