Movie makeup is more than just making older stars look young or turning handsome actors into victims of violence. The movie makeup artist has the job of preparing not just the actor's face, but also his neck, arms, legs, body and hands. The bulk of movie makeup is geared to cosmetic effects, meaning it is there to make the actors look presentable under the glare of klieg lights and the unforgiving stare of the movie camera.
Makeup has been a vital component in movies since the earliest days of the nickelodeon. In those early days, however, the primary purpose was merely to make the faces of actors not get lost in the lights, and the result was the heavy pancake foundation and overly dark eyeliner that is often seen on the faces of silent movie actors. The first studio makeup department was established in 1917 at Selig Studios.
Lon Chaney, Sr. was not just one of the most popular silent movie actors of the day. He also revolutionized movie makeup. In a series of films in which he utterly transformed himself beyond recognition, playing characters such as the hunchback of Notre Dame and the phantom of the opera, Chaney personally oversaw the application of his own makeup and in the process revealed how makeup could be exploited by camera technology. It was Lon Chaney who pushed movie makeup away from its stage theater origins.
The most legendary name in movie makeup is Westmore. George Westmore began at Selig Studios, and his offspring have never left the movie business. The Westmore family has been responsible for creating makeup effects from "Gone with the Wind" to "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." One or more members of the Westmore family has worked on thousands of movies and TV shows over the past century.
Makeup and special effects have become ever more intertwined over the past few decades. In addition, horror and science fiction have always been highly dependent upon each. This has become even more true in the past thirty years as advances in prosthetics have allowed makeup professionals to handle transformative effects, such as changing into a monster or alien, that in the past required camera tricks or optic effects.
Oddly, the Oscar for Best Makeup has been handed out only since 1981. The winner of the first Academy Award for makeup was legendary special effects makeup artist Rick Baker for "An American Werewolf in London." Baker's win set the stage for a trend that has continued ever since, in which the winner of the Best Makeup Oscar has more often than not been a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy film.
The work of applying makeup can be quite time-consuming. Even simply preparing an actor's face to appear on camera can take an hour or more. For more complex makeup like the apes in "Planet of the Apes" or even the more realistic makeup jobs like transforming Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi in the film "Ed Wood," the process can stretch on over four hours, and this must be done every day of shooting.