Even with the incredible progress that CGI technology has made over the last few decades, digital effects alone can't compete with the work of talented makeup artists. These hard-working crew members completely transform actors by using advanced processes that take anywhere from two to ten hours to complete. Their work is most often seen in the realm of science fiction, where actors are made to resemble terrifying monsters and otherworldly beings. From "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" to "Alien" and "Predator," some of the most memorable villain designs come from some of sci-fi's most iconic movies. These are the biggest villain makeup transformations in sci-fi history.
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00:00A mutant made with state-of-the-art prosthetics, a man who became a monkey in just four hours,
00:05and an iconic costume fitted with a real human skull, keep watching for some of science fiction
00:10villains' most dramatic makeup transformations.
00:13On the set of The Phantom Menace, chief makeup artist Paul Engelin concerned himself mostly
00:18with creating Darth Maul, portrayed in the movie by actor Ray Park.
00:22Initially, Engelin based early ideas on Doug Cheng's concept drawings.
00:27Artist Ian McKaig was also approached about sketching concept art.
00:30George Lucas originally suggested that Maul's design should be worthy of his worst nightmares,
00:35and McKaig immediately knew what to do.
00:37McKaig told StarWars.com,
00:39"'It's that face that's peering in the window at you late at night, and it's barely alive,
00:43like a cross between a ghost and a serial killer staring in at you, and it's raining.'"
00:48It wasn't exactly what Lucas was looking for, however, so McKaig scaled back and veered
00:52into a more mythological direction.
00:54He soon arrived upon what would become the iconic image of Maul.
00:58Engelin then sculpted a unique vision for the character, using a mix of a red water-based
01:02aqua color and a real tattoo black.
01:04He would roll the thick black mixture onto the back of Park's head before using a paintbrush
01:08to blend.
01:09When the coloring was set, it was time to cast the horns.
01:12The last elements were pretty simple.
01:14Contact lenses and silver stud earrings completed Maul's nightmarish look.
01:19The development of Predator's titular monster was complicated, to say the least.
01:23Originally, Jean-Claude Van Damme was hired to play the alien creature, but his series
01:27of miscommunications led him to believe he would be showcasing his martial arts skills
01:31on screen.
01:32That wasn't to be the case.
01:34Makeup FX artist Steve Johnson first came aboard to create a costume that would be manageable
01:38during filming in Mexico.
01:40While Van Damme was disappointed when he was given a massive red suit to wear during filming,
01:44he became even angrier when he learned that its purpose was to make it easier for him
01:48to be edited out of his scenes.
01:50Nobody had told him that the Predator was invisible for most of the movie.
01:54As such, early shooting days using the original costumes were insufferable for all involved.
01:59Two weeks later, the first design was scrapped, and filming shut down for a month so the Predator
02:04could be entirely reworked.
02:05"...and they looked at it and said, nope, wait, stop!"
02:10Enter Stan Winston.
02:11Upon reading the script, the artist determined that the Predator needed some additional characterization.
02:16A painting hanging in producer Joel Silver's office proved to be the creative inspiration
02:21he needed, and he began sketching an alien creature with the now-iconic dreadlock-like
02:25quills.
02:26Working off a suggestion from James Cameron, Winston added the identifiable mandibles and
02:31fleshed out his drawings further.
02:32Kevin Peter Hall was then hired to take on the role.
02:35In the end, it was all for the best, as his 7-foot-4 frame presents a worthy adversary
02:40to Arnold Schwarzenegger's imposing physique.
02:43Rebecca Romijn played the mutant shapeshifter Mystique in 2000's X-Men and its two sequels.
02:49From the outset, it was clear the makeup process was no joke.
02:53As Romijn herself remembers,
02:54"...I realized pretty early on that was the job.
02:57I was getting paid to be a part of that makeup application."
02:59In the sequels, Romijn noted the makeup time became a little less, and she wasn't required
03:04to wear contacts as she had in the first film.
03:07With special makeup designer Gordon Smith at the helm, Romijn underwent a grueling seven
03:11to eight hours of makeup every day.
03:13Two-thirds of her body was wrapped in various self-sticking prosthetics, including an upper
03:18back piece, and the rest was airbrushed in.
03:20According to Smith, the prosthetics were a brand new technology that had never been tested
03:25before.
03:26It all paid off, though, as Mystique's on-screen adaptation remains pretty faithful to the
03:30source material, making for one of the most memorable mutants in the original X-Men movies.
03:36Few actors have played the same role over nearly half a century, but Ian McDermid is one of
03:40them.
03:41The actor first played Emperor Palpatine in 1983's Return of the Jedi, and he's since
03:46appeared in all three main trilogies in the saga.
03:48While McDermid has played the role at various points in his life, it's the decrepit, sinister-looking
03:53version of Palpatine that has best established itself in pop culture history.
04:01During production on Return of the Jedi, McDermid underwent four hours of makeup every day before
04:05filming.
04:06It would take two hours to carefully take off his latex prosthetic, being careful not
04:11to take his skin off with it.
04:12As the franchise grew, however, the process got faster.
04:16For 2005's Revenge of the Sith, the creative team used a different method, employing a
04:20kind of balaclava that McDermid believed was not quite as detailed as the original prosthetic.
04:25The Rise of Skywalker saw a return to more detailed makeup for Palpatine.
04:29Borrowing elements from Nick Dudman's original ideas in the first films, Amanda Knight and
04:34Neil Scanlan approached the look by manipulating different parts of McDermid's face using prosthetics,
04:39silicon pieces, and old stage stipple, hoping to get his look as close to the original version
04:44as possible.
04:46H.R. Giger was one of the most influential artists in the sci-fi world.
04:50A Swiss artist best known for his biomechanical style, Giger released a collection of his
04:54works in the 1977 book Necronomicon.
04:58Director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon were entranced by Giger's work, and
05:02used his paintings to inspire the Xenomorph in their landmark 1979 film Alien.
05:07Giger was hired to design the creature, hoping to make it something that was, in his words,
05:11a very beautiful thing.
05:13He brought a sense of majesty to his creation, fusing it with dark, unsettling craftsmanship.
05:18From the start, he surmised that a bodysuit would likely be the best option in constructing
05:22the creature, and worked out a plasticine cast of actor Balaji Badejo, who first caught
05:27their attention when the movie's casting agent spotted him in a London pub.
05:31Once the mold was complete, Giger attached assorted instruments and objects, such as
05:35Rolls-Royce tubes, snake vertebrae, condoms, and a real human skull, to flesh out the creature's
05:40physical intricacies.
05:42It's a disturbing mix of materials, sure, but it works well to complement Giger's artistic
05:46style.
05:47A two-meter tail was then attached, and a special swing had to be built on set so Badejo
05:52could rest during filming.
05:54The 1968 film Planet of the Apes both terrified audiences and changed the makeup effects game
06:00forever.
06:01Initially, Edward G. Robinson was set to take on the role of Dr. Zaius, and even donned
06:05makeup for a proper screen test.
06:07However, health concerns over the lengthy application process forced him to back out,
06:11and Maurice Evans came aboard.
06:14Makeup artist Maurice Stein worked on Evans in the early days of production, and his commitment
06:18to capturing the beauty and expression of primates was invaluable to the process.
06:22He spent numerous days at the Los Angeles Zoo, taking photos that helped him along with
06:26designing the character's makeup.
06:28Three to four months were allocated for preparing designs for the apes, and on any given day,
06:33the makeup took anywhere between three to four hours per actor.
06:36The look of the apes required many layers of paint, foam, and glue, as well as meticulous
06:41attention to detail by the makeup artists involved.
06:44Actor Hugh Keesburn played Toe Cutter in the 1979 original Mad Max.
06:49Thirty-six years later, he returned to the series for Mad Max Fury Road, playing a wholly
06:53different character.
06:56Considering the character's background as a warrior, makeup artist and hairstylist
07:00Leslie VanderWaalt wanted to tap into that rich emotional component for the design.
07:04She told The New York Times,
07:06"...he'd become quite putrid, really.
07:08So we were looking at examples of all these terrible diseases for him, like syphilis."
07:12The decayed look was paired with a ventilator, given that it was the only way Immortan Joe
07:16could breathe fresh air in Mad Max's post-apocalyptic world.
07:20Costume designer Jenny Bevan then borrowed inspiration from medals worn by dictators
07:24to fully complete the image.
07:26According to the 2015 book The Art of Mad Max Fury Road, the character design evolved
07:31quite a bit during production.
07:33The one constant, however, was Joe's respirator mask, and it makes sense, too, as those gnarly
07:37skeletal tubes punch up the overall aesthetic to make him even more sinister.
07:42You look amazing!
07:44You look amazing!
07:47Alice Krieg endured an hours-long application process to transform into the Borg Queen for
07:521996's Star Trek First Contact.
07:55But what is most fascinating is that makeup supervisor Mike Westmore didn't determine
07:59the Queen's look until well into filming.
08:01The reason was that Westmore and his team sought out an alien look unlike anything Hollywood
08:05had ever seen.
08:07The job required research that included deep-diving into cinema history, eliminating previous
08:12designs, and cultivating a fresh look from there.
08:15Based on early sketches, Westmore crafted a head cast for a total of four headgear pieces,
08:19and each one could be used for only a few days at a time.
08:22Once the primarily foam latex pieces were in position on Krieg's body, makeup artist
08:27Scott Wheeler was brought in to paint and match her skin tone.
08:30The daily process took roughly five hours, and after each shoot, it took 45 minutes to
08:34get Krieg out of the costume.
08:36As she told the New York Daily News,
08:38"...the first time I walked on the set, the actors recoiled in horror, and every time
08:42I looked in a mirror, I scared myself."
08:45Decades later, the Borg Queen remains one of the most terrifying villains in movie history.
08:50In the 1999 sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest, the design for Robin Sack's character, General
08:55Ceres, involved the implementation of a kind of linkage device that made the makeup move
09:00along with the actor's face.
09:02As wild as that sounds, it was far more complicated than that.
09:05Effects supervisor Shane Mahan described the full costume by saying,
09:09"...it was quite complicated in terms of a radio-controlled headpiece and articulated
09:13face piece and breathing shells on the body.
09:15We had lionfish-like spines that would work via cable.
09:18It was pretty advanced at the time."
09:20The film was made during a time when computer graphics were being used to greater degrees,
09:24but the creative team took great care in deciding when and how to use practical effects or CGI.
09:29Notably with the Ceres design, a pretty successful hybrid of the two techniques was achieved.
09:34"...perhaps I'm not as stupid as I am ugly, Commander."
09:40Everything about 2021's Dune makes for a breathtaking cinematic experience, and that
09:44includes the looks of the characters.
09:46Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the movie had Donald Mowat leading the makeup department
09:50with some of the coolest effects and designs of the last 20 years.
09:54Stellan Skarsgård's Baron Harkonnen had a particularly wild transformation.
09:59To create the character's huge bodysuit, Mowat reached out to two Swedish artists, Luve Larsson
10:04and Eva von Barr.
10:06The balance of creating an obese yet imposing figure that wasn't what Villeneuve called
10:10a caricature proved to be a difficult challenge.
10:13Understandably, Skarsgård spent roughly eight hours a day transforming into the Baron.
10:17He told the Daily Beast,
10:18"...he's such a frightening presence where even if he doesn't say anything, I think you'll
10:22be afraid of him."
10:24Surprisingly, Idris Elba's transformation into Kral, a human-turned-mutant, took only
10:28two hours every day on the set of 2016's Star Trek Beyond.
10:32Director Justin Lin and the creative team put most of their attention into getting the
10:36design just right.
10:37Their vision began with the most extreme possible version of the character in his corrupted
10:41state, as well as a focus on his silhouette.
10:43From there, the design incorporated a number of aquatic traits.
10:46Makeup designer Joel Harlow told Inverse,
10:49"...Deep Sea Life is fascinating from a design perspective.
10:52Lots of fins."
10:53There were also lizard elements in Kral, too — Gila monsters, specifically.
10:57They later added elements of the classic Klingon design.
11:00Klingon prosthetics and layers of makeup were then used to define the final look, never
11:04going too far to hinder Elba from delivering the performance of a lifetime.