by Linda Simeone
Actors are sometimes asked to do odd things for the sake of their art.
Unquestionably, having to eat a 'rodent' was, by far, the most
bizarre. If a particular scene becomes too risky or seems
questionably dangerous, a stunt person is called in. Much to
the relief of both 'artist' and producer. But 'eating
rodents' doesn't fall under the stunt coordinator's
jurisdiction. So, what does one do if one is supposed to give
the illusion of munching a mouse?
You call in
Make-up Artist and Prosthesis Technician, Leo Lotito, the
head of the TBS Studios Make-up Department, where V is
filmed for Warner Bros. Television.
With over 40
years of experience in his craft, Lotito considers
himself one of the more fortunate. He apprenticed his
beginning years under the tutelage of Ernie Westmore, one
of the famous legion of Westmore Brothers, Hollywood
make-up pioneers. 
Discovering his talent
Leo first became involved in the makeup business
when, by chance, he showed Westmore some of his
drawings and sketches. Lotito, at first, entertained the
thought of becoming an actor while recuperating from
injuries suffered in World War II. Upon entering the
theatrical world he soon became disenchanted and turned to
film editing. But that lasted only several weeks.
While working as an apprentice cutter he realized that
wasn't his game either. He then turned to sketching and
drawing. One day, Ernie Westmore walked in to where Lotito
was working, glanced over his shoulder and liked what
he saw. Westmore felt that Lotito had promise and
took him under his wing.
"It was a great
experience," Leo explained. "I did everything. I worked with
old mortician's wax, learned how to blend materials,
balance formulas and come up with the proper color and
texture. I learned how to mold and shape latex masks. It
was an apprenticeship of the finest sense. Too bad
producers gave up those early apprenticeship programs. They
would be smart to start them up again, you can learn so
much."
"You know, today, Makeup is not just simply applying
flesh colored creams and mascara. Today you absolutely
must know much more. You have to understand
prosthetics, mechanics, formulas and a litle magic doesn't
hurt either. It took us three weeks of experimenting
and testing just to decide how we were going to
approach some of the complex problems that V presented,"
he said.
The most difficult situation, Lotito
felt, was designing the prosthesis and dummy heads.
They had to look realistic when the scenes called for
the 'alien' characters to eat live
rodents.
Lotito worked on the classic Planet of the Apes
films. There testing, retesting and endless hours of
experimenting to achieve the right effect was a way of life.
"Oh, babe, it was indeed a tough assignment, no bones
about it," he reminisces, "but I learned so much
working with John Chambers." Leo credits Chambers with
creating everything spectacular on 'Apes.' However, after
two 'Apes' films, Lotito found it just too demanding
and resigned from that assignment. Chambers, of
course, continued, eventually winning an Academy Award
for his accomplishments. "You know, on 'Apes',
everything revolved around the makeup department. It was
probably the only time a production actually worked around
what we were doing, and that in itself was quite
unique," he states proudly.
Reptile Men
When writer Ken Johnson first explored the possibilities of
having his alien creatures be reptiles, a lot of
research went into the project. Johnson didn't want the
standard and often used early science fiction concept of a
prehistoric monster. Various zoological experts and
scientists were brought in so that the design of the V
reptiles would be as authentic as possible. Details such
as the correct way the creatures' mouths opened and
closed while chewing, head movements, eyes blinking, how
the skin rippled and expanded when they would turn or
stretch were given close scrutiny. When Ken Johnson and
Charles Davis, V's production designer, were 100% sure of
exactly what their aliens would look like, Lotito was
approached with that concept.
Leo had read the
script, sent to him earlier. He immediately knew that the
effect Johnson was looking for would require a great
deal of prosthesis work. Prosthesis involves the use
of artificial limbs or other body
parts.
"Prosthesis is a very tricky thing in makeup. If the
application isn't just so, it will look very phony and out of
place. Hell, your audience will spot it in seconds. It
also takes proper lighting and a perfect color match
to work effectively, not an easy task by any means,"
Lotito explains.
He feels that makeup is a team
thing and definitely not just a one man show. While
Lotito heads the TBS makeup department, he does not
consider himself 'a boss'. He feels he's only as good as
the men and women he works with and always strives
for a team effort.
Achieving Alien Perfection
For V, Leo
explained, it took five complete sculpture molds and endless
hours of working with actors and experimenting. Only
then did he and Werner Keppler, his very talented lab
man, finally come up with a workable model for every
face needed.
From there, latex molds were cast
and again tested on the actors to make sure
everything fit exactly before it went on film. There was no
room for error. Since realism was the key, applying
the make-up for actual shooting became a laborious,
painstaking process. Usually it took between two to two and
one-half hours in applying and nearly the same amount of
time to remove. Yet, in all, it was easy compared to
the six hours of detailed work needed in applying
Planet of the Apes make-up to Kim Hunter and the other
actors who eventually played intelligent
simians.
Lotito confessed to never having worked on Star Trek. He
mused that compared to V and Apes, applying the devices
to actor Leonard Nimoy's ears would be a breeze. He
feels that Nimoy had it easy compared to what some of
the actors had to endure on V. (According to Theresa
Victor, Nimoy's assistant, it takes approximately one and
a half hours to turn actor Nimoy into the Vulcan
Spock.)
On V, a make-up man was on the set every step of the
way. Especially when the scene called for the 'actor'
to 'break out' of his human features and turn into
the alien lizard.
Since the on-camera process
could only be done once, the actors had to be extremely
cautious. They were carefully coached and instructed on
'ripping away' the top mask of he human features, without
destroying the underlying alien features below that.
Professionalism on all levels paid off here. "Not one mistake was
made, much to everyone's relief," Leo
grinned.
Modern Movie Realism
"Makeup is very important
to today's films. Movie and television audiences are
just too sophisticated. Everyone wants realism.
Explosions, burns, gunshot wounds, again. Years ago, if a
script called for an actor to be shot or injured in a
scene, well, most likely, the director would instruct
the actor to let out a pained yell, clutch his side,
or shoulder or whatever, fall down and feign
unconsciousness. Then, of course, the audience would assume the
worst and imagine the rest. Why, heck, today almost
everything is subject to graphic detail. Blood, guts and
gore and God knows what else. So, the makeup takes on
a special significance. You have to give them what
they want!" Lotito explained.
While makeup and
graphic effects are done for pure shock effect in some
films and programs, everything utilized in V was
significant to the story. Particularly in those scenes where
the alien characters are shown to be eating live
guinea pigs, mice and parakeets. This, of course, gives
the audience credible proof that these so-called
humans are not really quite so human after
all.
The illusion of having actress Jane Badler eat a
mouse was achieved by utilizing a latex life mask,
molded in the actress' image. The mask was then
positioned over a hydraulic, mechanized head; life-like in
every way, even down to the blinking of her eyes.
Through a series of cut away shots and camera positions,
it does appear that she actually swallows the
rodent. Taking it one step further, Lotito and his
company of experts created a neck appliance that was
fastened from just below the actress' chin on down to her
breast bone. This specially designed appliance housed
three separate air bladders and was operated by
compressed air, which in turn was controlled by cables and
wires carefully concealed off camera. When operated
properly, it gave the illusion of something whole being
swallowed. Jane's fine acting aided the illusion and the
audience believed she had just eaten a live
rodent.
Lotito is pleased with the overall achievement. He was
nominated for an Academy Award for his work on V and looks
forward to working on the upcoming series.
"Makeup techniques are improving all of the time. There are always
new formulas and discoveries and new avenues to
explore," Lotito states. He credits fine films such as
Planet of the Apes for setting up the ground rules which
led to effects pictures such as Videodrome, Altered
States and An American Werewolf in London.
"Nothing is quite impossible today. If you can dream it
up, we can most likely translate it into makeup," the
veteran technician concludes with pride and
confidence.