Prosthetics Artist on Timothée Chalamet’s Transformation

Timothée Chalamet’s character in “Marty Supreme” was meant to embody a younger child from the streets of New York.

Director Josh Safdie wished to deliver real authenticity to the movie, not just visually however also in how the characters seemed and felt.

“It wouldn’t make sense to drop Timothée in there and have him look like this clean movie star,” says prosthetic make-up designer Mike Fontaine. Fontaine — who’s nominated at the Makeup and Hair Stylists Guild Awards, in addition to shortlisted for best make-up at the Oscars — labored carefully with Safdie and make-up artist Kyra Panchenko to make sure Chalamet match seamlessly into the gritty world of the movie.

The story follows Chalamet as Marty, an formidable younger man from New York’s Lower East Side, satisfied that desk tennis is his ticket to success. Set in 1952, Marty is a hustler working at his household’s shoe retailer, the place he pretends prospects’ sizes are out of inventory to upsell them on pricier pairs. On the facet, he’s always searching for his next get-rich-quick scheme.

Fontaine explains, “Josh knew what he wanted. He wanted acne scars, keloid scars, like he’s been in some fights.” Marty’s face prominently incorporates a scar on his cheekbone and extra scarring under his chin, suggesting a tough life.

In one scene, Marty jumps out of a window and climbs down a fireplace escape to evade the cops. “Looking at that, you got the feeling maybe this isn’t the first time he’s done this,” Fontaine provides. “He’s probably taken a few falls and hits.”

The query during manufacturing was how far to take the look. “We had the great advantage on ‘Marty Supreme’ of doing extensive screen tests with Darius Khondji. He filmed those tests with Timothée on a stage.”

After reviewing the footage with Chalamet and Safdie, Fontaine realized the make-up was too excessive and determined to re-sculpt and remake all the pieces. The objective was to make sure the make-up didn’t distract the viewers however slightly felt invisible. “Myself, Kyra and [hairstylist] Jimmy Goode would get Timmy done in an hour. We’d be doing the hair and makeup all at the same time in Timothée’s trailer,” Fontaine explains. “Kyra would start on the brow, and Jimmy would be styling the hair.”

In whole, Chalamet wore 5 prosthetics. “There were large pieces that covered his cheeks to give the acne-pockmarked skin texture. He had another piece on his cheekbone to create a deep scar on one side, two smaller pieces for scars under his lip, and a long scar under his chin.”

Since Khondji was capturing close-ups with lengthy lenses, Chalamet’s face was entrance and middle, requiring intricate consideration to element. Fontaine also needed to “drench him in fake sweat” during the intense desk tennis matches Marty performs throughout the film.

Safdie wished another level of authenticity when it got here to distorting Chalamet’s imaginative and prescient. Rather than utilizing prop glasses, Safdie opted for a mix of contact lenses and prescription glasses. Fontaine explains, “We put contact lenses in Timothée’s eyes that made his vision blurry, and then gave him very heavy prescription glasses on top of it, creating the illusion that his eyes were really beady and small.”

Safdie beforehand told Variety, “At the time, we said we were going to put +10 contact lenses in your eyes, and we’re gonna put -10 prescription lenses in front of them so that when his glasses fall off, he can’t see anything.” When Chalamet tried on the mixture, Safdie recollects receiving a name from the actor. “He calls me and says, ‘I’ve got the +10s in right now, and I’m pretty dizzy.’”

According to Safdie, Chalamet described the experience as feeling like “he was in a fishbowl.” Still, Chalamet was decided. “I’ll do anything you ask me to do,” Safdie recollects the actor telling him.