By Lexi Stewart
"It's incredible. It turned out really beautifully. We don't always know. We never know. But this one, I had a hunch. I'm the luckiest guy in the world." - Donald Mowat, Dune Makeup/Hair Designer & Makeup Department Head
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues, it's easy to forget all the films that have been affected these past twenty-three months. Many cinematic masterpieces were delayed when worldwide movie theater attendance ended. Denis Villeneuve's Dune was one of the most highly-anticipated films to delay its release, and it finally graced the screens in late 2021. Today, Villeneuve's adaptation is garnering Awards Season attention in all categories, but especially hair and makeup effects.
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- Denis Villeneuve's Vision for Dune
- The Creative Process Behind Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
- The Makeup for Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (AKA ‘Beast’)
- Achieving the Bald Look for Piter de Vries
- Explaining the Makeup for the Dune Characters
(Donald Mowat at work on Josh Brolin, as Gurney Halleck, in the makeup trailer. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
The makeup department for the film needed a strong designer. Enter Canadian makeup artist and department head Donald Mowat. Mowat's career spans more than three decades. He is perhaps best known for working on films such as The Fighter, 8 Mile, Sicario, Nightcrawler, Prisoners, Nocturnal Animals, and Blade Runner 2049. Recently, Donald Mowat talked to SWSCA about his work as the makeup/hair/prosthetic designer on Dune.
Denis Villeneuve's Vision for Dune
(Concept art by Wojtek Siudmak, one of the artists who inspired Denis Villeneuve's Dune adaptation.)
Mowat and Villeneuve first worked together on Prisoners in 2013, followed by Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, and now Dune. Mowat speaks highly of Villeneuve as a director. As he tells SWSCA, "This is my fourth film with [Denis]. I think we have a really remarkable professional relationship. He wanted me to take this job running makeup, prosthetics and hair as well. There's something fluid and easy if you have a person who deals with the makeup looks and the hair designs, like a costume designer or production designer. Denis was happy to try this. So I was active as a makeup artist and as a hair designer."
The Creative Process Behind Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
(Detailed sculpt of the Baron Harkonnen prosthetic makeup by Love Larson & Eva Von Bahr and their team. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
From the start, Mowat and Villeneuve knew that realizing the character of Baron Harkonnen was going to be a mighty task. Baron Harkonnen is the antagonist of the story and ruler of the House of Harkonnen. Villeneuve started the conversation by describing his inspiration of 'pale alopecia' for the design. His initial ideas sparked Mowat's interest.
Mowat pushed for the look to be achieved with practical makeup and prosthetics. His ideas meshed well with Villeneuve's vision. "I was thinking Marlon Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau. Something more eccentric and over the top. He [Villeneuve] really responded to it."
After the initial concept and design discussions with Villeneuve, Mowat knew exactly who to bring on to collaborate with on The Baron. "I went to my old friends, Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr, because we met on a film with Stellan [Skarsgård] in Sweden, some years ago."
(Oskar Wallroth, Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr review the roughed-out sculpture of the Baron Harkonnen body suit. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
When discussing the Baron's size, Mowat and Larson felt at first that less might be more. But the filmmakers kept coming back to them, asking for the character to be bigger. They eventually realized they would need to make some kind of a fat suit.
The next question became, 'Is this going to be a costume fat suit or a makeup fat suit?' They consulted the costume designers. Mowat says, "Our costume designers Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan felt he [Baron Harkonnen] would probably have his clothes off. So we knew this was going to be more in [the makeup department's] wheelhouse. I thought, let's look at having Love and [his] shop sculpt and build the suit in Sweden. Then we can monitor and give a progress report each week while we're prepping and shooting the film."
(Eva Von Bahr patches and seams the Baron's enormous foam latex body suit in preparation for painting. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
(Love Larson and Oskar Wallroth casting prosthetic pieces for the Baron makeup. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
(A pre-painted silicone head appliance for the 'Baron' ready for application. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
Mowat gave Love Larson, Eva Von Bahr and their team sixteen weeks to prep. "It was an enormous undertaking - the sculpting, detailing, and one makeup test." On shooting days, five people applied the prosthetics and suit. Application time was about four hours when he was wearing clothes and six hours when the character was naked.
(Mattias Tobiasson, Oskar Wallroth, Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr help Stellan Skarsgård get into the Baron Harkonnen body suit. Right: Final finessing of the prosthetic makeup. Images courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
"There are seven silicone pieces for the face in addition to the bald cap and brow covers. Everything is integrated, and their work is sensational," Mowat explains.
Actor Stellan Skarsgård loved every part of the process, and Mowat spoke highly of his enthusiasm. "Stellan's really into makeup. He's been in lots of incredible films with great makeup artists, hairstylists, and designers. He's got a great eye, and he is very enthusiastic."
(Eva Von Bahr removes the prosthetic edges on Stellan Skarsgård's 'Baron' makeup appliances. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
(Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr glue down additional 'Baron' facial prosthetics to Stellan Skarsgård. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
"He's the kind of guy that when I set up the lifecasting for one day, I said, 'you know, it's going to be seven or eight hours.' Stellan wouldn't want to break for lunch. We know other people who every 20 minutes need to be on the phone or have personal time. He's very committed and extremely enthusiastic."
(Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr during multiple painting stages of the Baron Harkonnen makeup. Images courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
Some more complicated scenes involved Skarsgård being submerged in a bathtub of black muddy liquid, which was meant to be 'a healing mud bath' according to Villeneuve. Mowat discovered that the oiliness of the 'mud bath' substance on-set was releasing the prosthetics. "It became a little bit more complicated with the suit's buoyancy as well. Larson and Bahr's team spent a whole Saturday and Sunday reconfiguring things to keep him under the oil. And that's the only time we used the stunt double instead of Stellan for safety because he does get pulled."
(Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen in the mud bath scene. Images courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
The Makeup for Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (AKA ‘Beast’)
In Villeneuve's film, Dave Bautista plays the role of the Baron's nephew, Glossu Rabban Harkonnen, aka 'Beast.' Bautista looked forward to taking on the part, and Mowat rose to the occasion. For 'Beast,' Mowat went for an old-school theatrical painted makeup. The only prosthetics implemented were brow covers from Roland Blancaflor at RBFX Studio.
(Donald Mowat on-set during filming doing makeup checks on Dave Bautista. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
Mowat elaborates, "It was a classic makeup. I had to do tattoo cover on his hands and neck, followed by a basic makeup. I used three or four colors of very traditional grease makeup. He [Bautista] arrived very late in the game, and I did one test, and Denis kind of loved it. Dave became one of our favorites really. He only shot six or seven days, but I loved having Dave, and it was my second or third time working with him."
(Glossu Rabban Harkonnen aka 'Beast,' played by Dave Bautista, alongside supporting Harkonnen characters. Image courtesy Warner Bros.)
(Dave Bautista as the 'Beast' leads a formidable band of fellow Harkonnens. Image courtesy Warner Bros.)
Ultimately, Mowat went far beyond simply making the Harkonnen characters pale. He took the makeup concept closer to creating a different species. "You have to be a storyteller. Sometimes you're down to the way it used to be, where you have a couple of crayons, a makeup box and a couple of pansticks, so you've got to learn how to use them. You don't always have the privilege of being on something where you have the money and the Photoshopping, and you've got lots of resources. That's very much how I like to work."
Achieving the Bald Look for Piter de Vries
(Piter de Vries, played by David Dastmalchian, in full makeup and costume. Images courtesy Warner Bros.)
Another one of Dune's iconic characters is Piter de Vries, the sadistic Mentat who serves Baron Harkonnen, played by David Dastmalchian. Mowat had previously worked with Dastmalchian and considered him an old friend. During initial discussions, Dastmalchian was 100% prepared to shave his head for the role, but a last-minute consideration caused some uncertainty. "He called me one day and said, 'Don, I've just been cast in something. And I don't know what to do. I just can't cut my hair. I've got to do this thing.' So he confided in me, and I said we have to talk to Denis."
(David Dastmalchian talking with Donald Mowat on-set. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
They discussed the situation with Villeneuve and consulted with Love Larson. They determined the look could be achieved with a bald cap. Mowat then made it his mission to call Stephen Prouty of Fusion FX in LA and get Dasmalchian to him as soon as possible. "I sent him over twice, and he did a custom silicone cap for us. Steve also very graciously did a test for us in LA months before David was scheduled to come to Budapest to work." Once on set, Rocky Faulkner applied the cap.
Explaining the Makeup for the Dune Characters
(Donald Mowat applying sweat to Timothée Chalamet on-set. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
In contrast to the prosthetic-heavy characters, for Paul and Lady Jessica of House Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson, Mowat kept the design clean and polished. "With Timmy and Rebecca, the makeup and hair for them is subtle. It evolves, but there's a lot more to it because they work every single day. So the continuity of their makeup and hair is so important."
(Donald Mowat on-set during filming to complete final makeup checks on Rebecca Ferguson. Image courtesy Donald Mowat/Warner Bros.)
The character of Stilgar, played by Javier Bardem, exhibits very fine and organic scarring along his cheekbones to signify a history of violence. It's an elegant concept that Mowat enjoyed creating with Bardem. "It's a new makeup for him. He's never really had that, and I had a great time working with him. It was a fantastic experience. He's a superb actor and a genuinely nice person."
(Promo image of Javier Bardem as Stilgar. Image courtesy Warner Bros.)
Due to scheduling, the makeup department didn't have a chance to do a makeup test for the Fremen character Chani (played by Zendaya) ahead of time, so Mowat and his team designed her look the night before shooting. "It was simple and subtle, but still had to be thought through, you know, with the little tattoos and things like that."
(Promo image of Zendaya as Chani. Image courtesy Warner Bros.)
Mowat initially considered creating custom lenses for the blue-eyed Fremen characters, including Zendaya. However, VFX Supervisor Paul Lambert and the Visual FX department ended up digitally adding the Fremen's iconic blue eyes during post-production. Mowat explains, "We did make a couple of practical lenses at first for Zendaya, and then I thought, 'who am I kidding? We're in the Middle East! There are sand storms, heat, and dust. It will be a disaster!"
(Dune promo images courtesy Warner Bros.)
Dune aims to 'spice' up the competition during awards season and become a potential Academy favorite with its breathtaking cinematography and polished character design. However, Mowat remains modest and always remembers to credit those around him. "We don't do a film like this alone. There are many people, additionals, daily, second unit, etc., and we don't always hear about everybody. It's important to me that they do count. Even if people come in for a week or every day, they work hard to do the best for me. I am always hugely appreciative of that. And I also want to make sure to acknowledge the many suppliers including Todd Masters' MastersFX, Roland Blancaflor's RBFX for brow covers, Kentaro Yano for Lady Jessica's face-tattoo transfers, and Love Larson, who besides his work on the Baron also created the scar for Josh Brolin's character and tattoos that I designed."
Mowat's appreciation for every member of his large team is evident in the way he speaks about them. We think the work certainly deserves all the accolades it has been receiving and we hope the streak continues.
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THE MAKEUP/HAIR/PROSTHETIC TEAM
Donald Mowat
Department Head Makeup
Makeup-Hair Prosthetics Designer
Jo-Ann Mac Neil - Key Makeup Artist
Rocky Faulkner - Special Effects Makeup Artist
Cheryl Daniels - Head Hairstylist
Kornel Hidas - Hairstylist
Balazs Sik - Hairstylist
Ama Judit Arful - Makeup Artist
Kata Huszar - Makeup Artist
Jennifer Stanfield - Makeup/Hair Jason Mamoa
Athina Sapanidis - Prosthetic Makeup Artist
Sara Kovacs - Contact Lens Technician
Love Larson - Baron Prosthetic Designer
Eva Von Bahr - Baron Key Prosthetic Makeup Artist
Mattias Tobiasson - Baron Prosthetic Makeup Artist
Oskar Wallroth - Baron Prosthetic Makeup Artist
Hanna Holm - Baron Prosthetic Makeup Artist
David Martí - Sculptor
Montse Ribé - Sculptor
Donald Mowat would like to thank all the additional crew from Hungary, USA, Canada, the UK, EU, and Jordan.