By Michael Martin
A film is a magical blend of elements, especially when you combine genres. Take one part fantasy and one part cop drama. Add in some snappy Will Smith dialogue and lace it with social commentary and that’s how you get ‘Bright.’ The Netflix release stars Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, and Noomi Rapace. It was directed by David Ayer (‘Fury,’ ‘End of Watch’) and written by Max Landis (‘Chronicle,’ ‘Victor Frankenstein’).
(Will Smith and Joel Edgerton as LAPD officers Daryl Ward and Nick Jakoby during roll call. Image courtesy Netflix.)
In a world where humans have always lived alongside orcs, elves, centaurs and even dragons, there are still the same old divides. That’s the fantasy part. Here’s the cop part: LAPD veteran Daryl Ward (Will Smith) and the force's first ever orc officer, Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton), are forced to work together despite their differences to find an ancient relic in the form of a magic wand. On their journey, they must fight corrupt cops, elves, the ‘Magic Task Force,’ and both human and orc street gangs, all to retrieve the wand and keep The Dark Lord from rising!
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- StudioADI Brings Bright's Orcs to Life
- From Silicone to Foam Latex
- The Reptilian Pattern Becomes Mammalian
- Creating a Race of Orcs
- Establishing a Cohesive Look
- Mass-producing Makeups
- The Evolution of Orc Hands
- Mixing and Matching to Make New Orc Makeups
- Filling in the Background
- A ‘Bright’ Future for Practical Makeup Effects
(Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, in orc makeup, and director David Ayer confer on set during the filming of ‘Bright.’ Image courtesy Netflix.)
StudioADI Brings Bright's Orcs to Life
Faced with the daunting task of populating this alternate version of Los Angeles with fantasy characters, notably the orcs, producer Eric Newman (Netflix’s ‘Narcos,’ ‘The Thing’ prequel) brought on Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (aka ADI), the Oscar-winning creature effects studio co-founded by Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. (‘Tremors,’ ‘Starship Troopers,’ the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ series, and the 2017 blockbuster, ‘It’).
(Bright's Orc prosthetic creators, Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, Jr. co-founders of ADI.)
On ‘Bright,’ the ADI team would be responsible for designing, sculpting and creating all of the orc prosthetics for the production. In an interview with SWSCA, Tom Woodruff, Jr. said, “It was the perfect show for us. We started at ground zero, with sketches and drawings.” Artists would then take these ideas and use digital and 3D work to explore the skin textures, patterns, and coloration of the orcs. “It was a great process.”
(Early ADI prosthetic & coloration design concepts laid over an image of Bright co-star Joel Edgerton. Images courtesy ADI.)
As ‘Bright's’ FX makeup department head, Oscar-winner Christopher Nelson‘s creative input was also incorporated, since he would be overseeing the on set makeup team, and was also in charge of applying Joel Edgerton’s "Nick Jakoby" orc makeup every day. "David Ayer liked how I helped develop and execute the Killer Croc makeup for Suicide Squad, and he wanted me to do the same thing for the Jakoby makeup," recalled Nelson. "When I came on board, ADI was already into the design and sculpture phase," said Nelson, "but I was able to give some input on sculptural changes. Then we worked on colorization and paint schemes, and started Joel's makeup tests." The goal? To come up with a pattern that looked great, but that wasn’t so complicated that it would add too much extra time to the application process.
From Silicone to Foam Latex
During a short R&D period, the team explored using silicone appliances. “They look great, they’re translucent," explained Woodruff, Jr. "They’re basically the go-to today for finer, subtler appliances.” But after a test with Joel Edgerton, who would have to wear the makeup in almost every scene of the movie, "we realized silicone would be too heavy and high maintenance for such a grueling action shoot," recalled Nelson. "So I suggested we try foam and everyone agreed that was the way to go."
(Foam latex orc masks and neck and shoulder appliances awaiting paint. Image courtesy ADI.)
The Reptilian Pattern Becomes Mammalian
"We did another makeup test, and the foam worked great, but David Ayer wanted to change the reptilian pattern and color scheme that had been developed," said Nelson. "So we started looking at hairless mammals, like hairless monkeys, hairless dogs, and also incorporated some hippopotamus colors and patterns. We did another makeup test with those adjustments, and everyone liked it, so we stuck with that."
(The final Jakoby makeup sculpture with new mammalian Photoshop color schemes overlaid. Images courtesy ADI.)
(Christopher Nelson applies a test makeup on Joel Edgerton, incorporating the new color scheme. Image courtesy ADI.)
Creating a Race of Orcs
The sheer volume of orcs was another reason that Gillis, Woodruff, Jr., and Nelson decided to go with foam latex appliances. When asked how many orcs were produced for ‘Bright,’ Tom laughed and asked, “How many orcs in a ton?” In actuality, the numbers were staggering. To create the look of an entire orc community, ADI artists sculpted ten primary orc makeups that were custom-made for particular actors. Along with these lead orcs, there were a large group of mid-ground orcs, and then eighty-five background orcs. In total, ADI would produce the prosthetics and masks for almost 200 orcs for ‘Bright!’
(Mike Rotella sculpts final details into an orc sculpture prior to the mold making process. Image courtesy ADI.)
(Matt Rose brings an orc design to life in clay. Image courtesy ADI.)
(A few of ADI's midground orc sculptures, including male, female, young, and old. Images courtesy ADI.)
Establishing a Cohesive Look
David Ayer wanted the Orcs to feel like a distinctive race, so he dictated that they should all have the same color palette. "I started doing paint tests on ADI's appliances for the primary orc characters to get ready for the next round of makeup tests," said Nelson. "They were all based on the same color palette as the Jakoby makeup, but each had different patterns because they needed to be unique individuals." After these paint tests were complete, it was time for another round of makeup testing. "Every day for two weeks we brought in main orc characters, mixed and matched prosthetics, trying out paint schemes and patterns," explained Nelson. "Then David and the producers gave their input, we made final adjustments, took photos, and that established the final makeup and color pattern for each main orc character."
Mass-producing Makeups
According to Nelson, Bright's biggest challenge was time. "We realized there was no way we were going to be able to prepaint an orc prosthetic makeup and then apply it in a single day because the paint jobs were very complicated and elaborate." So ADI began doing a basic prepaint on the prosthetics before sending them to set, using vacuform templates as guides, to establish the primary base tones and some loose pigmentation on top of that, a technique that had been used by Gillis and Woodruff, Jr. thirty years before at Stan Winston Studio to mass produce alien makeups for 'Alien Nation.'
(Mike Larrabee paints background orc masks at ADI. Image courtesy ADI.)
But even though the prosthetics were prepainted, they still needed some additional painting to get them camera ready, "We would sit in the trailer every day after the makeups were applied, and we'd finish painting the next batch of ADI orc appliances," recalled Christopher Nelson. "When it came time to apply, all we had to do was blend the edges, bridge the color between appliances, tie in the eyes and mouth, and they were out the door."
(Joel Edgerton transforms into Nick Jakoby in the on-set makeup trailer. Image courtesy Netflix.)
(Christopher Nelson and Emmy-nominated makeup artist Bart Mixon touch up Joel Edgerton on set. Image courtesy Netflix.)
The Evolution of Orc Hands
ADI experimented with several approaches to transforming human hands into orc hands. From foam latex gloves, which it was determined would require too much maintenance given the nature of the shoot, to silicone prosthetics, which would have required too much time in the makeup chair given the number of orcs needed on set. As a third option, "I began experimenting with doing a straight up paint job on human hands," said Nelson, "It looked good, it was durable, and the producers liked it." To save even more time, ADI began producing generic orc "back of the hand" tattoo transfers, which could be applied to the actor's hands by Nelson's makeup team and then quickly tied in with airbrushing and hand painting.
Mixing and Matching to Make New Orc Makeups
For orc characters that would only be on set for two or three days, the team used a mix-and-match system. Christopher Nelson explained the time-saving process: "ADI broke down their orc sculptures and created molds so we could take the cheeks from this one, and the chin from that one, and the forehead from this one, and put it together, and make a whole new makeup on somebody. It saved time and money and allowed us to quickly create makeups at will whenever a new character was brought in." Tom Woodruff, Jr. noted that if they had used silicone, trimming and cutting the appliances would have exposed the inner material of the prosthetic, making it difficult to blend off. Using foam appliances, on the other hand, allowed the on set artists to create a new orc makeup on just about anyone by cutting up existing pieces, gluing them together, and hiding the seams. “It was much more practical to go with foam in the long run," said Woodruff, Jr.
(One of the many orcs created for “Bright’ being dressed on set. Image courtesy Netflix.)
Filling in the Background
Even with the massive amount of prosthetics generated for the film, many more orcs would be needed to fill out the gritty, fantastic world of ‘Bright.’ So ADI created 85 pull-over latex masks to fill out the orc crowds.
(Just a few of the 85 pull-over foam latex masks created for Bright's background orcs. Images courtesy of ADI.)
“There were a lot of times when David Ayer would pull a background orc up closer than we thought he was going to, but makeup artists could just glue the masks down around the eyes and the mouth, and they looked great," said Woodruff, Jr., which created a nice segue between the background and the midground orcs.
(A makeup artist touches up a background orc wearing one of the latex pull-over masks created by ADI for the film. Image courtesy Netflix.)
To transform actors into an army of orcs requires an army of artists. Between 35 and 40 on-set makeup artists worked on ‘Bright’ over the course of the shoot. But one makeup artist/orc duo merits special mention: Joel Edgerton would end up spending an incredible fifty-five days in his Jakoby prosthetics applied by Christopher Nelson. "It was a grueling shoot, pretty much all night shoots in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles," remembered Nelson. "My job was to try and make it as easy as possible for the makeup artists involved. And there were so many amazing artists who helped out on set, from Greg Cannom to Ed French and Craig Reardon, and so many more. Academy Award-winning veterans all the way to incredibly talented newer artists. It was a joy to have each one of them on the makeup team."
(The duo of Christopher Nelson and Joel Edgerton during production. Image courtesy Netflix.)
In the end, LAPD’s finest, Ward and Jakoby, would complete their hero’s journey holding their heads high. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings would say, “In its first month, ‘Bright’ would become one of our most viewed original titles ever.” Because of this, Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Netflix has already decided it will be making a sequel to ‘Bright,’ with Will Smith and Joel Edgerton reprising their roles as officers Ward and Jakoby, and with David Ayer handling the writing and directing duties. It will be fun to see if Netflix can make magic happen twice.
A ‘Bright’ Future for Practical Makeup Effects
"I think Bright turned out really, really well," reflected Nelson. "It's a world that audiences seem to like, and I'm excited that Netflix has decided to do a sequel. I also feel Bright continues to prove that if you get the right people involved, there's no reason why practical makeup effects can't continue to have a strong presence in film and television. As long as we're successful at creating these worlds and these makeups, there's no reason why it won't keep going that way."
Tom, Alec, and Christopher wish to thank the entire Orc Makeup FX Crew for their work on Bright:
ADI CREW
ON-SET MAKEUP TEAM
