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<\/p>\n\n\tThe Ugly Stepsister is a period body-horror black comedy, but it turns out its creative inspirations are rooted as much in \u201970s-era Cher and glam rock as in the classic fairy tale Cinderella that it reimagines. Nowhere is that more present than in the ballroom scene where Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) holds a party to select a potential wife.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe heavy makeup was because the eyelash look was critical,\u201d explains hair and makeup designer Anne Cathrine Sauerberg, who, along with prosthetic makeup effects designer Thomas Foldberg, is nominated for an Oscar in the best makeup and hairstyling category. (The other nominees are Frankenstein, The Smashing Machine, Sinners and Kokuho.) \u201cIt didn\u2019t look like a contemporary eyelash that the girls would do nowadays, because we didn\u2019t want to look like we were making fun of anyone, so we used this spidery eye, a very open look like Cher \u2014 a big hero of mine \u2014 in her \u201970s era,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn addition to using bolder colors than you might expect in a period piece set in the 1880s, Sauerberg embraced the style of her first heartthrob, T. Rex singer Marc Bolan, and other artists of the era, adding a decadent and flamboyant flair to writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt\u2019s satirical vision.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t think it was intentional, but it\u2019s in my blood. I\u2019ll often go to David Bowie or Velvet Underground, too,\u201d Sauerberg muses. \u201cWhen you are a kid, you look up to people. Elvira [Lea Myren] is looking up to Cinderella; she idolizes the prince like a pop star. She has a lot of heroes, and your heroes stick with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSomething Sauerberg and Foldberg found invaluable was Blichfeldt\u2019s meticulous storyboarding, especially when it came to creating the film\u2019s first gross-out moment: Elvira, the titular ugly stepsister, squeezing a zit.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere was a lot of talk about that, and I think that was actually the first drawing I saw,\u201d the prosthetic makeup effects designer recalls. \u201cWe decided to do it with a separate fake nose piece, a small silicone prop of her face, instead of doing it with the prosthetic on her.\u201d The decision came from the director and her cinematographer, Marcel Zyskind, who needed a very tight shot of the pimple pop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe next challenge was creating the perfect pus to ooze out. Foldberg experimented with various mixes and materials. \u201cWe tried Vaseline with some talc in it, and some wax-based stuff, and then other lubricants with thickeners in them,\u201d he explains. They settled on the Vaseline option \u201cbecause we had to be able to control how fast it came out. It was a strange job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tPeriod hairstyles also play a significant role in defining the characters of Elvira and Agnes, aka Cinderella, played by Thea Sofie Loch Naess. The original plan was to use no wigs in the\u00a0movie.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tLea Myren with cheek prosthetics for Elvira\u2019s \u201cbefore\u201d look; a dummy head created for Elvira\u2019s eyelash application sequence; prosthetics makeup effects designer Thomas Foldberg sewed in eyelashes on a fake face before compositing with Myren\u2019s face; the actress had ringlets prepped by hair and makeup designer Anne Cathrine Sauerberg.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Shudder (4)<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI just said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s not going to happen,\u2019\u202f\u201d Sauerberg remembers with a laugh. With about 80\u202fpercent of the cast requiring some hair enhancement, the designer hit Black hair supply stores in Paris to find the desired texture and would dye, cut and sew it together as needed. With a choice between white, red or black hair, Sauerberg opted for white but says it was \u201can absolute nightmare\u201d to match the \u201cyellowish\u201d blonde tone associated with Scandinavia.<\/p>\n
\n\tFor The Ugly Stepsister\u2019s third act, where the prince is looking for Cinderella post-ball, Elvira goes to extreme measures to make her feet fit the slipper. Foldberg leaned into the body horror, with a transformation that evokes comparisons with Italian giallo films. Again, her hair, now falling out, plays a key role in Blichfeldt\u2019s visceral vision, but it was a race against time to pull it off.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI was directing a wonderful wig maker in Norway while having Emilie in Poland,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe wig maker ended up coming to set and only finished the wig four days before shooting started. I think we got to do one test makeup session, and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBecause of the filmmaker\u2019s clear plan, Foldberg was able to create the desired look on time and avoid predictable tropes. \u201cIt\u2019s so easy to get into a clich\u00e9 look with thin hair,\u201d he explains. \u201cEmilie didn\u2019t want it to be like a chemotherapy kind of thing, or just going thin. She wanted these big chunks of hair missing, with the rest looking full. I had a tough time getting into it, but I got there\u00a0eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe solution saw Myren wearing a bald cap with a silicone forehead and a wig created in several sections so the hair could fall off piece by piece. However, that was just the start of Elvira\u2019s top-to-(severed) toe grotesque metamorphosis.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cShe also had lenses for her eyes that toned down the white part to match her skin tone. That always makes people look sick and weird,\u201d he explains. \u201cThere were also dentures, the broken nose and the eyelashes, so a lot was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWhile the look is the most extreme in the film, at one hour and 45 minutes, it took the least time to apply, with Foldberg doing it himself several times. The most work went into the natural look Elvira has for the majority of the film.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIn the beginning, people didn\u2019t realize it, which is funny and I take that as a compliment, but it was also a little sad, because people thought that I had only done a few effects gags with some blood and stuff,\u201d he muses. \u201cIn almost half of the film, we have her in prosthetic cheeks, the fake nose, a double chin and a neck piece to cover the collarbones.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBecause Myren is a dancer and athletic and toned in real life, the effects team needed to add a teenage doughiness to her physique. \u201cWhere you see her without her dress on, we applied arm pieces to make her look softer than she is,\u201d the prosthetic makeup effects designer concludes. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about nine hours in a chair. It was a four-hour makeup process when we had the arms on, but it was a lot of work.<\/p>\n