In the first ten minutes of Hulus “La Máquina” streamer’s first ever
Spanish-speaking series-you see a bizarre coiffed, too tanned, vainglorious man in a suit known for wheels and handling in what looks like a cocaine fever from the 1980s. (Comparisons with a particular potus is only random.) But you actually look at the actor Diego Luna (“Andor“), Who is reunited with his” y tu mamá También “Costar Gael García Bernal to play Andy Lujan, a boxing manager who ramps up his career for his best friend, Esteban (García Bernal), a local Mexican pugilist who suffers from a fall.
Luna, usually a beatific presence even in the darkest stories, is closely unrecognizable as the token, eccentric rich mother’s boy who comes over his head. “We wanted everything to look natural,” said hair and makeup designer Alejandra Velarde, “so when we (originally) put on the cheeks he did not look natural at all. He looked like a cartoon.”
To remedy the situation, Velade and her team urged Emmy-winning prosthetic designer Pepe Mora (“The Mandalorian”) urged something that would play realistic for the audience, a tough performance as this is a character that applies tan as moisturizer and is fond of surgical procedures and botox. (See the video just below for a time course disclosure of Luna’s process.)
“I thought (the facial components) needed to be separate pieces and
Dentures needed to work separately because I didn’t have time for a makeup test, ”
said Mora, who created a mixed look that could stand up against the show’s many
Close -ups as well as to the unforgiving 4K and higher resolutions.
“The most challenging thing I will say if all these processes are the stress of prostheses and take care of the skin, because they must also breathe through the skin,” he said. “So after removing the makeup we have some skin care
(routine), a little spa, ten minutes with Diego that only takes care of
His skin. “
The process took anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours depending on
The needs of the day, and Mora seems pleased with the proposal that even if
The show is fictional and put in the rather latest past, Luna looks astonishing
Like Mickey Rourke, hair and everything.
“We wanted to show that the tension between control and distortion,” said the designer, who confirmed that Rourke was really a visual barometer, along with the singer in the famous Mexican rock team Mana, often whispered on chat boards to see a little niped and tucked. “You should see them in some unnatural state, but it must look natural,” Velade said. “It is not easy to find complete references for male plastic surgery,” added Mora and noted that putting together the pieces created a kind of Mr. Potato Head concept. “
But Luna was games to go all the way on the series. Velarde has been working with him for more than eight years with projects including “Narcos: Mexico“And his upcoming director’s adaptation of Brenda Navarro’s novel” A Mouthful of Ash. “
“Everyone was kind and professional and always brought great energy to the makeup truck,” she said. “We became a real family.”
And both artists were grateful to work on a project centered on a patent
Mexican story and background, a landscape that has still not been explored enough in limited
series. “It makes me really proud as a Mexican,” Velarde said. “It’s powerful
Because it shows that we have talent, vision and the ability to create
work that can stand on a global stage and know that what you do can
travel far beyond our borders. “
A version of this story first ran in the limited series & TV filmer edition of Thewrap’s Awards Magazine. Read more from the question here.
