There’s no shortage of eye candy in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The third and final round for director James Gunn’s ride with these endearing intergalactic oddballs has given Marvel fans something to savor. The film generated nearly $120 million in its first weekend and is set to be number one at the box office over Mother’s Day.
Beyond the engaging story, which found our favorite Guardians going to great lengths to save the life of their friend, Rocket (Bradley Cooper), fans were thrilled with the return of Star-Lord/Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Groot (Vin Diesel), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Kraglin (Sean Gunn), and others.
Special effects abound here, but equally important are the film’s practical effects. For that, MovieWeb turned to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s Emmy-winning Makeup Department Head Alexei Dmitriew and award-winning Hair Department Head Cassie Russek, who uncovered several fascinating behind-the-scenes accounts of what it took to make the blockbuster look just perfect.
Dmitriew is the Makeup Department Head on Ahsoka, and previously won his Emmy Awards for MADtv, Star Trek: Picard, and The Mandalorian. He’s well acquainted with Marvel, having previously worked on Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Meanwhile, Russek has worked on Black Adam, Amsterdam, Red Notice, and several of the same Marvel projects as Dmitriew; she has served as Hair Department Head for HBO’s Room 104, and is Zoe Saldana’s personal hair stylist for Paramount+’s upcoming series, Special Ops: Lioness. The two pros spoke with MovieWeb about their new film.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Sets a World Record
There is quite a bit to appreciate in this volume of Guardians. There’s even a hint that a Vol. 4 may be on the horizon in some iteration after those credits scenes. Regardless, what’s fascinating is that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sets a world record for the largest prosthetic makeup film in history, breaking a previous record held by Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Let’s break that down.
Dmitriew and Russek applied more than 22,500 prosthetic appliances to a behemoth cast of more than 100 principal actors, and more than 1,000 background artists. Nearly 500 wigs were used and more than 130 facial hairpieces. “And 117 pairs of contact lenses as well,” Dmitriew quipped. “It’s pretty amazing.”
That it is. Dmitriew and Russek also shared that 98% of the film’s makeup and hair is practical FX. In fact, very little CGI was used on that front.
“James has a real track record of using practical effects, even back to his first film, Slither,” Dmitriew shared. “He loves practical effects. It really helps him see the things on camera, and it helps the actors get into the role and what they’re playing. We’re really lucky that he believes in that as much as he does. It gives us a purpose to be able to create awesome stuff. I worked on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, too, and for us, it just really helps to make that world a full thing, and just a really rich environment.”
Russek agreed, pointing out James Gunn’s passion and determination. And as head of the film’s Hair Department, Russek had her work cut out for her, overseeing creation of hundreds of wigs and facial hairpieces. “It’s truly amazing when, as a full practical character comes onto set, that there is universal excitement over it,” .said Russek. She continued:
“When that happens, all the actors get a chance to really interact with all of these practical characters. It is so cool because, of course [with motion capture], everyone’s going to act as good as they can to it. But when you see the practical turtle in front of you, or as Natalia Safran posted her whole costume, those are the things that really bring everything to life. As artists, we get to create. And James is great at allowing us to be creative and do what we do best. It’s amazing that he lets us do that. It really is.”
It’s More Than Just Makeup and Hair
The duo was also tasked with honoring the designs of the first two films, while also having to master their own unique elements for new things — from new planets to new characters. What immediately stood out was the creation of a distinctly original look for the characters of Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Nebula, and the film’s new foe, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).
Let’s not forget those vivid Humanimals, a race of humanoids and animals. “What was really cool about that is when we got to the Humanimals, it was later on in our shoot, and we had already shot the holiday special at the same time,” shared Dmitriew. “We’d been shooting for maybe seven months, I think, then that came along, and it was like we were starting a whole new movie because it was so different. We’d been doing all these aliens the whole time. Then we got to them, and it was like a new color palette, new prosthetics, new people, and it was on a new location as well. All of those characters were so unique.”
He went on to say the team had about 30 people in makeup and about 75 great makeup artists during those times. “The characters had these really unique underskull-like caps that were 3D-printed to fit them, and the big ears were magnetic — a magnet on over the wig and the prosthetics and all that stuff. So, the turtles, the rabbits […] they all have these underskull face masks as well because the eyes were wider, so the eyes would go in the magnet at the end, and they had little holes so they actors could see through it.”
One unique Humanimal was the Blue Jay Postal Worker (Michelle Civile), which was created by Legacy Effects and had to be puzzle-pieced together. “We taped this cup to her chin, and as she opened her mouth, the beak would open on a set of pulleys,” said Dmitriew. “Then we put the prosthetics all around it so she can control the beak and everything. We also had about 80 pairs of gloves, so all these animal gloves could be used. It was cool and made everything look fresh.”
Russek’s team was tasked to make everything look “fresh” on her end, too, with specific wigs and hairpieces. The result is as eye-catching as it is mesmerizing. Oftentimes these practical effects make the movie. To that end, these artists are rare creative titans.
As for the Guardians of the Galaxy films, in general, and the unique characters brought to life in all three films (like Nathan Fillion’s Master Orgosentry Karja), Russek is candid about why fans remain so fascinated by this posse:
These are characters people love, especially this being the final movie of the Guardians. They’re such a misfit of people that came together to be family. And one thing I will say, is that James Gunn can truly create family. And he created family even behind the scenes. So, I think everyone really feels a sense of family within Marvel here.
Marvel’s new film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, from Walt Disney Studios, is playing in theaters everywhere.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
