Meet Bill Corso, the Man Born to Do Makeup
- By David Sanger
CLICK on the video above to watch the FULL INTERVIEW.
Today's Monster Maker Interview features Academy Award winner Bill Corso, an effects artist and creature designer who knew from an early age, poring over magazines like Famous Monsters and Fangoria, that makeup effects were his passion. He dedicated his education to learning makeup, a path that paid off with small jobs that led to bigger jobs and so on. Currently one of the most respected and admired makeup artists in the field, able to crossover seamlessly between beauty and effects, Bill Corso’s interview covers subjects ranging from his earliest jobs to explaining why you shouldn’t get too down about your career disappointments.
Jump To Section
- A Plumber’s Son With a Passion for Characters
- Bill Corso’s Start in Makeup Effects
- Working for Rick Baker, Steve Johnson, and Beyond
- Learning His First Lesson as an Artist on Heat (1986)
- Bill Corso’s Creative Partnerships
- When One Door Closes, Another Opens
- Attitude Is (Nearly) Everything in the Filmmaking Industry
(Bill Corso puts the finishing touches on Edward Hermann as 'Herman Munster' for 1997's Here Come the Munsters.)
A Plumber’s Son With a Passion for Characters
New Jersey-born makeup artist Bill Corso has been altering people’s likenesses since he was seven years old. A childhood fascination with drawing, movies, and monsters led Bill to attend the High School for the Visual Arts in Sarasota, Florida. Bill’s early inspiration came from movies and magazines. “When Star Wars came out,” says Bill, “I was like 12…and so that, obviously, blew me away. And what’s great about a magazine like Famous Monsters is they didn’t just have an article on Star Wars, they had an article on Rick Baker. I remember taking my ‘Big Jim’ doll and sculpting a Gorilla. Because, I saw Rick Baker sculpting King Kong. And I wanted to sculpt a roaring King Kong head on my G.I. Joe.!”
(Bill Corso's makeup application for one of the lizard cops in The Amazing Spider-Man, as part of the Legacy Effects creature team.)
Bill Corso’s Start in Makeup Effects
After moving to Los Angeles in 1985 to attend Joe Blasco’s Makeup School, Bill began to lend his talents to such makeup luminaries as six-time Oscar winner Rick Baker for feature film work, including Gremlins 2, Life, Grich, and others, and three-time Oscar winner Ve Neill for Batman & Robin, Galaxy Quest, and more.
Bill concedes, “I don’t remember a time not thinking that this was what I was going to do. You know, I remember thinking that if it didn’t work out…’cause it must be very hard to do it…and maybe I wasn’t professional enough to do it…or I would never get there…that if I didn’t do that, then my fall back would be…painting movie posters. Or cartooning. That would be my two!”
(A popular series of Duracell ads in the mid-1990s featured a family meant to look like vinyl toys created by Steve Johnson's XFX and featuring the makeup artistry of key team member Bill Corso.)
Working for Rick Baker, Steve Johnson, and Beyond
A single sculpting assignment for Steve Johnson and his company XFX Inc. (Ghostbusters, The Abyss) began an eight-year collaboration, with Bill positioned as art director and head studio make-up artist for projects including the sci-fi film Species. This pairing later resulted in two Emmys for outstanding achievement in make-up for two Stephen King-based TV mini-series, The Stand and The Shining. It was after the latter (which he also makeup department headed) that saw Bill leave XFX to devote his energies to on-set make-up work. He has since lent his talents to Steven Spielberg (Amistad, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Munich), Ron Howard (The Grinch), Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight), Tim Burton (Planet of the Apes), and Milos Foreman (Man on the Moon). He won his 3rd Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for HBO’s ‘Grey Gardens’, with Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange.
(Jessica Lange as 'Big Edie' in a performance that earned Emmys for both Jessica's performance and for Bill Corso's makeup.)
Learning His First Lesson as an Artist on Heat (1986)
At 17 years old, working on his very first film as a professional makeup artist—the late 1980’s Burt Reynolds film Heat — Bill relates a story that’s served him well, “The very first night, I learned my first real lesson as a movie makeup artist…and being prepared for anything…I got to set, and they said, ‘Tonight we’re doing a scene where Burt’s a bodyguard, and this little, weasely guy is going to defend his girlfriend’s honor, Burt’s gonna pretend to be a thug, and they’re going to get into a big fight, and the little guy’s gonna beat Burt up. And halfway through the fight, Burt’s gonna knock off the guy’s toupee…the actor has a toupee…’ So, I’m like, 'Okay great.' [Then they ask,] ‘So did you bring a bald cap for the stunt guy?’ And I went…’Uh, sure I did, let me look.’ And luckily, in my kit, I had a bald cap. And I threw this bald cap on him, and I even brought hair!” Bill not only applied the cap, but when the actor damaged the piece in rehearsal, he had to find a way to repair it. As Bill says, “And that was just the beginning of a night filled with wonder…and learning.”
(Jim Carrey as 'Count Olaf' in the film that earned Bill Corso his first Oscar, Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events.)
Bill Corso’s Creative Partnerships
After meeting Jim Carrey on MAN ON THE MOON, Bill began a creative partnership with the actor spanning eight films, including The Majestic, Bruce Almighty, and Fun with Dick and Jane. Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events with Carrey resulted in Bill’s first Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Make-Up. According to Carrey, “Billy Corso is one of the great make-up masters. He can turn a bullfrog into a prince and a princess into an insect or a withering hag. His sense of wonder and his childlike adoration for the creative process has made him a true artisan and one of my favorite collaborators. I feel blessed whenever we get to spend time looking for characters in his funhouse mirror.”
Another productive partnership for Bill has been with none other than Harrison Ford, whose film Star Wars helped inspire Bill's career choice in the first place. Bill’s work on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull began a five-picture run with Harrison Ford, including most recently, ‘42,’ the Story of baseball legend Jackie Robinson to be released in 2013.
(Bill Corso in half-skull makeup with actress/model/host Heidi Klum as the 'visible' woman, facial makeup created by Bill for Heidi's annual Halloween party a few years ago.)
When One Door Closes, Another Opens
“The biggest disappointments that I have had in my career have led to some of the most amazing, successful highlights of my career…quite literally….Getting fired off one job—one of the lowest points of my career and thinking I would never work in this town again—led to me getting hired on another job, which changed my career.” In his despondency over being fired off of one film, Bill was hired by his friend Ve Neill on the Jim Carrey film Man in the Moon, a movie that led to a relationship with Jim Carrey spanning eight movies and, ultimately, an Academy Award for best makeup. “At the lowest points in my career…I just project myself forward…things are going to get better. Because there are many low points, I guess, in anybody’s career, and more often than not, four months later, I would look back at an isolated moment and say, ‘It’s true. Things are so much better now.’ So, I always try to pass that information on because it’s pretty important, I think.”
(Mrs. Corso, actress/model/clothing designer Odile on the left is transformed by makeup effects into a man by her husband Bill in this personal photo.)
Attitude Is (Nearly) Everything in the Filmmaking Industry
Bill wraps up by saying, “I don’t think there’s anything more important than having a great attitude and a good personality….Some people horror at the term ‘production friendly’ but, you know, it’s their movie, it’s the actor’s face, it’s the director’s movie, I’m there to do the very best work I can, make it look as cool as I can, but give them what they want.”
(A still from Bill Corso's lesson for the Stan Winston School of Character Arts: Beauty & Age Makeup - From Script to Screen. Actress: Tara Everhart.)
Bill is dedicated to helping actors and filmmakers create realistic, fantastic, subtle, and extreme characters.
- David Sanger
For the EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW, simply click the player at the top of the page.
Check out our courses with Bill Corso HERE: