6 days Ago By Natalie Oganesyan
Nicolas Cage is unrecognizable as the title character in the horror movie Longlegs . Key special effects makeup artist Felix Fox , key makeup artist Madelaine Hermans and key hairstylist Kristin Chaar worked 21⁄2 hours every day to transform Cage into the satanic serial killer. “There was about four designs,” Fox said.
“What they settled on after we tested on was that we would go a little bit more extreme.” Fox said the original concepts were less pale white and less cosmetically altered. The final Longlegs pays homage to Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera, she said.
Furthermore, they had to age Longlegs from the 1970s to the ‘90s. “He has two looks for it,” Fox continued. “One is the ‘70s and one is with more of the beauty makeup, a little bit of blue eyeshadow.
” RELATED: 2024-25 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, Guilds & More Rock stars also provided inspiration for Longlegs. “One of the references that [writer/director] Oz [Perkins] brought in early was Bob Dylan in the Rolling Thunder Revue,” Fox said. “Personally, Marc Bolan from T.
Rex. There were actually a lot of musician references going on in our minds. And geisha as well.
The whole ritualistic reparation of the geisha experience and makeup was huge.” Chaar said Bolan inspired the Longlegs wig, which she credited to Vancouver wig maker Stacey Butterworth. Chaar also did hair for the female character.
Alicia Witt plays Ruth Harker, aged up in the ’90s scenes. She built Witt’s hair from a 24-inch colorless wig. Her earlier look came from a TV comedy.
RELATED: The 2025 Oscars: Everything We Know So Far About The Nominations, Ceremony, Date & Host “I did draw a lot of inspiration from Kitty from That 70’s Show to really signify the ‘70s,” Chaar said. “Hair did play a big part in the ’70s.” Hermans applied the aging makeup to Witt.
“We would do some special effects to create the wrinkles and make everything dull,” Hermans said. “Oz wanted to make her colorless, like the life was sucked out of her by Longlegs and the satanic experience. There was a lot of powder.
” Maika Monroe, playing Ruth’s daughter, FBI agent Lee Harker, needed very little enhancement by Harmans. RELATED: Deadline Launches New Awards Hub – Read The ‘Gladiator II’ Cover Story, Awards News, Features, Interviews & More “Maika has amazing skin already and beautiful eyebrows and eyelashes,” Harmans said. “We were really focusing on skincare again and no coverage, very light coverage, no concealer.
We wanted to be able to see some of the darker color under her eyes. I don’t even think I put mascara on her. She got her eyelashes tinted and we were like, ‘That’s perfect.
’” Longlegs is now available on VOD, DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD from Neon . RELATED: Contenders Film: Los Angeles — Deadline’s Complete Coverage Check back Monday for panel video. The presenting sponsor for this year’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles is United for Business .
Sponsors are Eyeptizer Eyewear , Final Draft + ScreenCraft , and partners are Four Seasons Maui , 11 Ravens and Robina Benson Design House ..
