For the film “The Promise”, about the Armenian Genocide, Brian aged Oscar Isaac to his late 50’s, utilizing prosthetic transfer and silicone prosthetics.
Not long after XMen : Apocalypse wrapped, I was contacted by Oscar about doing an aging makeup on him for his next film. I was in Georgia shooting Guardians of the Galaxy : Volume 2, and scheduling would not be easy. But I jumped at the opportunity. During weekends, off days and any other free time, we were able to produce the prosthetics needed for the following makeup test.
Many thanks to Kevin Kirkpatrick, Matt Sprunger, Amanda Sprunger and Andrew Valentine for all of your help on this project.
These photos document the makeup test for Oscar’s character that we did in a London hotel room. The pics and some video were taken inside the hotel lobby as well as in front of the hotel in daylight to send to the Director for approval.
Applying the silicone prosthetics… pre-colored.
“Hollywood Glamorous Moment”
As I said above, I was already filming Guardians of the Galaxy : Volume 2 and working on this creative side project. The shoot itself would happen after Guardians wrapped, but they definitely wanted to see a test way ahead of time, and so did I.
I had a scheduled Friday off of Guardians, and that weekend lined up with Oscars days off. i jumped on an afternoon flight to London, packed to the gills with anything I thought I might need for the test. I landed late Friday night into London, unpacked and set up in my hotel room for the upcoming makeup test. I think I got about 4 hours sleep (which is sometimes normal for me). Oscar showed up the next morning and we jumped into the makeup test. After the makeup test, Oscar mentioned that he was making plans to have dinner with some people and if I would like to join. Of course I would. He then mentioned that Terry Gilliam would be there. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Anything Monty Python! The Fisher King!! 12 Monkeys!! Brazil!! Time Bandits!!!
So, Oscar left, I stayed and packed up all of my gear, and spent a couple of hours walking around the neighborhood. When dinner time rolled around, I Uber’d over to the restaurant. When I arrived, Oscar and guests were already seated. I anxiously walked in, and was introduced to Oscar’s assistant from The Promise…and Jerry, the dialect coach. Jerry, Terry, Jerry, Terry……UGH. I’m sitting there thinking he said Jerry, and I thought he said Terry. DUH, what an “A” hole I am. So, we all ordered up some drinks, and some food. Just as the drinks arrive I feel the chair next to me get pulled out. I look up at the offender…and its Terry Gilliam. You gotta be fucking kidding me!! Introductions were made and a great evening of conversation was had. He brought up that Don Quixote was going back into production, He inquired about the work on Apocalypse and Guardians. It was like a one on one personalized film history class. I didn’t care that the early the next morning I would be whisked away on another flight back to Atlanta, just to wake up before the crickets to start another makeup. Afters a time of eating, drinking and chatting… the night ended and separate ways were taken. What a surreal 36 hours I just had?!
Terry “Fuckin” Gilliam!!!