Plausibility of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

[Lutso]

I was discussing Star Wars fan films with someone recently and sort of came to the conclusion that a very large thing obviously lacking in all fan films is appearances by pivotal established characters.

Obviously there are exceptions in the cases of R2-D2, Chewbacca, Darth Maul etc., where some costume magic can take place, but in the case of more decidedly human appearances, such as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, etc...well, it remains pretty much undone.

Seeing recent threads here concerning 1:1 sculpts of Luke Skywalker and the like have inspired me to look further into this.

My idea is this - make or acquire a copy of an actor's bust, and turn it into some sort of latex mask or series of prosthetics that can be applied to another actor's face.

Just how feasible is this? How would one tackle a project of this caliber?

I would like to put this to use someday if I ever make a fan film of my own...I think having even an extremely brief appearance by an established character would be a very respectable feat in the fan film community.

 

[ob1al]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

It's possible.

You would have to make a lifecast of the actor and make a set of appliances and design a make up to try and resemble the 'famous' character.

But then you have the issue of voice, movement, mannerisms and personality to tackle.

Even when the prosthetics are well done, like Tarkin in ROTS, it's absolutely clear that it's not Peter Cushing.

So maybe it's just better to find a semi-lookalike and use the character, rather than the prosthetic? Or have a main character cameo in the story from a long-shot or something?

 

[trooper1m]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I think you'd have to sculpt say a Mark hamill bust on top of a cast of your own head so that his features would sit properly over your own faces bone structure, chances are you would have a different sized head to someone else

 

[Dougie Fett]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I think the costumer in question would have to have similar type facial features to the actor to begin with!
Don't think it would be possible to make just generic pieces for anyone to use.

 

[the_batdemon]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

It's done for stunt men..or used to be before digital facial replacement. The actors features would have to be close to the intended celebrity, particularly the eyes for it to be believable.

 

[Cbstudios]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I've been thinking of the possibility of this too, and while theorteically possible, you'd still face issues such as major differences in the distance between say, your eyes and mouth, as well as size and shape of your eyes, drastic differences in the shape of the jaw and nose.

It could be done, but it mostly just serve as a means of making you look similar.

 

[CAndrewNelson]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

Well, you know, this sort of thing was actually done in the Star Wars films themselves. Wayne Pygram was hired to portray Governor Tarkin in Episode III and made up to look like Peter Cushing. But what the_batdeamon said is true. More often than not now CGI is used to disguise the fact that a stunt performer is standing in for the main actor. We put a CG version of Christopher Lee's head on a stantman's body for some of the long shots in Episode II during Dooku's lightsaber match with Obi-Wan and Anakin. The thing that bothered me about it was that the CG overlay made Dooku's head took slightly out of proportion, like a Christopher Lee bobblehead, but that wasn't my call. More recently Natalie Portman's real head was composited on a true ballet dancer's body for the film Black Swan...but I digress.

It would be interesting to see someone pull off making Luke, Han, or any other "face" character for a fan film through the use of prosthetic make-up or a full mask. Good luck gaining access to an actual life mask! It might be easier to get someone to sculpt a bust of Mark or Harrison from scratch. Not easy, but easier. Then use that bust for making a mold.

In all honesty, the best route would be to find an actor who looks as much as possible like the person you are trying to recreate and then take it the rest of the way through make-up as was done with Tarkin for Ep III.

 

[kessa]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

yeah, pretty much like the others have said... in theory it's do-able, but there's factors such as the core actor's face structure (are they close enough), your budget, and skill level of the person doing the work... and how close do you want to get?

If you're after a "can't tell the difference" end result, then be prepared to pay a fair amount of money (unless you know someone who can do it for you)

Interestingly, I was watching "The Gadget Show" (a UK program) last night and they did a fantastic prosthetic of Jason's head (one of the presenters)

It was done by "Nimba creations" if I understand correctly. I found this link so that you can see the end result:
Nimba Creations | Facebook

Now - they did have Jason's own face to do the lifecast off (so there were no accuracy issues in terms of having to do a sculpt of someone elses face), but the thing that blew me away was how realistic the appliance was.... so in theory, if you can get someone who's equally as talented at sculpting then it should be possible.

 

[Ood sigma]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

Awesome thread, but I can help having the Mission Impossible theme music in my head as I read it

 

[Cirian]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

Awesome thread, but I can help having the Mission Impossible theme music in my head as I read it

Hahaha! That's what I thought too.. very Mission Impossible feeling to this thread!

 

[Harmonic_Distortion]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I've wanted to do this with Christopher Reeve, as he is the ultimate Superman in terms of looks and style. Especially after Fettster did that incredible Reeve bust in silicone, I just thought...wow...imagine walking around DragonCon with a Reeve mask on!

 

[Ood sigma]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I've got a guy making a face mold of me. Now this idea is planted, I'm keen to see where it goes. Wil keep y'all posted

 

[KenKenobi2]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I want to see one of you hotshots turn me into Scarlett Johansen.....not David Johansen!

 

[the_batdemon]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I want to see one of you hotshots turn me into Scarlett Johansen.....not David Johansen!

We'd need more silicone below the neckline.

Most times when prosthetics are used to re-create an existing(famous) person, it looks like a caricature. I do remember seeing a female model turned into Keith Richards....scary but well done.

The Wayne Pygram portrayal of Governor Tarkin in Episode III looked odd to me, out of proportion. I thought it was a digital replacement when I first saw it.

Natalie Portman's head was put on a ballet dancer's body? was it because she couldn't perform the dance move or was her baby bump starting to show?

 

[Kittlemeier]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

Reminds me of this article/photoshoot Esquire did a couple of years ago.

"This Is Not Steve McQueen"

Classic American Sportswear - Steve McQueen - Esquire

 

[HAL9000]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

or hire Ben Ford?

 

[CAndrewNelson]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

Reminds me of this article/photoshoot Esquire did a couple of years ago.

"This Is Not Steve McQueen"

Classic American Sportswear - Steve McQueen - Esquire

Wow...that's kinda creepy. He looks like one of the marionettes from the old Captain Scarlet & the Mysterons TV show.

 

[CAndrewNelson]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

Natalie Portman's head was put on a ballet dancer's body? was it because she couldn't perform the dance move or was her baby bump starting to show?

It was because she couldn't really dance like a true prima ballerina. I actually haven't seen the whole film of Black Swan. I just saw a sampling of the effects shots (before & after) while on the nominating commitee for the Visual Effects Society Awards. The presentation we were shown explained it was because although Portman can dance ballet she can't dance that good. I didn't like all the effects we were shown, but I think the head replacement work was top notch.

But going back towards the original topic (really, I'm headed there), did you hear about the white guy in Florida who committed robberies wearing a full head silicone mask of an african-american man? The police even initially arrested the wrong man.

Hollywood-quality masks give criminals a new face for high-tech robberies

He bought it from a company called SPFX Masks...

SPFXMasks - Silicone Masks, Movie Quality Halloween Masks

The masks they sell are pretty impressive. A lot of small low-budget horror movies are using these masks to add production value to their films. But I bet this sort of thing could be used to create a plausable "celebrity" mask.

 

[SonOfPumpkinhead]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

I'd LOVE to try this if someone closer to me wanted it for something. The key is to go subtle. Find someone fairly close and then use the prosthetics sparingly to make the appearance closer. The best representation of the use of prosthetics for a "face" character, in my opinion, would be Rick Baker's transformation of Martin Landau to Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood." It was just a nose, upper lip, I believe a chin... some eyebrow and hair work and thats it. Worked great!

 

[steveo]

Re: Plausability of "Celebrity" prosthetics and masks

You will get close with a sculpt, but the acting like that person is also a big part.