We love when our alumni get exciting new jobs. It’s even better when they hire other alumni to work with them! And as if it couldn’t get any better – we love it when our alumni re-use projects from their time here at the AMUA!
Today, Bandit was released in theaters and on multiple streaming services starring Josh Duhamel, Mel Gibson, and Elisha Cuthbert. We’re proud to say four of our past students joined forces in “Y’allywood” and worked on set in the hair and makeup department! Head of Makeup and the Wig Designer was Claire Mints, with Carson Pack as her Key Makeup artist, Lilian Dion as a hairstylist, and Ali Jones as a wig and facial hair fabricator. All four graduated from the AMUA not very long ago! Claire and Carson both graduated from three of our programs: Makeup for TV and Film, Special Effects Makeup, and the Art of Wig and Hair Design (these three founded the base curriculum for the Performance Makeup Artist Program). Ali and Lilian graduated from the Art of Wig and Hair Design program.
Claire offered up her kitchen as a special effects shop in the weeks leading up to filming Bandit in the summer of 2021 to create all of the disguises worn by Josh Duhamel as Gilbert Gavin, the Flying Bandit. “We started with mine and Carson’s two nose molds we created in school for the nose project in Ben’s FX class… Then we made 6 more,” said Claire. “It was a fun challenge not only to create 18 different disguises but to keep within the 80’s fashion as well! We mixed and matched 8 nose prosthetics with different wigs and facial hair pieces. I had to work closely with the Costume Designer to bring each disguise to life, and Josh Duhamel made that challenge so enjoyable!”
These alumni really had to know their stuff to make the looks for this film! From 80s beauty makeup and hair styling to prosthetics making and its history. Did you know gelatin prosthetics were widely used in the 80s? “Because we filmed in Georgia in the middle of the summer we couldn’t use gelatin for fear of it literally melting off the actor’s face. So to get the look right we used encapsulated silicone on the actor but made some gelatin noses for props,” Claire explained.
For the makeup and hair throughout this entire movie, our alumni used aspects from each class! On set makeup had to be decade appropriate as the film is set in the early 1980s, something they learned in Makeup for TV and Film. So many aspects of the Special Effects Makeup were used from pre-production throughout filming as all of the prosthetics were sculpted, molded, ran, and applied by Claire, Carson, and their friend and fellow MUA Tonilee Marrone. While silicone noses were setting, wigs were being styled in the big 80’s fashion and facial hair pieces were being ventilated and styled as learned in the Art of Wig and Hair Design.
Our alumni were well prepared for working on this set and many others! Claire told us “it was the hardest and most challenging film to work on, but it was also the most rewarding!”
Are you ready to be a part of the storytelling you see on the big screen?