Think of it as Hollywood’s version of Halloween. More and more high-profile stars are hiding their multimillion-dollar lights under a bushel, donning heavy and elaborate makeup surgery and prosthetics in roles that make them virtually unrecognizable.
The man of many faces — he’s played Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald, Joe Orton, Beethoven and Dracula, to name a few — becomes the man with no face, a wheelchair-bound billionaire who has been described as looking like a melted Muppet, a roasted marshmallow and a deformed baby.
Other big-name stars prepared to sacrifice their egos for art include Benjamin Bratt, who transforms himself into a sleazy drug kingpin in Traffic, Sean Penn in a brief appearance as a Cuban peasant in Before Night Falls, and Anthony LaPaglia, going incognito as Fidel Castro in The Company Man a,And word has leaked out from the set of Cameron Crowe’s hush-hush “Vanilla Sky” that Tom Cruise conceals his megawatt grin beneath a mask of disfiguring makeup for a portion of the just-wrapped flick.
That kind of makeup surgery allows them to escape the curse of being a star, which is that people regard you as being you and not the character,” “It enables them to do what I imagine they regard as pure acting.
It’s like when you wear a mask at a Halloween party, you become uninhibited — it’s almost as if people can’t see you. That’s what it was like. There was something incredibly relaxing about it.
Midwest makeup whisperer Rebecca Swift transforms herself into her favorite characters, actors, singers, and props with the amazing power of makeup surgery.
But sometimes some actors push themselves too far, physically and psychologically, that it ends up giving us roles that are remembered for decades. Some actors crawl into a character’s skin so much so that they take in all the mental and physical disabilities and quirkiness that comes with the role
Chewbacca, Sloth, and Big Bird are all iconic roles, but could you pick any of the actors who played them out of a lineup?
Let’s take a actors behind the makeup surgery they underwent, or in the suit for a handful of memorable roles in movies and TV shows.
1. WARWICK DAVIS AS WICKET W. WARRICK
Interestingly, Davis was only 17 years old when he played the title role in Willow. Although he had to take lessons in sword fighting and horseback riding to prepare for the fantasy film, Davis later said that the toughest part of the role was learning how to act like a parent to his infant co-star. He said on the DVD commentary, “I had to learn parenting skills, which taught me how to hold a baby correctly, how to feed a baby, and worst of all, how to change a nappy, or diaper.”
2. Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect
I must admit, when this one popped up on my feed I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t Anna Kendrick.
3. Angelina Jolie
And the makeup Oscar goes to…..
