themakeupgallery | fantasy | beasts | apes | PotA
updated: 03/12/2004
Tim Burton’s reworking of Planet of the Apes was brilliantly done but suffered from two flaws: the actors did not stand comparison to the cast of the original movie; the requirement for a human to find Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) sexually attractive which resulted in a flawed design for the female apes .
Lisa Marie (Tim Buton’s then partner – since replaced by Helena Bonham Carter) played the cameo role of Nova. As with Helena Bonham Carter, this was by no means Lisa Marie’s first experience of the joys of special makeup and prosthetics:
It’s an interesting process because I’ve done a lot of
film and acting work with makeup and wigs so I’m kind of used to it. But there is a different quality when I had my ape makeup
on because it was such an animalistic thing. The makeup process for PotA was less painful! Mars Attacks was very painful because I couldn’t sit in
the dress, it had to be sewn on me and I had a wig that weighed 20
pounds on my head. It was heavy and I had to carry that weight for many many
hours . . . the makeup for PotA was very light in comparison. I knew
I had to articulate more clearly and define my m0vements more
precisely but I actually wasn’t aware of the weight of the makeup. Both makeups took about 6 hours to put on.
The makeup for the male apes of the various species was superb: that for the females while technically as brilliant was marred by design compromises (eyebrows? hairstyles? lips?): they do not look as if they belong in the same movie. In one interview Rick Baker, speaking of Ari, admitted the risk:
Tim said he wanted her to be attractive to a human male. I told him, that’s going to be tough, because if you’re just looking at a chimp’s face, it’s really hard to tell a female from a male, and some of them are hideously ugly . . . Trying to humanize her would only make matters worse – it would make her even more grotesque, like a freak human.
Planet of the Apes was a makeup epic: Rick Baker was the makeup designer: Kazuhiro Tsuji was key makeup artist and makeup designer for Thade; Alex Proctor was key prosthetic makeup supervisor; Toni G and
John Blake were makeup supervisors; Bill Sturgeon was makeup production supervisor; plus a large team of talented makeup artists. The pictures above show Toni G, supported by Jamie Kelman, working on Lisa Marie; Mitchell Stone was responsible for her hair. As you can see from the makeup process images the dentures were an integral part of the design essential for creating the facial shape: the actresses were lifecast wearing the dentures and the prosthetics designed to fit the revised mouth contours.