Rebecca Rinker
Makeup
27 April 2010
Makeup Use in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the tale of a man who ages backwards. He is born with a shriveled body, with all the problems associated with advanced age, and he gets younger as time goes on. Makeup and computer-generated visual FX take Benjamin from an eighty-year-old baby backward through life to a strapping twenty-something. The makeup is used in combination with the computer effects. For the extreme aging, a computer-generated head, modeled after the actor’s, takes the place of makeup effects, but from about age 65 and backward, heavy effects makeup turns forty-five-year-old actor Brad Pitt into the various ages of Benjamin.
The makeup is so effective because the changes are gradual rather than dramatic. Benjamin is shown at many age increments, and the changes in his appearance are slight between ages, but add up to huge differences. There are no circumstances where the viewer is too aware that they are seeing an actor aged with makeup, unless they stop to think about the famous actor on the screen who they know to be much younger.
For the prosthetics, the makeup artist used a flexible materiel on the forehead that would wrinkle and move naturally. It looks convincing, rather than created.
The computer-generated effects were used in the stages of advanced aging that are difficult to re-create with makeup effects. Benjamin’s face actually appears smaller and shriveled up.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button pushed the envelope in terms of what could be done with blending computer and makeup effects. It is very hard to tell where the computer effects end and the makeup effects begin. The gradual changes in Benjamin’s appearance make the transitions believable, since people age slowly. Even though Benjamin ages backwards, the stages of aging are recognizable and make sense to the viewers. This film is an excellent example of makeup transforming the look of an entire film.
