Richard's character suffered from a rare condition called Cyclothymia. He began the film as a well-groomed, almost anally tidy businessman to looking almost as unkempt as a vagrant. This included bouts of not shaving, which required the application of stubble which inter-cut with the real thing in some sequences. His hair was also styled to support these extremes.

Effects achieved: top of head shaven and dark widow's peak hairline concealed, application of comb-over toupe, eczema, sweat, application of mother's 50's make-up and finally coal-dust.

Stephen's look was the most complex and "layered" in this film. His character, Dezmond, had eczema so his skin needed to be flaky and sore, while always looking realistic and never caricature. Terry Gross, the director, also asked that he have a comb-over pate.

To achieve the eczema, I knew that pretty much whatever I used to "flake" the skin, would disappear in the moisture effects later in the film. The solution was to make his skin red and irritated as well. The flakiness worked well, and then, inevitably, the sweat took over, as it would in real life. The eczema in the hairline survived. The effect succeeded so well that apparently one of the daily costume department offered him some lavender oil for the condition.

For the bald pate, Stephen's head was shaved and a piece made to replace part of the hair, and supply the comb-over length. The edge hid the hard edge of his own shaved line, and stopped just short of his hairline in the front. At the end of the film when his character finally loses his mind, the comb-over that was so immaculate, consistent with his rather anal character, begins to break up and fall back across his head. This required close attention to the continuity as we had a lot of to-ing and fro-ing from room to room.

The picture you see here is at the very end of the film. Dezmond has finally lost his mind; applied his deceased mother's make-up, and tried to kill his brother by letting loose a ton or so of coal, which blew back onto him in a great cloud of coal-dust. This explains his extreme look.

Another still, this time from earlier in the film, is supplied here to give a comparison of the beginning and end of his look for this film.

Toni Collette - "Hotel Splendide"

Toni's look had to be very au naturel for this film, she arrives cold and wet on a small boat to this bleak chilly island hotel and her complexion gradually warms up as the hotel gets hotter, and also reflects the conditions of working in a hot, busy kitchen.

While she needed to look attractive, this was not a production where one could reach for the whole coterie of the cosmetics industry. It simply had to look thin and real!! Her character also had little burn marks from the ovens on her forearms, but they hardly ever got the chance to be seen.

Rhys Ifans as Sin Eater in "The Sin Eater"

For this production, which we shot just before "T&R I" (which incidentally I suggested him for), Rhys had to look like he'd been eating dead people's sins for his entire adult life. This look was set within the context of a stylisation I designed to go with the rest of the Art Departments work. I went the way of an old dutch painting, crossed with the Pilgrim Fathers, with a slightly bloodless twist.

Lee Ross - "Trial and Retribution I"

Lee had to look quite "grey" and unhealthy for this role. He also wears extensions.