The 15 Best and Most Influential SFX Makeup Jobs in Movies

Special effects makeup has been an integral part of the movie imagination since the Silent Film Era. Filmmakers reaching back as far as Charlie Chaplin and George Melies have employed makeup and prosthetics to inhabit different characters more convincingly. As early as the 1920s, moviemakers were even making early attempts at creature effects, with early films like Nosferatu and The Phantom of the Opera terrifying audiences and laying a foundation for the next hundred years of scares.

Despite these early innovations, SFX makeup and prosthetics were often clunky and fake-looking until the early '80s. It was at this turning point that pioneers like Rick Baker and Stan Winston began to incorporate mechanical engineering and more realistic mold-making techniques to heighten the uncanny effects of films. In turn, Hollywood began to pay more respect to the designers and makeup artists making these enormous technical strides — including at the Oscars. The following are the 15 best and most influential SFX makeup jobs in movie history.

15 Beauty and the Beast (1946)

Beauty and the Beast remains one of the great classics of French cinema, thanks to the guidance of poet-turned-filmmaker Jean Cocteau, and the unforgettable mask created for the Beast (Jean Marais). For Marais' wolf-like mask, Cocteau scrapped an earlier idea of using a deer head, instead opting for a mask and makeup based on Marais' Alaskan Husky.

Where to Find Beauty and the Beast's SFX Influence

If you're wondering why the Beast's look from the 1946 film still seems so familiar today, look no further than its decades-worth of influence on other films, including An American Werewolf in London, Monster Squad, and Teen Wolf. Even more recent films like Wolfmanand the Twilight franchise have employed a similar vibe for their wolf-like characters.

14 The Whale

The Whale

A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser.

Release Date

December 9, 2022

Runtime

1hr 57min

The Whale has been the subject of both praise and contempt for the use of the 300-pound prosthetic suit used to transform star Brendan Fraser into Charlie, a morbidly obese professor living in hermetic isolation. Some have accused the film of fatphobia for director Darren Aronofsky's decision to use the suit rather than casting an actor that met the size of the fictional Charlie character — but when Fraser won the Oscar for Best Actor for The Whale, it became hard to argue this as anything but an earnest attempt at portrayal.

Why The Whale's Prosthetic Suit Was So Impactful

The Whale also won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, thanks to the often-harsh realism of Fraser's prosthetic suit, which took four hours a day to fit onto the actor's body. Fraser consulted with the Obesity Action Coalition and worked with a dance instructor to heighten the realism of leading such a lifestyle, and was duly rewarded with an awards haul for the exhaustive undertaking of this role.

13 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring included makeup and prosthetics that were both subtle (the Hobbits and Elves) and severe (the Orcs and the Cave Troll). While forced-perspective sets and CGI did much of the heavy lifting, the SFX makeup jobs were still iconic — especially those of Gandalf and Gimli.

How the SFX Makeup in The Lord of the Rings Made the CGI Believable

Part of the magic trick of creating a cinematic Middle Earth for audiences came through the combination of CGI and prosthetic makeup. You could argue that the makeup in The Lord of the Rings has aged better than the CGI, as Gollum might not pass muster in today's computer-based film landscape, but the film's Oscar win for Best Makeup is still easily justifiable.

12 Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy

Release Date

April 5, 1990

Cast

Warren Beatty , Charlie Korsmo , Michael Donovan O'Donnell , Jim Wilkey , Stig Eldred , Neil Summers

Runtime

105

Dick Tracy is a bit forgotten in the pantheon of great SFX makeup films, but at the time of its release, the movie made a big impression — thanks in large part to the creatively cartoony prosthetics on mob characters like Big Boy (Al Pacino) and Flattop (William Forsythe). Rather than approach the comic book adaptation by modernizing these character's looks, Dick Tracy director and star Warren Beatty opted to stay true to the look of the detective comic series.

Despite a Poor Critical Response, Dick Tracy Won Oscar Glory

While Disney had hoped for a box-office return and critical response similar to Batman's from the previous year, Dick Tracy wasn't quite as impactful, perhaps because it lacked Burton's darkness. What was lasting about the film was the incredible makeup, which won John Castiglione Jr. and Doug Drexler the award for Best Make-Up Artist at the Oscars, along with the film's seven other Academy Award nominations. Dick Tracy's approach to SFX Makeup can be seen, today, in films like Sin City and Hellboy — which still employ prosthetics despite subsequent advances in CGI.

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11 Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road reminded the world of director George Miller's visionary approach to makeup and costumes upon release in 2015, thanks in no small part to Miller's insistence on using old-school SFX makeup rather than a CGI-heavy approach.

Immortan Joe's Terrifying Appearance Heightened the Film's Stakes

Australian actor Hugh Keays-Byrne ran it back with Miller, after appearing in the original Mad Max as Toecutter. For Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega, and Damian Martin secured the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling when they transformed Keays-Byrne into the terrifying warlord Immortan Joe. That included Joe's iconic gas mask, which gets ripped from his face to reveal the gore beneath during the film's biggest turning point.

10 The Fly

The Fly

Release Date

August 15, 1986

Runtime

96

The Fly may be the grossest of David Cronenberg's many body-horror films, as the director revamped the original 1958 movie in his signature, disquieting fashion. The film's oft-repeated tagline, "Be afraid. Be very afraid," came to fruition when the audience caught a glimpse of Seth Brundle's gradual transformation into the disgusting, humanoid Brundle Fly.

The Fly Took SFX Makeup to Barf-O-Matic Levels

Between Brundle's corrosive vomit, a baboon that's turned inside-out in his teleportation machine, and a baby-maggot nightmare, The Fly shocked and terrified movie audiences in 1985. Still, the film's more subtle makeup touches may be more responsible for its Oscar win, as they helped star Jeff Goldblum induce nausea while still maintaining a necessary amount of acting humanity.

9 Mrs. Doubtfire

Mrs. Doubtfire

Release Date

November 24, 1993

Director

Chris Columbus

Runtime

125

Mrs. Doubtfire certainly has developed some revisionist thoughts thanks to its out-of-date '90s gender dynamics, but still remains beloved thanks to Robin Williams' performance in one of the great films about marital divorce. Maybe his greatest ally in making the character so iconic was the uncannily realistic prosthetic makeup and suit that allowed Williams to transform into an elderly British nanny.

A Famous Hair and Makeup Team Helped Williams Endure Hours in the Chair

Despite an average of four hours per day in the makeup chair, the team of Greg Cannom, Ve Neill, and Yolanda Toussieng helped Robin Williams endure the grueling process. Neill may have been the most integral part of the process, after already winning awards for Beetlejuice and Batman Returns. During a behind-the-scenes look at the film, Neill works tirelessly to speed up the prosthetics application, affording Williams ample time on set to improvise Mrs. Doubtfire's most hilarious scenes.

8 The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

No SFX makeup job has been more integral to a movie plot than the original 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera. One of the crown jewels of the Silent Film Era, the film's lack of auditory dialogue made its visual impact all the more important. Enter Lon Chaney, an actor famed for illuminating horrific characters like the Phantom, Quasimodo, and Fagin from Oliver Twist.

Lon Chaney's Unique Upbringing and Makeup Skill Informed His Brilliance

Chaney was born the child of two deaf parents, which some have speculated contributed to his excellence as a silent film star. In addition, the vaudeville veteran developed his own SFX makeup looks, including doing his own makeup as the Phantom. For his efforts, he earned the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces."

7 An American Werewolf in London

The first-ever winner of the Oscar for Best Makeup, An American Werewolf in London became a horror hit in 1981 thanks in large part to the work of SFX makeup legend Rick Baker. Director John Landis hired Baker based on his work on The Exorcist and two Star Wars movies, and Baker's iconic werewolf transformation scene became the film's hallmark.

Rick Baker's Work on Werewolf Made Him the '80s Preeminent SFX Makeup Artist

After winning the first Oscar for Best Makeup, Rick Baker would go on to dominate makeup work in the '80s, working on many of the decade's biggest box office hits. His work with Landis may be his most remembered, given the massive influence of Werewolf, Coming to America, and Michael Jackson's unforgettable Thriller video.

6 Mask

Mask, like The Elephant Man before it, sought to shed light on the struggle of those suffering from disease and facial disformity. The film tells the story of Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz), a boy born with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, a rare disorder that led to Dennis being bullied. Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek won an Oscar for their transformation of Stoltz into Rocky, leaving the actor enough range of facial movement to give an endearing performance.

Stoltz's Makeup Was Convincing in Real Life Too

In Mask, Cher plays Rusty Dennis, the mother of Rocky, a role she prepared for by developing a relationship with her real-life counterpart. Cher later recalled that Stoltz was even mistaken for the real-life Rocky by residents of Azusa, California — as the movie was filmed in Rocky Dennis' real hometown, where he had become well-known even before the film.

5 Predator

Predator

Release Date

June 12, 1987

Runtime

107

Predator is unquestionably one of the '80s greatest sci-fi action films, but that may not have been the case if not for the genius of SFX pioneer Stan Winston. The original Predator design looked more like an alien from 1950s monster movies, with a young Jean-Claude Van Damme tasked with donning the original suit before quitting the project after allegedly clashing with producer Joel Silver. When Stan Winston was tasked with a redesign of the insufficient alien, the result was his now-famous Rastafarian warrior with fang-tipped mandibles that tingled the spine.

Why the Predator Redesign Worked So Well

Beyond Winston's crucial drawings, body-actor-extraordinaire Kevin Peter Hall (who stood an imposing 7'2") donned the new costume. While you could argue the new Predator was more suit than makeup job, Hall's eyes were left exposed — a small but crucial decision for the epic scene when the Predator removes his helmet for a good ol' fashioned street fight with Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The Predator may have been "one ugly [expletive]," but the mask allowed an almost-human-like quality when the alien hunter goes hand-to-hand against Arnold.

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4 The Exorcist

The Exorcist

Release Date

December 26, 1973

Runtime

2hr 2min

The Exorcist was a landmark horror film, becoming the first to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars after young actress Linda Blair terrified movie-goers as a demonically possessed adolescent. Blair's biggest asset was the SFX makeup that helped bring her character's possessor, Pazuzu, to life, rising above the sheets long before Zuul in Ghostbusters ever did.

The SFX Makeup Job You Didn't Notice in The Exorcist

While Blair's demonic child stole the show, makeup artist Dick Smith's greatest magic trick was aging actor Max Von Sydow three decades to play Father Lankester Merrin. Few were able to notice that Von Sydow was only 43 when he played the elderly Father Merrin, despite many close-up shots of the actor throughout the film.

3 Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice

Release Date

March 30, 1988

Director

Tim Burton

Runtime

92

Beetlejuice was an SFX makeup artist's dream job, with the designs of visionary director Tim Burton at the disposal of brush jockeys Steve La Porte, Ve Neill, and Robert Short. Burton had been inspired by artist Edward Gorey in the creation of the cast's looks, but La Porte, Neill, and Short's realization of those designs is what made the film's characters iconic.

Michael Keaton Brought the Undead Betelgeuse to Life

Star Michael Keaton has always had a deeper bag of tricks when donning a heavy costume, whether that was in Batman's rubbery suit, Birdman's silly outfit, or Betelgeuse's moldy makeup. Turns out, Keaton came up with the mold idea himself, recalling in an interview with GQ that he suggested "mold would be a good thing" after Burton described that Betelgeuse often spends a few hundred years at a time underground. The effect was sublime and still makes for a larger task when average citizens continue to pay homage to the ghoulish character every Halloween.

2 The Elephant Man

The Elephant Man was a biographical drama based on the life of Joseph Merrick, a facially-deformed man who lived in London in the 1800s. In order to imbue Merrick's struggle, it was imperative for director David Lynch to properly depict the deformities that made him so misunderstood. Lynch hired Christopher Tucker, a British makeup artist famed for his work on the stage version of The Phantom of the Opera.

The Elephant Man Was So Moving, It Inspired an Oscar Category

Tucker's prosthetic helped bring John Hurt's moving performance as Merrick to life and could be argued as the most important SFX makeup job of the 20th Century in terms of gaining recognition for the craft's artistry. After a public outcry that the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences did nothing to recognize Tucker's work at the 1981 Oscars, a new category was created for Best Makeup the following year — and is often the measure of that year's most haunting (or haunted) character.

1 Nosferatu (1922)

At the time of its creation, Nosferatu was an experimental foray of German Expressionism into the medium of film. While Nosferatu was admittedly based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, it named him instead as Count Orlock (Max Shreck), whose appearance was arguably more terrifying than later efforts to visually adapt Stoker's source material.

Despite the changes, Stoker's heirs sued Nosferatu director F.W. Murnau for copyright infringement, and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. Luckily, a few prints survived, and in the century since its German release, Nosferatu has come to be regarded as maybe the most influential horror film ever created.

Studio Founder and Art Director Albin Grau Came Up With the Look

While Murnau and Shreck garner most of the credit for the film, it was Prana Films founder Albin Grau who came up with the art direction and makeup concept for Count Orlock. Grau had spent time in Serbia, a country rife with vampire folklore — which had also inspired Stoker. Grau essentially founded Prana films specifically to produce Nosferatu, etching his name in film history with a silent film that many credit with creating the modern horror genre.