I’ve composed and deleted this a hundred times since “Oppenheimer” premiered last July. How do you articulate the weight of a season that forever changes you in a social media post? Here goes…
I’ve never had the opportunity to be so immersed in the creative process of prepping a film. For months, I assisted Luisa (MU dept. head) testing the various ways in which our cast could be aged knowing their faces would be shown in 70mm IMAX, we would be shooting in extreme locations and weather, and that there would be no monitors on set to check our work before close ups.
Principle photography was unlike any set I’ve ever worked on. It was exhilarating, exhausting, creative, and intense. Every artist on this film, both in front of the camera and behind, was required to work at an exceptional standard. I found that to be a wonderful challenge and I am a better make up artist because of it. From snow covered northern New Mexico to Princeton to LA, with each location, it was inspiring to see the brilliance of our cast breathe life into their characters and it truly was an honor to be able to lend my hands to helping these characters come alive.
A little over a year after principle photography wrapped, the film was released. I can truly say seeing my prosthetic and beauty work on 70mm IMAX is simultaneously terrifying and exciting! (Thankfully, in prep I took a page out of Luisa’s book and had a pair of “IMAX glasses” made. Thank you Dr. Sumner & @provisioncaresfx ! These are magnified 6x+ and became my standard for applying and checking all of my make ups on set. They are now a essential piece of my make up kit).
I’ve never had the opportunity to have project released in the theatre and be able to see it, multiple times, with family and friends until this one. Each time I saw it surrounded by them was a core memory made!
I have to thank Luisa Abel for bringing me on as her key make up artist. I’m forever grateful that she trusted me with these characters. Watching how she prepped, designed and ran a film of this size was immensely educational. I will never forget everything I learned from her.
