The last time Zoë Saldana played an oddly colored space creature, her blue skin tone was entirely computer generated. Not this time around. To play Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, Saldana sat in the makeup chair for five hours a day so that every square inch of her could be covered in green paint—and I mean every square inch. "The things that were coming out of my nose, my mouth, my..." she told David Letterman when she stopped by his show last week. Well, since we now know what happened when she took the makeup off, here are all the details of how she got it on—directly from the special-effects makeup designer for the film, David George.
Was there any CGI involved in Gamora's makeup for the film?
"Nope, it's all Zoë, although she is wearing a few prosthetic pieces made from encapsulated silicone. Her forehead is a prosthetic that I sculpted to create a new shadow line where her eyebrows once were. And her cheeks are prosthetics, too."
How did you settle on that exact shade of green?
"My prosthetics department ultimately ended up being responsible for everything concerning Zoë's makeup and prosthetics. We tested the color many times. We didn't want to put people off with the color, and we wanted it to have vibrancy and life, which meant lots of different layers of highlight and shadow and a reflective base to give her skin tone depth and substance."
What exactly is the green makeup all over her body?
"It's a combination of a few things—once the prosthetics were on, the skin around them was topped with a M.A.C. yellow primer and a Makeup Inkz primer. Once dry, a green M.A.C. base was applied. Three more layers of green were then airbrushed on, including makeup from Skin Illustrator and an Aqua mix highlight."
"Nope, it's all Zoë, although she is wearing a few prosthetic pieces made from encapsulated silicone. Her forehead is a prosthetic that I sculpted to create a new shadow line where her eyebrows once were. And her cheeks are prosthetics, too."
How did you settle on that exact shade of green?
"My prosthetics department ultimately ended up being responsible for everything concerning Zoë's makeup and prosthetics. We tested the color many times. We didn't want to put people off with the color, and we wanted it to have vibrancy and life, which meant lots of different layers of highlight and shadow and a reflective base to give her skin tone depth and substance."
What exactly is the green makeup all over her body?
"It's a combination of a few things—once the prosthetics were on, the skin around them was topped with a M.A.C. yellow primer and a Makeup Inkz primer. Once dry, a green M.A.C. base was applied. Three more layers of green were then airbrushed on, including makeup from Skin Illustrator and an Aqua mix highlight."
What about the rest of her makeup? It looks like she's wearing eye shadow.
"She is. On her lids is a blend of several eye shadows from M.A.C., including Pink, Goldmine, and Humid. Her eyes are lined with M.A.C. Powerpoint Eye Pencil in Engraved and Blacktrack Fluidline, and she's wearing Liz Martins Enhance Lashes. The green lipstick is from Kryolan, and her nail polish is Sinful Colours Nail Polish in Exotic Green."
How long did it take to put on and take off the makeup?
"To apply the prosthetics took about two to three hours; taking it off took anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes."
You can see the green along her hairline and her part. How did you paint her scalp green?
"We didn't—the prosthetic forehead has an extension piece of green silicone skin that travels under the hairline. She's wearing a wig for the film, which was designed by Lizzie Georgiou and Carol Waugh."
Lizzie Georgiou: "The wig was dressed, colored, and applied daily by a member of my team, Claire Burgess, and her assistant, Hannah Canfor. It has pink tips and a braid decorated with two alien skulls, which were specially designed for the film by a jewelry-designer friend of Zoë's."
