From Stella Street to Skins
Stella Street (2004) was a full-length feature based on the popular UK television series, followed in the same year by Churchill: The Hollywood Years. Next up was the BAFTA award-winning British teen drama Skins from Company Pictures.
Nearly Famous—a television drama mini-series about a group of British teenagers attending a London performing arts school aired in 2007, followed by makeup design on the BBC3 comedy sketch show Scallywagga. Sarita used wig and makeup effects to create a diverse array of characters from a core cast.
The Tormented
A teen horror movie “zom-com”, The Tormented has a teenage boy returning from the grave to seek revenge on those who bullied him. Creative and subtle makeup was required throughout to build the pace of the story and to ensure the characters leaped from the screen.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed
This British thriller about the kidnapping of a young woman by two ex-convicts required suitably dramatic makeup for the female lead Gemma Arterton:
Gemma’s previous roles had beautiful, clean makeup. I wanted to do something different—something edgy and raw. The end result was “broken-down makeup” that allowed Gemma’s natural beauty to shine through alongside the vulnerability of her character.
The Disappearance of Alice Creed. Dir J Blakeson. Copyright CinemaNX Films Two Ltd 2009.
The Infidel
Written by David Baddiel, British comedy The Infidel stars Omid Djalili & Richard Schiff. The story revolves around a north London Muslim who goes through an identity crisis when he discovers he was adopted as a child and born to a Jewish family.
One challenge was the facial hair for many of the Muslim characters. There were radical Muslims, religious Muslims (Iman), Arabic and Asian Muslims—careful research was required to establish correct beard and moustache styles.
Application can be very tricky and without great care can so easily look obviously ‘wrong’! Makeup styles had to be accurate for the Muslim women who have a very distinct look. Large crowd scenes included a Bar Mitzvah with lots of glamorous hair and makeup for the Jewish women, an Indian wedding and a Muslim rally.
