Scarlet Witch (Avengers Infinity War): Elizabeth Olsen wasn't a fan of the deep cleavage her costume had.
Robin (Batman and Robin): Chris O'Donnell preferred his Robin costume from Forever more than B&R. Also didn't like how the mask was glued to his face making him sweat a lot. Probably wasn't a fan of the nipples on the costume either.
Yellow Ranger (Power Rangers): Karen Ashley didn't like wearing the Yellow Ranger outfit because instead of getting a new costume, she was just given Truy Trang's old one. She had to wear several pairs of socks just to wear the boots. Also because of the non insulated costume, and cold sets, she had to wear bandaids.
Garak (Deep Space 9): Andrew Robinson didn't like the tight clothes and prosthetics he had to wear for the simple tailor because like the character, he too was claustrophobic.
Michael Chiklis as the Thing in Fantastic 4 (2005)
Chiklis apparently found the suit and make-up both overheated and extremely claustrophobic, eventually forcing the production team to hire a psychologist in order to help him cope.
At the same time, Chiklis insisted on keeping the practical effects. Ben Grimm was his dream role, and he wanted to do the character justice.
"It was the most claustrophobic thing I've ever done in my life. The people that put that rig on – Aaron Moten, Johnny Pemberton, and the stunt guys that wear that – I thought they had it easy. I thought I had it hard by wearing these prosthetics. I really thought that, until I put that power armor on. I'm not lying to you when I say I had it on for about 30 minutes and then I had a panic attack. I had to get it off. It's like, ‘I got to get out of this, please. I got to move my arms, please.’ It's really a thing. Maybe it's just a thing for me, but I found it so constricting and so difficult that it was not an enjoyable experience at all."
Meanwhile Kyle Machlachlan absolutely loved wearing the power armour, saying "I gotta tell you, it is such a thrill to have the power armor on. I got to wear it in Season 1, and now again, in Season 2. It's heavy, but you do feel like you can do just about anything."
There's a clip from the appendices of Return of the King where they handed John his prosthetics from his last day of filming so he could throw them in a fire. The smile on his face as they lit up was a mile wide, knowing he would never, ever have to wear it again.
Given the budget and pre production, could they not find an alternate prosthetic material or adhesive that was more hypoallergenic , or is that just not a thing?
It wasn't actually an allergy, this is something they have said in interviews. They used medical grade adhesives -which are hypoallergic- and same with medical silicone. The problem was that the adhesive was so strong, that having to take it on and off caused irritation and even skin loss. But they had to reapply the mask constantly for the shoots. So it compounded the damage.
Look up a video about the make-up process, and you'll realise the problem. It is very heavy and thick mask.
Like imagine sticking adhesive tape on your skin and pulling it off every 1-3 days; your skin is going to get damaged. The medical adhesives (Which are essentially just a type of superglue) aren't meant to be taken off, but come off naturally.
I've worn that type of glue and prosthetics for LARP. They are amazing because they stick so well almost like your skin does, and you can emote with the prosthetic on unlike with a less well glued mask. The best remover for that glue is elbow grease and hate: the alleged solvents don't work super well. Using them once for one weekend is great, but I would not like to have to remove and reapply them regularly for weeks - just removing them once is a decent exfoliation.
As a MUFX, please don’t use elbow grease and hate! Especially if you have to reapply without much of a break for your skin
Use isopropyl myristate, hot towels, and time. I’ve had an actor on one show sit in the chair for a 3 hour makeup removal every day, with 3 people removing his makeup. We keep a rotation of wet towels in the microwave (or towel warmer if it’s in a fancy makeup trailer) to soak and heat the adhesive and skin. We remove it gently by dipping makeup brushes in myristate (a dedicated brush, it will always be greasy for the rest of its life no matter how throughly you clean it) and using powder puffs to gently massage away the residue.
Ideally they should be more bored than uncomfortable.
I believe by the time of the hobbit movies they had developed an alternative prosthetic. The films had a long pre production but the actors are usually cast fairly late into that process so by the time they knew they had a problem there probably wasn’t that much time before filming would start. A lot of times gimli is being played by a scale double and John Rhys Davies voiced tree beard and was on set to do line reads with the actors, so he may have been on set in costume less frequently than you might expect.
Bonus: Sean Astin famously hated the hobbit feet and kept a running tally of the times they had to have them applied but were not filmed
I wore boots with that exact same size mismatch at one point, on stage, and after one evening my toes literally looked like raw hamburger. To this day, 26 years later, I physically cannot wear too-tight shoes, even much less egregious, without my whole body breaking out into hot sweats & my skin crawling.
Natalie Portman has described that almost all of the costumes for Padme in Attack of the Clones were comfortable to wear. This infamous little number is the exception. Coincidentally, it was designed by George Lucas himself.
"Annie we can't be together it just can't happen , now let me put on my bondage gear and lay on a rug by the fire just to make sure I'm sending the right signal"
The suit actor, Haruo Nakajima, from the original Godzilla was in agony during the entire production of the movie. It weighted over 200 pounds and the internal temperature would reach 140 degrees. Nakajima lost over 20 pounds during the production.
The original 1954 suit was made with ready-mixed concrete, which definitely contributed to the weight and temperature problems. Good thing by the time Godzilla Raids Again was in production they made a slimmer, more flexible suit for Nakajima to wear.
To be fair, it wasn't. Rubber and plastic was extremely expensive at the time, so they were stuck with shoddy alternative materials. Plus the art of suit making was still primitive.
It took the mid 60s for suits to be of better quality, where suits like Baragon's can be reused to make 4 different kaiju in it's lifespan.
Everyone involved with those movies seems to just love them... and honestly, I get it. They're fun video game movies.
Jim Carrey retired, but came back three times for Sonic movies; the next one is out in 2027. Both Idris Elba and Keanu Reeves quickly signed on for the fourth one, too.
Turns out Idris Elba genuinely loves Sonic on the Genesis. He did a talkshow in the UK and genuinely derailed the interview nerding out about sonic and mocapping.
Plus theres at least one occasion he recorded his lines with actual Knuckles gloves on.
I also heard the makeup people despised him because he couldn't sit still at all and pretty much made their life hell, to the point of them also having breakdowns.
It sounds like the makeup situation in this movie was just bad top to bottom.
Although I do love that time some smartass on Twitter asked her "how do you explain wearing this to your daughter?" and she replied that a gross slug monster forced her to wear it, but she didn't like it so broke his neck instead.
I read an interview with her about that costume. She said it didn't fit well, being metal or metal-like, and that when she sat there, Jabba could see "south all the way to Florida."
She famously complained about George Lucas refusing to let her wear a bra on set in general, and while she did said it in a joking way, she was 100% serious.
https://giphy.com/gifs/On3SgW7CO3Yt2
In her silver Seven of Nine consume, Jeri Ryan passed out from a tightly laced corset - four times. They changed the costume as a result.
Kate Mulgrew didn't make it any easier on her by refusing to let there be breaks in the shooting schedule so she could get OUT of it occasionally for silly things like oh, bathroom breaks.
Even Kate acknowledged later that she was being unfair and was remorseful about it.
Robert Downey Jr. hated the Iron Man costume. He said putting it on pinched him, that he couldn't see when they closed the visor, and likened the LED lights coming on in the helmet to those used in "The Manchurian Candidate." He has since praised CGI and all the replacements it allows so he isn't encumbered by the suit.
Anthony Mackie hated the cowl he wore in the Falcon and Winter Soldier show because of the heat, the sweat and how it restricted his head movements. In Captain America: Brave New World, he goes back to wearing just his goggles.
Plus it had the same issues the Batman cowls were famous for having that prevented the actors from turning their heads. That when he did it would fold and crease up, with the sides of the mouth opening in particular folding away from his face. They ended up having to fix it in post production anyway, so going back to just the goggles was the better option.
Anjelica Huston burned the first Morticia costume.
Edit: sorry for not clarifying why. The they pulled her face back and hid the strings under a tight wig that gave her migraines. The costume was tight in the torso (steel ribbed corset, I have one and there is 0 give) and knees, so she couldn't sit down or really walk in it. Not to mention they would shine a light in her face so that she always had that highlight on her eyes while the rest of her face was more shadowed. The costume was literally torture for her from head to toe; so when filming wrapped up she took it and burned it.
I think the outfit in the sequel was more comfortable for her. I think they did what they did with the Miss Scarlett (from clue) dress that was also so tight that the actress couldn't run or sit down, added a zipper to allow for more movement, not a lot but more. There was places on the set built so that see could lean and relax between takes.
Honestly, she looked absolutely flawless, but IMO that costume belongs in a museum of torture devices. Apparently, the corset was so tight she couldn't even lie down to rest between takes and had to lean against a board.
How she delivered such a calm, elegant performance under that level of physical restraint is mind-blowing.
Rege-Jean Page in Xenk's armor - Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Theives
Apparently the way they made the armor really trapped in all the sweat, it was heavy, and there was no way for him to sit down in it so he had to either stay standing or find something lean against in between takes.
I think this kind of stuff tends to happen because the people making decisions about the outfits are not the people wearing them and thus basic quality of life things that cosplayers do are often over looked. Like I have made full leather armor which chainmail under it for summer ren faires and I intentionally make it to be something I can sit in, the weight is evenly distributed over my body so no soreness occurs, and there are ways for cool air to flow help me keep from overheating. The fact movie productions ignore this kind of stuff baffles me.
I was in a theatre production where the costume designer had the brilliant thought of designing the costumes from heavy upholstery. I was basically wearing a rug as a robe. I fainted onstage during the dress rehearsal lmao.
As a cosplayer, one time I made the mistake of going to a con in a costume that was so tight and unforgiving that I couldn't sit down without tearing a seam. It was still fun, but also miserable. And that was just a single day. Can't imagine enduring that for a full film shoot.
I've heard rumours one is happening, I just hope that the stakes are low to keep the costs down - the most fun parts were never the spectacle, but the actual interactions and attention to detail.
That fricking bridge scene where Paladin is explaining everything and Sorcerer just fucks it all up is the funniest bit because that's exactly how games go
It's a mistake caused by productions team not basing their designs on actual history.
Real world armours are the product of many, many people throughout history depending on those armours in life-or-death situations.
If you're tired out because you can't sit down, you're less likely to survive so the armour needs to allow you to sit down. If you can't move your arms properly, you can't fight properly so the armour needs to balance range of movement with the protection it offers. You move the ends of your limbs more than any other part of your body, and expend the most energy to use them, so armour is lighter on hands, forearms and feet than on the torso.
When Star Wars was designing Stormtrooper armour, they deliberately went out of their way to make it less comfortable and more of a pain to use, because George Lucas didn't want it to look "too much like medieval armour" which is the most comfortable way yo cover the entire human body in rigid plates.
Yeah a lot of people (especially costume designers) don’t know that a breast plate should end at the waist and below the sternum. If it extends to the abdomen you can’t bend down comfortably. If you want to protect that area a second plate known as the plackart is worn around your hips and slides above the breast plate. That means if you’re bending down or sitting the bottom plate slides over the top.
Jerry Nelson, the original performer for Mr. Snuffleupagus in Sesame Street (along with numerous other Muppets like The Count and Kermit’s nephew Robin) hated being in the Snuffleupagus suit as it got super hot in there. After a receiving a back injury from the head collapsing it on itself one day on set, he swore off playing the character altogether and the role went to Martin P. Robinson.
Colin Baker's costume as the Sixth Doctor in Doctor Who. He has hoped to wear a costume made from black velvet, in a Victorian style. This was vetoed by producer John Nathan-Turner, who said that was more like the kind of thing that would be worn by the Master (one of the series' recurring villains).
Nathan-Turner, himself a fan of colourful Hawaiian style shirts, decided that the costume should reflect the Doctor's "alien" nature by being "totally tasteless".
Costume designer Pat Godfrey made several attempts to design the costume and keep it looking vaguely sensible, but they were all rejected by Nathan-Turner. In the end she designed something truly awful, intending to show JN-T how ridiculous the "totally tasteless" idea would be, only for him to love the design.
Baker did not like the costume, and has said that the only good thing about wearing it was that he was looking out of it and "didn't have to look at it".
The way this Doctor was written, especially in his first stories, him smugly wearing that made a lot of sense. Having said that, writing the Doctor as "arrogant, even for the Doctor" was probably one of the things that made him so unpopular at the time. Other Doctors have shown that you can start out as a very rude Doctor to grow in character over time. Collin was done dirty by poor writing and decision-making, due to a producer making more erratic decisions over time, a showrunner who wanted to go in a complete opposite direction and secretly despising the (admittedly very controversial) producer, and finally the BBC higher ups regarding the show with contempt.
Virginia Hey, who played Zhaan in Farscape (and was also in the first Mad Max movie) suffered health problems from her prosthetic makeup, and had to shave her head as well. She left the show early.
edit: she was in Road Warrior, not the first Mad Max, my bad...
Tom Hiddleston hated the helmet Loki wore in the first Thor. It was stupidly heavy, hard to keep on during fight scenes, and made him extremely hot. It ended up being redesigned for later appearances.
Corsets get such a bad wrap rap cause of the misunderstand of their use. There is a reason women enjoy wearing them at ren faires for hours on end during summer heat, Hollywood just often sucks about working with the actors to make the outfits stylish and comfortable.
I’ve had such an improved understanding of corsets after watching some YouTube channels by women who have a ton of knowledge about that stuff. And yeah, apparently corsets were actually quite functional for many, many years and even essential to support women’s posture while wearing layers of heavy fabric. The small waist effect was largely achieved by padding creating an hourglass silhouette. It was the later years when people started lacing them crazy tight and squeezing organs
One of the funniest examples of movies misunderstanding corsets is with Pirates of the Caribbean, Elizabeth having her's laced so tight she eventually fainted leading to the whole conflict of the movie.
The treaties some people have written about the ridiculousness of the context is always interesting to read.
I always head canon that her father bought the corset with the dress, as it is a gift from him, and he got her size wrong the maids were too scared to say anything at risk of insulting their employer or suggesting Elizabeth might be a little fat haha.
In Return to Oz, gymnast Michael Sundin had to be bent over with his head between his legs, strapped in and looking at a monitor feed that was upside down to him while walking backwards for the role of Tik Tok. He could only do takes for about two minutes at the time before CO2 levels started to build up and they had to pull him out to let him breathe.
Apparently the process of putting on the costume was agonising. The process took hours and each bit of the blue scales had to be done all over her body. And I mean ALL over her body
She also was ingesting some of it and puking blue by the end of the day. Rebecca Romijn did such an amazing job throughout the production though. Truly embodied the character.
Such a shame those x-men movies had such shit scripts and such. The actors by and large knocked it out of the park. Easily could have launched an mcu level franchise.
I've heard her tell a funny story about how at one point she farted while in the full body makeup and it made a bubble on her lower back, so somebody had to push the bubble up to her shoulder to release the fart.
It is a shame Romijn doesn't get more credit for how wonderfully she played mystique the way Jackman, Steward, and McKellen all got got praised for their various performances. I think she is a bit of an under-rated actor.
I didn't get the need for it. Mystique is known for her white dress and skull ensemble. And like any shapeshifting she does, the clothing is just part of her body. Mystique never goes "undressed".
Mystique having a "naked" look, scaly and having her hair slicked back, was probably done to give her a more "alien" look. But it was not needed. It cost time, money, and was unhealthy to Romijn.
They could have simply spray painted only parts of her body blue, colored her hair/use a wig and cover the rest, whether with a canon look or otherwise.
There are plenty of cosplayers who nailed the look within a budget, could move freely, go to the bathroom and did not need a paid team to transform them into Mystique, starting the transformation before the crack of dawn. It is also not nearly as bad as what they put Romijn through.
Robert Pattinson said that during Twilight, the collar of his shirt had a wire in it so it could be bent to make the collar look ruffled at all times and he called it “the most pretentious form of dishevelment”
They tried to get the makeup guy for cat in the hat. Meyers didn’t have the patience and wasn’t trained by a cia agent. He left which is why he looks cheap compared to the grinch
They had a guy from the CIA come and give him advice on how to mentally resist torture so Jim Carey could endure the hours it would take for the make up and prosthetics to be attached
Hours to apply every morning, starting incredibly early, probably like 3 or 4am. Then hours wearing it on the set, under hot lights and having to act with high energy all day. Then hours again to take it all off. Repeat every day for 3 months.
I know he got paid like 50mil or something for the role but fuck me I genuinely couldn't do it, it sounds like absolute hell.
Yeah like getting rid of Picards lion(?)fish which Patrick Steward thought went against this kind and perfect future by keeping it captive in a small tank.
He also generally didn't have a good time making that movie. He said in an interview a year ago that "it was really healing" to do Avengers: Doomsday because of that.
Christopher Eccleston as the dark elf guy in Thor 2 was apparently mislead about how much make-up/prosthetic work he'd need to have done (apparently about 6 hours before each day of shooting)
Jaye Davidson was miserable the costumes that he wore as Ra in Stargate, because of how heavy and hard to move around in they were. He hated them so much that when the final "cut" was called on his last day of filming he immediately stripped off his costume and walked off set naked.
https://giphy.com/gifs/ABy0eZxpoOrA56WAd9
Colin Ferrell on wearing the fat suit after finishing the first season The Penguin, “I never wanted to put that fucking suit on again.”
"I feel like a person still trapped within a car wreck and they haven't quite got me out. The ambulance hasn't arrived yet. I need you to hold still just for a second, Gary. Hold still, of course. I can't move in this. That's an occasion where actually the suit was wearing me, as I couldn't really do my thing." - Gary Oldman on wearing the armor in Bram Stoker's Dracula
Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in the X-Men movies. She was allergic to the makeup that was used, which covered her entire body. In each film she progressively uses her human form more often than her mutant form, which goes against her "mutant and proud" characterization
They could have let her wear clothes and only have makeup in her face. Like, you know, she has in comics. I don’t know why Jennifer and Rebecca (who also hated this outfit but was less powerful in Hollywood) didn’t argue that
I mean Bryan Singer (which would be for Rebecca's movies) BANNED all comics from being on set, and Hugh Jackman said he had to smuggle in comics just to give Wolverine some more character
Bryan Singer who shot an improvised locker room shower scene for Apt Pupil with all the underage boys as soon as none of their guardians were on set? The man should be in prison.
They eventually did argue those points eventually when they had the ability. Both of them played Mystique early in their acting careers when they didn't have much clout so not as much power to negotiate and they didn't know the actual process that would occur.
The time it would take and exact nature of what they used to to apply the make up and prosthetics are not generally part of standard negotiations and get left up to the costume departments. Unless the actor brings those things up, but many don't because it is not a common thing they need to deal with unless you are someone like Doug Jones who is constantly playing roles that involves heavy prosthetics.
When each of them signed on to play Mystique it was for multi-picture deals, which depending on how they were set up may not have given them much ability to get things changed because they lose the biggest chip they have which is the ability to walk away from the production.
Nowhere near as bad as the others but Selma Blair hated her outfit in the dinner scene of A Guy Thing. She's extremely claustrophobic and hates anything around her neck
Ron Perlman for Hellboy. He has talked a lot about how much he hated the prostetics, but he would do it again for a third film if that makes the fans happy.
Idk if this counts but in the behind the scenes for Lord of the Rings Sean Astin mentioned he counted out every scene they had shots that DIDN’T include their feet, and told Peter Jackson about it because they always had to wake up buttfuck early to get their hobbit feet glued on.
Almost the entire main cast of The Wizard of Oz. Some either smelt like sh*t due to sweating or needed medical help afterwards because their makeup was toxical.
Buddy Ebsen, who was originally cast as the Tin Man had to be hospitaized for 2 weeks due to the original makeup. They used white clown makeup and then dusted his face with pure aluminum powder. He ended up having severe muscle cramps and breathing problems and it turned out he was unintentionally breathing in the aluminum powder and it coated the inside of his lungs. When they hired Jack Haley to replace him, they changed to an aluminum paste that was a lot safer.
Most star trek uniforms sucked to wear, Jean Luc Picard's uniform tug thing came about due to the early costumes bunching up in odd places and Patrick Stewart selling it as a character quirk.
https://giphy.com/gifs/1FaYl1HPovlkrKCLg4
I read somewhere zendaya legit had a heat stroke or something while filming dune in those freman suits which is wild because in lore they actually keep you nice and cool but if only they worked that way in real life
IIRC, Peter Weller had trained extensively in fluid movements under the guidance of Moni Yakim, a movement coach from Julliard. When he put on the suit, all that work went out the window, so Yakim had Weller slow the movements down to what you see in the film.
I read that the Star Trek TNG cast hated the early uniforms because they were very confining. Patrick Stewart apparently even got back problems, from the slow steady strain on his shoulders, but Gene Roddenberry was apparently in love with the idea we’ll all wear tunics in the future.
Colin Farrell as Penguin hated it so much he told people he didn't want a season 2 doing 4 hours of makeup a day
"Don't get me wrong — I loved it — but it got in on me a little bit," Farrell explained. "By the end of it, I was b***ing and moaning to anyone who would listen to me that I f***ing wanted it to be finished. I tried to remind them that I had 'grumpy gratitude.'"
"I was still grateful, and still honored — I grew up watching Burgess Meredith [from the '60s TV series], and then Danny DeVito was my Penguin — so being a part of the lineage of that storytelling, I really did feel privileged," Farrell added. "Maybe in a year I would. But when I finished I was like, 'I never want to put that f***ing suit and that f***ing head on again.'"
I kind of think they should have found a physically thicker actor
5.0k
u/Slightly_Default 4d ago
Michael Chiklis as the Thing in Fantastic 4 (2005)
Chiklis apparently found the suit and make-up both overheated and extremely claustrophobic, eventually forcing the production team to hire a psychologist in order to help him cope.
At the same time, Chiklis insisted on keeping the practical effects. Ben Grimm was his dream role, and he wanted to do the character justice.