Actors often talk about losing themselves in a role, but sometimes we can lose sight of them, too: Like, where was Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder? Or Tilda Swinton in Trainwreck? Did you even know Hugh Grant was in Cloud Atlas? Thanks to the efforts of skillful makeup artists and visual effects wizards, a familiar face can be completely unrecognizable in a movie.
Often prosthetics are used to alter an actor’s appearance, like Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire and Eddie Murphy in Coming to America. Other times it’s clever wigs and makeup, like Elizabeth Banks turn as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games movies and Cate Blanchett’s transformation into Bob Dylan for I’m Not There. Sometimes the effect is achieved with less high-tech means—like drastic weight gain (Charlize Theron in Monster), a change of voice (Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln) or forgoing makeup altogether (Mariah Carey in Precious). Gary Oldman has gotten so good at disguising himself in films like Sid & Nancy, Dracula, Hannibal and Darkest Hour that he’s earned a reputation as a modern-day Man of a Thousand Faces.
If they’re successful, a disguised actor can still capture our attention, and maybe even an Academy Award. So can the artists who help transform them: Legendary movie makeup master Rick Baker has won eight Oscars, for films ranging from Men in Black to Harry and the Hendersons. Ve Neill, who frequently collaborates with Tim Burton, earned Academy Awards for her work in both Beetlejuice and Ed Wood.
“A makeup artist is one of the director’s tools, someone who helps bring their vision to life,” she told The New York Times. “When I worked on Beetlejuice, [Tim Burton] gave me sketches. There are different ways to get inspiration for a character, but the process always starts with the director.”
Slide through to see some of the most unbelievable transformations in movie history.
Pictured is actress and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks.Getty ImagesEddie Murphy in Coming to America (1988)Paramount PicturesPictured is actor Eddie Murphy.Getty ImagesJohn Travolta in Hairspray (2007)New Line CinemaJohn Travolta is pictured.Getty ImagesMariah Carey in Precious (2009)Lions GateMariah Carey is pictured at the Golden Globes.Getty ImagesEmma Thompson in Nanny McPhee (2005)Universal PicturesIt took just an hour-and-a-half for Emma Thompson to morph into the magical governess, based on the popular Nurse Matilda series of children books. The transformation involved a fat suit, wig, false teeth and a fake nose. “You have to be rather Zen when you're in that state,” Thompson told SheKnows.com. “You have to let it float over you. It's very uncomfortable.”Getty ImagesRebecca Romijn in X-Men (2000)20th Century FoxMystique’s scaly blue skin required Romjin to wear a custom bodysuit with more than 100 prosthetic pieces that covered over 60 percent of her body. The full effect took nine hours to apply.She couldn’t fly, use skin cream or even drink wine the day before shooting because it could alter her body chemistry and cause the prosthetics to fall off.Getty ImagesHugh Grant in Cloud Atlas (2012)Warner Bros.Like all the actors in the Wachowskis' Cloud Atlas, Hugh Grant played numerous roles. But he was entirely unrecognizable as the chief of the cannibal Kona tribe, a transformation that required full body makeup and an elaborate costume.Getty ImagesElizabeth Banks in The Hunger Games franchise
Lions GateMarion Cotillard shaved off her eyebrows and the front of her hairline to appear more like Edith Piaf in Olivier Dahan’s biopic, and slumped her 5’6” frame down to mimic the songbird’s more petite 4’11 frame. Prosthetics were added to convey Piaf’s premature aging from alcoholism.Playing such a recognizable and beloved figure is monumentally difficult, but Cotillard earned the Academy Award for her work in the film.
Getty ImagesRobin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)20th Century FoxVe Neill spent more than four hours a day turning Williams into his kid’s eccentric nanny. His prosthetic mask was actually made up of many different pieces, allowing him to be more expressive.Neill won the Best Makeup Oscar for her work on Mrs. Doubtfire. Getty ImagesGary Oldman in Hannibal (2001)Universal PicturesIn the 2001 sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, Oldman played Mason Verger, who’s been left with only tiny sockets where his eyes, nose and mouth used to be. (Makeup artist Greg Cannom based Verger's appearance on a fetus.)Oldman, who also transformed himself in Darkest Hour and Dracula, went uncredited in Hannibal to preserve the mystery behind the character.Getty ImagesBilly Crystal in The Princess Bride (1987)MGMDirector Rob Reiner wanted Miracle Max to be sound like Mel Brooks, but Crystal collaborated with makeup artist Peter Montagna, whom he had worked with on Saturday Night Live, to model his face after legendary baseball manager Casey Stengel. Getty ImagesJohn Hurt in The Elephant Man (1980)BrooksfilmsJohn Hurt had to arrive on set at 5am and sit in the makeup chair for seven hours to play disfigured John Merrick—and then endure another two hours to get everything off at the end of the day. He actually only worked on alternating days to give him time to recover.He earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in The Elephant Man.Getty ImagesCate Blanchett in I’m Not There. (2007)Killer FilmsOne of six actors to play Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes' biopic, Blanchett portrayed the music icon at the height of his 1960s success. To get into character, she donned a bushy black wig and put a sock down her pants to "walk like a man."Getty ImagesGlenn Close in Albert Nobbs (2011)Mockingbird PicturesGlenn Close is known for over-the-top performances in films like Fatal Attraction and 101 Dalmatians, but to play a woman posing as a man in 19th-century Ireland, she went for a more understated approach, changing her posture and cutting her hair short and dying it brown.Close was nominated for Best Actress and Albert Nobbs for Best Makeup.
Getty ImagesTom Cruise in Tropic Thunder (2008)DreamworksRenee Zellweger is playing Judy Garland in a biopic coming out in late 2019, The film is set three decades after The Wizard of Oz and follow the legendary performer as she prepares for a series London shows shortly before her death. Getty ImagesRalph Fiennes in the Harry Potter moviesWarner Bros.To make Ralph Fiennes into evil Lord Voldemort took a lot of CGI work. “There’s this idea that we put the shots through the computer and it just vanished off his face,” visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin told Radio Times. “[His nose] had to be painstakingly edited out, frame by frame, over the whole film. And then the snake slits had to be added and tracked very carefully using dots put on his face for reference.”Getty ImagesLee Pace in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)Marvel StudioYou could easily watch Pace as the menacing Ronan the Accuser and not even know he’s in Guardians. Besides his blue complexion, he’s got tar-black makeup, piercing purple eye and a giant headdress. “Nothing puts you in the character like looking in the mirror and seeing yourself completely transformed,” Pace told CBR.com. “It changes the way that you move. It changes the way you speak. It changes the way people look at you when you walk onto set.”Getty ImagesCharlize Theron in Monster (2003)Newmarket FilmsTheron gained 30 pounds and donned yellowed false teeth to play real-life Florida serial killer Aileen Wuornos. That hard work earned her the Best Actress Oscar in 2004. Getty ImagesBill Nighy in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)Walt Disney Co.Bill Nighy played Davy Jones in Dead Man’s Chest but thanks to some CGI magic, he was virtually unrecognizable in the film. To create the octopus-like visage, Nighy's face was tracked via motion capture technology and replaced in post-production.Dead Man’s Chest went on to win the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.Getty ImagesTilda Swinton in Trainwreck (2015)Universal PicturesThe striking English actress was so transformed as Amy Schumer’s spray-tanned boss many moviegoers didn’t realize it was her. Swinton modeled the character after former Vogue Paris editor Carine Roitfeld, starting with a custom wig and loads of makeup. “[Tilda] said, ‘If I’m going to put makeup on, I’m going to put on the most eyeliner I can,’” Trainwreck stylist Kyra Panchenko told Entertainment Weekly. “We spent a lot of time on the eyes.” Getty ImagesRooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)Columbia TriStar PicturesCasting Lisbeth Salander took months but director David Fincher eventually settled on Rooney Mara, whom he had directed in Social Network. Mara got into character by getting real piercings and having temporary tattoos drawn over her body. She also worked with a movement coach to change her stance and walk.Getty ImagesRenee Zellweger in Judy (2019)Pathe UK Didn’t know Tom Cruise was in the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder? Look again: He plays overweight movie mogul Less Grossman. Everything on the Mission Impossible star is fake—his face, his chest hair, his belly. Even the character’s hands are prosthetic. Getty ImagesDaniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (2012)DreamworksAt 6’4” Daniel Day-Lewis didn’t need to wear lifts to portray the 16th U.S. president in Steven Spielberg’s biopic. In fact, he used his own hair and beard, with the effects team adding only light makeup and Abe’s famous mole to complete the look.“Without sounding unhinged, I know I’m not Abraham Lincoln,” Day-Lewis told the New York Times. “But the truth is, the entire game is about creating an illusion, and for whatever reason... some part of me can allow myself to believe for a period for time without questioning [that I am].”
Getty ImagesSteve Carell in Foxcatcher (2014)Fair Hill LLCTo play chemical-company heir (and convicted killer) John du Pont, Carrell spent hours in the makeup chair every day, changing his complexion and getting fitted with a prosthetic nose.Getty ImagesMichael Keaton in Beetlejuice (1988)Warner Bros.Once makeup artist Ve Neill settled on the title character’s dark eyes, green hair and large false teeth, she told Yahoo News, Keaton “just completely started going off, crazy-like." She won the Academy Award for Best Makeup for her work. Getty ImagesEric Stoltz in Mask (1985)Universal StudiosPlaying Rocky Dennis, a young man with a rare craniofacial condition, required Stoltz to undergo hours of prosthetic makeup every day of shooting.Because his appearance was so dramatically altered, many of his co-stars only learned what he really looked like when they promoted the film. Getty ImagesNicole Kidman in The Hours (2002)Paramount PicturesNicole Kidman changed her voice, forwent makeup and donned a prosthetic nose to play a suicidal Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s novel. The effort earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress—even though she was only in the film for 28 minutes.The Hours was disqualified for receiving a Best Makeup nomination, though, because digital enhancements were added to Kidman’s fake proboscis. Getty ImagesMarion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose (2007)T1F1 Films
