Oscar ® 2007 watch: Makeup spotlight - 'Click' Kazuhiro Tsuji

By April MacIntyre Feb 13, 2007, 16:16 GMT

Artist Kazuhiro Tsuji, along with artist Bill Corso, is a member of the dynamic Rick Baker Cinovation makeup team, and is nominated for an Academy Award for "Click." 

The achievement of makeup crafts for "Click" features the most difficult technical and creative work for any artist to pull off.   The story traces the lives of a family from 1968 to 2029, and featured each actor going through an age transition in decades, from youth to elder.  The result on-screen is a stunning tour de force of the collaboration of Rick Baker's top shop artisans and previous Academy Award winner, Corso.

"I was the prosthetic make up supervisor under Rick Baker on "Click". We needed to design old age make up on ten characters and ethnicity changing make up on one character," explained Tsuji.  

"At the beginning  I was responsible for the Photo shop designs. After we got each actor's life cast, (sculptor) Mitch DeVane and I sculpted appliances for each of the characters. I was responsible for developing new silicone appliances, various materials, and makeup techniques. I developed a way to make the edge of the silicone pieces very thin, so after it was applied; the edge could be dissolved like gelatin appliances."

Baker's top notch silicone department that worked with Kazuhiro included Derek Wingo, John Calpin, Chris Walker, Jack Firman and Steve Katz. Making the molds was a hard job too, and Baker's mold makers were critical to the mix and included Jim McLoughlin, Guy Liberto, Hiroshi Yada, Brian Van Dorn, Rich Arguijo and Carl Crandall.

Hair was a important factor too, as it "ages" along with our skin. Tsuji also dressed all of the wigs for the test make up and the male wigs for principal photography. The female wigs were dressed and applied by Thomas Real.  Actress Kate Beckinsale's hair stylist was Cydney Cornell.

Technically, this film was an achievement of many new prosthetic solutions to create realism in the character's aging and weight gain, "I was also responsible for supervising the construction of an epoxy collapsible mold to cast a seamless overweight make up appliance with an air chamber under the chin for better movement," revealed Tsuji. 

"This was accomplished by sustaining the core to a positive mold by using a magnet. We attached an air tube to each appliance so we could adjust the air pressure to accommodate Adam Sandler's acting. I also developed several techniques to pre-paint and seal the silicone appliances in order to minimize the make up application time. This technique can be used to seal paint and make up on an actor after the make up appliances are applied."

Because "Click" was shot with Panavision's high definition digital camera the Genesis, new challenges in close ups were addressed by Kazuhiro, Corso and company when reviewing the takes, and realizing they had no wiggle room and the edges of their work had to be flawless. "The camera picked up things our human eyes could not," explained Tsuji.

Tsuji revealed some of the inside details of the physical makeups and his strategy for working with the high definition Genesis camera. "For test make-up and production I used a 39-mega pixel digital camera to assure that the quality of the make up could withstand any shooting conditions. I formulated a new spirit gum for the silicone make up, because all matted spirit gum on the market was still too shiny on the silicone appliances. I reformulated Skin Illustrator to give it more elasticity so it will last longer on the silicone pieces. This modification helped the paint stretch more without cracking. For each character, I supervised the test make up and the first few days of principal photography."

So how did he take Adam Sandler from late thirties to an older man? "We performed an age transformation to make his age span from 38 to 61 years old. There were four stages - in the first stage we used an over weight silicone gel filled appliance and a wig. The other stages were done with shadow and highlight and old age stipple - the last stage we used five silicone gel filled appliances and two hair pieces.

Tsuji then had Bill Corso join him to create the Sandler character. "For Click, we wanted a great make up artist for Adam Sandler. We consider Bill to be one of the greatest makeup artists, so he was our choice. Bill definitely has his own way to do makeup.  That is what I like about him, and he does amazing job all the time."

Kate Beckinsale was transformed in three stages through an age span from 31 to 54 years old.  "The first stage was achieved by old age stipple and subtle makeup - second and third were achieved by using old age stipple and gelatin appliances," shared Kazuhiro.

Using similar processes, Kazuhiro took David Hasselhoff and transformed him from 52 to 75 years old, aging him in two stages. "We used old age stipple, facial hairpieces, and we laid the hair. The second stage consisted of ten silicone gel filled appliances, a wig, and some hair pieces."  Actress Jennifer Coolidge was portrayed from age 28 to 63 years old. Sean Astin went from 36 to 59 years old, and actresses Sophie Monk and Michelle Lombardo were taken from 25 to 48 years old.

The makeup for actress Julie Kavner was even more involved, taking her from 18 to 79 years old, as well as actor Henry Winkler, who was shown from age 24 to 77 years old.  "Henry's old age make up consisted of ten silicone gel filled appliances, a wig, and some hairpieces. For Julie and Henry's young age make up, I used a special medical tape 'Opsite' for the facial lift, it is paper-thin and we combined it with the bald cap. We made vacuum form based dentures that also worked as a dental plumper to make the actors appear younger, and used a combination of Duo and Pros Aide to tighten the skin around the eyes to get rid of the wrinkles and the eye bags. We needed to mix a new Rubber Mask Grease Paint base, this new base does not affect Duo and lasts all day without wrinkling up the skin like PAX," said Kazuhiro.

The makeup challenge also included matching two separate actors. Jonah Hill played the younger, overweight role of "Ben" and Jake Hoffman played the older, thinner "Ben."

"We needed to create likeness makeup to make Jonah look like Jake Hoffman. We did this by using a nose appliance, a pair of contact lenses, and dentures. We also changed his skin tone and hair color," shared Kazuhiro.

Tsuji also designed an ethnicity changing makeup for actor Rob Schneider, who was cast as a Saudi Arabian. "We used a nose appliance, some hair pieces, a pair of contact lenses, and we changed his skin color."

"Bill Corso applied Adam Sandler's makeup, assisted by artist Richie Alonzo and Denise Paulson. I applied the various ages of makeup for Henry Winkler and David Hasselhoff.  Margaret Beserra-Prentice and Steve Prouty applied Sean Astin's makeup. Clinton Wayne applied Kate Beckinsale's makeup. Jamie Kelman and Justin Stafford applied makeup to Julie Kavner and Rob Schneider. The head of the straight make up department was Ann Pala, and Thomas Real was head of the hair department.  They did tremendous job," said Kazuhiro.

Academy Awards, USA

2007     Nominated     Oscar  
Best Achievement in Makeup
for: Click (2006/I)
Shared with:
Bill Corso

 
BAFTA Awards

2002     Nominated     BAFTA Film Award  
Best Make Up/Hair
for: Planet of the Apes (2001)
Shared with:
Rick Baker
Toni G

 
2001     Won     BAFTA Film Award  

Best Make Up/Hair
for: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Shared with:
Rick Baker
Toni G
Gail Rowell-Ryan
Sylvia Nava

 
Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Awards

2002     Won     Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award  
Best Special Makeup Effects - Feature
for: Planet of the Apes (2001)
Shared with:
Rick Baker
Toni G

 
2001     Won     Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award  
Best Special Makeup Effects - Feature
for: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Shared with:
Rick Baker
Toni G