Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”.Photo:Murray Close/Lionsgate
Murray Close/Lionsgate
Viola Daviswent to great lengths to transform into herThe Ballad of Songbirds & Snakescharacter — and to get out of it.
“The makeup took 4 hours and then it took maybe 45 minutes to take it off,” Davis said before going on to share exactly which part of her costume was the most difficult to handle.
“The hardest part to take off was the nose. I mean it was so hard that the makeup artist literally had to brace their feet and justpullit. It was like an anal probe, I meanstretchingit. You have no idea!”
The confession prompted a laugh from the audience, which was exactly the reaction Davis and her team had when undoing their work. “It was like plastic coming off. By that point, we were hysterical,” Davis said.
All of this is worth it for the star, who said she loves to explore roles that exceed fans' expectations.
“I always want people to see me different. I love when people see me as maternal and warm and fuzzy, but there are times when I just want to scare the s— out of them,” she admitted.
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Last month, PEOPLE connected with makeup artist designer Sherri Berman Laurence to get aninside scoop of what went into Davis’ transformation.
To channel the “whimsical” yet “devious” Gamemaker, Davis wore special makeup to inform Dr. Gaul’s weathered past, sustaining scarring and other disfigurements from her dangerous lab experiments.
Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”.Murray Close/Lionsgate
Laurence said Davis requested one eye have a different color (landing on a “hazy” dark brown one, the other a “piercing blue”), possibly from an experiment gone wrong. The makeup and prosthetics teams also took steps to age her and add facial scars.
“Between the hair, the costume, that eye, it really just took her to a scary place,” Laurence said. “Then you throw in her acting — I mean, come on. You could have heard a pin drop when she would walk [on set].”
“Her character’s very big and strong, so it made sense to have a big wiry kind of hair. And it also suited Viola as well, I think,” Gooley told PEOPLE.
source: people.com
