Planet Of The Apes makeups: Tiffany Smith as Thade's sister

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 .

Tiffany Smith, one of Cinnovation’s staff, donned the ape prosthetics for a very minor role as Thade’s sister: so minor the character was not even named although the makeup artists calleds her Lola. I’m grateful to Tiffany Smith (now Tiffany Collins) for sending me the before image.

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. I believe Barney Burman worked on this makeup.

Planet of the Apes makeups: Lola