“Wuthering Heights and that Genius Freckle Continuity Mask” - Makeup Moments

LE: Oh how clever!

Through the first stages then it sounds like you’d work with a model for Margot’s makeup for example, and then after going back and forward with Emerald and sending pictures and mood boarding, the looks slowly started to come together. Did you get much prep time to with the actor’s themselves ahead of the first shoot days?

SM: I had Margot for a day over Christmas, prior to when we started shooting over January. We then had two weeks with the actors, where of course they would be in rehearsals, costume fittings, all sorts. When I saw Margot in December, I was able to organise for Margot to be scanned by Waldo Mason, a prosthetics designer I worked with, as I knew I wanted to create a vacuum form face mask in order to hot knife through all the freckles, because we wanted to make both her and her younger self freckled, and I knew if I could make up a bespoke mix of illustrator inks, then that would be continuity and it would be fast, to help with time in the chair on the day.  

LE: Of course, to put the freckles on by hand and replicating them every time would be so time consuming…that's genius!

SM: Yes exactly, by being able to airbrush them on every morning on both Margot and the younger Cathy was a real time-saver. So we had time for that, and also for wigmaker Carol Robinson to fit the wigs… she’s amazing! For the wigs, we had a plethora of styles which very much adhered to the character arc. Jacqueline Durran had already mapped the costumes within the narrative arc with Emerald, and so there was lots of conversations between us as to what hair-styles would work with which neck-lines, for example… and then of course when we had Margot in the chair we were able to work out what suited her best. There’s a lot of instinct involved.

LE:  Were you able to see what the actual lighting would be like, when you were doing Margot’s makeup trial?

SM: I was able to see that on the test day, we didn’t have much before that. Especially when a film has is a relatively short schedule, (I believe we shot this film in about 51 days) you really have to be well prepared. For shooting Margot’s scenes in The Grange when it’s she that is transformed, the team (including Nana Fischer, Margot’s personal hair and makeup artist) would take to one room all the hair pieces, all the jewels, all the makeup… all of us doing lots and backwards and forwards to make sure we were very prepared if things turned on a sixpence. You have to be prepared to be there to be creative, come up with the looks whilst at the same time being fully flexible, facilitate the vision of others and bring calm. Preparation is key, and whatever happens, as long as you have the skills, calm and control… you’ll get it done! For example, for the scenes at Wuthering Heights we were planning for some of the looks to be all down, and then on set at the last minute we would suddenly throw the hair up in a second.

"With hair and makeup, as much as it’s pre-planned, it’s fabricated on the day each and every time."

If you’ve trained for long enough, you’re relying on your own trusted skills, your team (my team were amazing), and then you know you can pull it off. With hair and makeup, unlike costumes that are pre-fabricated (although of course they can be thrown a curveball), our work, as much as it’s pre-planned, it’s fabricated on the day each and every time. Think with wig continuity, matching ten thousand hairs on the head every time, or with makeup day to day matching freckles! Sometimes that on the spot nature, as long as you have the enthusiasm, it’s so exciting, and it gives your job the edge.

LE: And that’s when the magic happens! It all clicks into place, even if it’s not the looks you were originally expecting, sometimes it’s better than you even thought.

I can see Emerald has had a surreal, modern take on the story generally. How did you manage to balance historical characters with Emerald’s take?

SM: Emerald’s brief from the get-go was that it was going to be through the imagination of a fourteen year old girl, and this is something she said to me from the beginning. She wanted it to feel like how she felt when she first read the book, and wanted to create a sort of fairytale fever dream. It was all about a vibe, and when you found the vibe, you were there. When we were all testing things out, such as the rolls in her hairstyle which are very reminiscent of the 40s, with a whole other myriad of references, where that actually stemmed from was this brilliant, beautiful black and white photo of Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind. Her hair was twisted into this silhouette which we see in Cathy’s styles from the outset, though they develop throughout the film... We would always refer to them as ‘horns’! We loved that element of it and combined with other references… for example the front of the hair and the way it fit round the face, took inspiration from Galliano Dior Fall/Winter 2007 show. It was like cherry-picking from a buffet of inspiration… it was great fun.

LE:  It sounds like such a fun process, especially when you had that freedom and you don’t have to explain yourself, and have taken your inspirations from so many different sources.

SM: Absolutely. It’s not meant to be of a specific era. I would take inspirations from everywhere….even the production design, for example the beautiful shots of Margot as Cathy in the dining room at The Grange when Heathcliff returns, and she has little clear, crystal beads on her cheeks. The inspiration from that came from the silver walls of the dining room, which had little hemispherical crystals which were supposed to be reminiscent of perspiration. So, they were ornate, draped and different sizes. I trawled the internet and I bought a load of stick-on crystals, plastic beads, and gems, and ended up using these clear beads which are actually crafting beads that are slightly rubbery and quite lightweight. I sprayed them silver to begin with but it didn’t work, so we put them on clear, I think to great effect. 

LE:  Absolutely. The makeup looks beautiful, and I can see the lighting is gorgeous. 

SM: Linus Sandgren (cinematographer) is brilliant. Nana Fischer did an amazing job on Margot’s makeup, Cheryl Mitchell’s and Laura Morse’s fabulous wig styling...everything about it just came together, and that’s what’s great about working with Emerald Fennell and the amazing team she puts together. I’d worked with all of them before, and the tone was just very united. We all just bounced off each other to create these incredible cohesive moments… like in one of the scenes at The Grange where Margot has this incredible lattice braid, which reflect the braids that you can see going up and down the fabric behind the bed. I actually gave production design a sample of the hair to match to, so we all really worked together and it was a true collaboration. The tone wasn’t just set by one department.

Cathy goes on a very emotional journey. How did you deal with that through hair and makeup?

SM: We start in Wuthering Heights where this child has grown into a young woman, in isolation in the middle of the moors, which was her playground. So the essence of that was wild, free, tousled, natural textures and flushed cheeks. For the cheeks I took references from TikTok and the ‘Pomegranate Girl’ sort of colour, but you can also argue it has that slightly 18th century slapped cheek, flushed look. So the flush, the freckles, the wind-blown beauty, it’s a real contrast to when we come to The Grange and Cathy becomes Isabella’s (Alison Oliver) muse… she’s sort of like a doll trapped in a house, if you like, which is something that’s referenced with the dollhouse in the film. Then when it all heads south and we see her break down, we had to go much more into this stylised demise, which you will see with this magnificent scene at the end… but I won’t say any more than that! It steps out of reality and is incredibly emotional. We knew it was going to be a journey, but in the middle would be this wonderful opportunity to ‘dress up’… It was about two young women, isolated in the middle of nowhere in this sort of chocolate box house, with nothing to do but play with ribbons, bows and clothes and makeup… and dress up, just as you would! For a while it was fun… until it’s not, haha! That was the essence of it, and we treated it very much like a play, in acts, with the narrative leading the way.

LE: If you had to choose one look, if that’s even possible, what would it be?

SM: It’s so hard to choose! I loved the lattice ribbon braid, which you’ll also see on Cathy’s matching doll in the dollhouse, it looked fabulous. But I jut loved the style we’ve been talking about with the clear beads on Margot’s cheeks. Everything in that scene, from the production design, the set deck, the lighting, the costume, everybody! I just absolutely loved Jacob’s look in this scene too… he looks amazing as the quintessential lovely, Georgian, Regency man. Then Nelly (Hong Chau), Edgar (Shazad Latif) and Isabella (Alison Oliver) … I just love how every department came together for these incredible looks for them. It was a joy to be a part of, absolutely magnificent. It is always a joy to work with Emerald Fennell. 

LE: One last question… did the actors take part in that collaborative process when it came to the hair and makeup, or did they leave it in your hands?

SM: It’s always a collaborative process and there’s always a conversation that’s happily triangulated with yourself, the actor and the director. There, however, was such trust for Emerald Fennell and that she is an auteur in the truest sense of the word. I had the good fortune to either know or had met the actors beforehand, and there was real trust and happiness with the process. It was an absolute joy to be a part of, and a true collaboration.