In Issue 122 of Make-Up Artist magazine, we featured an article on the make-ups of Suicide Squad. Make-up and hair designer Alessandro Bertolazzi, wig supervisor Giorgio Gregorini and department head of the Killer Croc make-up effects, Christopher Nelson, have been named as contenders for the nomination for the 2017 Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar. As part of our continuing Oscar Watch 2017 coverage, we present the article here in its entirety.
As the tagline says, “Worst. Heroes. Ever.” Turning the typical comic book-based movie on its head, Suicide Squad focuses on a government agency that recruits imprisoned supervillains for a series of off-the-book black ops in return for clemency. Directed by David Ayer (Fury), it stars Will Smith (Deadshot), Jared Leto (The Joker), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) and Viola Davis (Amanda Waller, the government’s no-nonsense recruiter).
Headlining the film’s make-up department was make-up and hair designer Alessandro Bertolazzi, who admits surprise at getting the call from his former Fury director.
“I thought, ‘Why do you want me?’” he remembers. “I’m not a comic book guy, so after I arrived in Toronto, I didn’t unpack for the first four weeks, because I thought they were going to fire me. But David Ayer said, ‘I need you to do this movie, because you can help me find a different point of view!’
Cara Delevingne as Enchantress
Cara Delevingne as Enchantress
“David wanted everything to look real, and he knew I was obsessed with things like skin and organic textures and things that look real. With the character of Enchantress … [played by Cara Delevingne], we used a $3 mop as her wig. David came to the make-up department one night, so it was just me, [wig supervisor] Giorgio Gregorini and David, and we added feathers, mud and dust to make it look real. Enchantress was a three-hour make-up. We added white to the skin, as well as mud, charcoal, greens and browns, and then added gold leaf to the skin. That’s when it started to look real.
“The same for the other principal characters. With Harley Quinn, we originally ordered an expensive $1,000 wig, but I ended up using a really cheap-looking wig instead, because I wanted it to look rough.
“The Joker was a big challenge, because Heath Ledger had been so great [in The Dark Knight] so I started thinking about this guy as a sick clown. There’s something really dirty and sick inside him, and his skin is really destroyed. When you look at him, at first you see a pale guy with green hair, but you look deeper, his skin actually has five or six layers of color. And when David saw the character, he said, ‘Why don’t you give him a scar, like those guys that cut themselves?’ so I gave Jared several facial scars and everybody was really happy with that look.
“For the Joker’s tattoos, David wanted something that said ‘Ha, ha, ha’ so he actually drew them on the body himself, and we took a picture of it for the tattoo artist and then we added more and more, so it all came from our discussions. And for the hair, which is dyed different kinds of green, I had seen a picture of David Bowie from the ’60s that I really loved, so that stayed in my mind.”
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