Heretic spoons up big ideas on religion and faith in easy-to-digest and popcorn-flavored portions. Though it’s a horror movie, the monsters are not stuntmen in rubber suits. Nevertheless, the film’s makeup is essential to distilling the sense of menace.
Chris Bridges, Emmy-winning special makeup effects artist, had an interesting task for a horror film: Do more with less. His work is about subtlety, realism and generating sympathy.
Halloween Every Night talked with Bridges about the challenges of the film, now out on video, and how a Canadian finds his way in Hollywood.
Halloween Every Night: Heretic isn’t a big makeup kind of movie, especially for horror, but I’m curious, what were the original conversations about? Did you talk a lot to the directors about what they wanted, or did you tend to work more independently?
Chris Bridges: You’re right. It was a religious thriller and wasn’t necessarily driven by the prosthetics. But the good thing about the prosthetics in the movies is that it helped to add to the atmosphere. So what little there was, was very shocking when there. I’ve worked with the directors [Scott Beck and Bryan Woods] before and they’re great guys and had a great vision, so we spent a long time talking about the Prophets. And some of the other gags we did really fleshed out the looks. We did a lot of research and makeup tests to really develop that.
HEN: So there was a very careful process, which I guess implies they really cared. They really wanted to get this right. Did Beck and Woods come in with a big concept or did you have to kind of sketch out things? Eh, a back and forth process or were you kind of leading it?
CB: It was a little back and forth. I read the script and the scenes where the Prophet is introduced is a very dramatic sort of atmosphere and shocking at some points. [spoiler alert!] They’re women confined in cages and emaciated and abused to who knows what degree. They had to come across at first shocking, but then, these are women who have suffered and you start to pity them, so we kind of attack the makeup in that light.
HEN: Looking at it that way, I shudder to think what research you had to do, to get that right for realism.
CB: It was a process. It really was. We obviously had a finite amount of time for prep of the movie — only a couple of months. I researched malnutrition and all the medical conditions that can develop from that, from being confined, in the dark, with lack of exercise, things like that. And of course, the women they cast are all beautiful women and we have to turn them into these horrible creatures, and it had to be believable. We did tons of drawings and sketches, and once we found a direction, we moved into some makeup tests. But we were still waiting for casting to be done and a week before the Prophet scenes were shot, we landed on a look they really loved and helped their narrative and, it was, I think, successful.
HEN: What are the things you have to keep in mind when you’re doing prosthetics that are supposed to look like a real person as opposed to monster makeup?
CB: If I could use the prophets as an example, and the look of emaciation, you have to start out with hopefully someone who’s been cast who looks somewhat thin to begin with. We accentuate those features and create pieces that work with those people. As opposed to a creature, you can put anybody in a rubber suit and change them up. But I think it’s more challenging when you have to add very subtle things to get the desired effect.
HEN: How does that compare to something like Star Trek? Where you’re making these kind of humanoid figures, generally speaking, and it has to look good in big lighting but it’s still humanoid.
CB: Whether it’s a Klingon or a Vulcan or something with a giant head, you still have parameters and designs you wanna work with. You can’t just change a design, you have to really honor the original looks, and even with new aliens, there’s a lot of careful planning that goes into the design. It has to fit within that world. When it comes to horror movies, I find the same thing. I like to talk about Haunt which was another film by Scott and Bryan. The monsters from that weren’t supernatural. They were just augmented humans. Again, it was another process to really hone in what was realistic, what was doable on the actors, and what we’re trying to achieve with them.
HEN: How important is it for the actor to be able to act in the makeup? How much of a consideration is that? Specifically on Heretic, the women aren’t freaking out, they’re not giving a lot of dialogue. It is subtle, but you do have to see these human faces and they do have to activate.
CB: If you’re looking at it from a comfort level, prosthetics generally are comfortable, unless we’re actively trying to contort their faces. Mrs. Reed, the actress, Elle –amazing performer — was specifically selected for the role because she could do a reverse prayer. She kind of squats on the ground and gets into this pose where she can actually do like a prayer behind her back, which is almost contortionist and very, very creepy. She’s already thinking about how her character walks and moves, so I wanted her to not worry how she looked. The makeup should be worn in a way that helps release the character in the performance. I’m just here to make them look as good as they can, so that they can focus on acting.
HEN: Let’s talk about your company, Gaslight Effects. I guess it’s kind of a wise thing in Hollywood, but why start your own company?
CB: It’s a great question. I’ve been doing special makeup effects for over 30 years. I grew up in Alberta, and there wasn’t a huge film industry. A few westerns, TV shows, Lonesome Doves, things like that. What I really wanted to do is a lot of the gore and creature stuff as well. I had an opportunity to move to Toronto to work on a couple of projects and I stuck around. But I could do a lot on my own and I wasn’t a company at that point. I rented some space and I hired someone to help and then word got around. I started to get more calls on all these different shows and I think we finally incorporated Gaslight in 2006. We had a reputable and good track record. We did really good work and that was the foundation for what we have now.
HEN: Because you’re running your own company, are you getting to do a lot of hands-on stuff yourself? I mean, is it a pretty small shop?
CB: I absolutely love the work. There’s a couple of ways you can kind of come up in the industry. You can come up in the shop where you’re building things, sculpting, molding, painting, or you can come up as a set technician where you’re applying and painting on the front lines. I’ve had a very strong background in the shop. I know how to make everything. I know how to design everything. Now I like to go to set and apply and finish up things on set too, so I bounced around. I have a lot of strength in designing, so I like to have a strong presence in the shop. The shop is 7,000 square feet, so we’ve got a nice layout and lots of room. We can have 30, 40 people working in here, no problem. But you know, for me, it’s not always more artists are better. I try and hire really great artists and maybe fewer of them. And then I find that the quality of the work is a bit more controlled, unless you’re making 100 daggers, then it’s very repetitive. You can hire a lot of interns and junior artists to come in and help. But when it comes to like important sculptures or paint jobs, I have a lot of specialized people, accomplished artists who come in and do that kind of work.
HEN: So starting as a kid, you remember all that you used to get out of doing that work. What about that do you still bring — or try to bring — to your job every day?
CB: When I look back at how I even got into this business … I was doing the facts before I really knew what I was doing, before I knew it was an actual vocation. I think growing up in the ’70s and ’80s with those horror movies made from that time. Those are some of the best movies I think anyone could grow up on, you know? The Thing, An American Werewolf in London and Alien. All those just amazing movies inspired me and it continues to inspire me, you know? It kind of pushed me through even high school. My friends were out saving money to buy their first car, and I would save my money and buy bags of plaster and latex. Anything I could do to get better and create monsters and masks. That was my childhood.
HEN: That’s cool. So, what are your reference points? What guys do you look up to? Is it Rick Baker? Rob Bottin? You know, some of those guys from that era.
CB: Yeah. Of course, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Steve Johnson.
Dick Smith, you know, he’s royalty in terms of special effects makeup and developing a lot of the techniques we use every day. I still have all the books and magazines from my teens that featured all these guys. Rick Baker’s retired. I think Steve Johnson’s retired.
HEN: Rob’s retired too, isn’t he?
CB: Yeah, he’s retired. No one really hears from him much. It’s their understudies and the new guys coming up, uh, you know. If you look at legacy effects, which used to be Stan Winston, you had guys like Shane Mahan, who worked under Stan, and then when Stan passed the baton, all his proteges took over his company in his honor. I think that is happening now. They’re kind of taking over the industry now. But all the OG crew, they’re still inspiring. I still look at their work and their movies.
HEN: Absolutely. They’re the kings for a reason. So is it that kind of teenage geekism, or geeky sort of love for makeup that still gets you up at 5 o’clock in the morning for shoots and working in the shop all day and then running back and forth maybe from the shop to the set … what is it that drives you?
CB: What drives me, it is my passion for the craft. It’s never left me. I think it’s just as strong, if not stronger. Now, when I was younger, I didn’t understand what was driving me. I just knew I loved these movies and it just took me over. As an adult and working in the field professionally, I know what it is. I try to put that passion into everything I do, even today. Of course there are good days and bad days, and days I wish I was doing anything else, which is working 24, 30 hours straight you’re like, oh I can’t do this. But we do. We get it done and we’re always proud of what we create and we look forward to the next project.
Heretic is now available on DVD/Blu-Ray and streaming
