Being in a Marvel movie can really take the actor out of the actor.There’s the stress of being seen by millions, the intense workouts and fitness of being a superhero or supervillain, and then, for some, makeup.Scottish actress Karen Gillan discovered while filming ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ that long hours in the gym and intense fight dance training was a walk in the park compared to wearing a very special part of her costume .
While the prosthetics, makeup, and contact lenses that make Gillan look like the alien mercenary Nebula are truly amazing, they also require a lot of time in a makeup chair.Not only that, but the finishing touches to her Nebula costume were so painful that it changed the way she handled special effects in later roles.
contact lens color film
Gillan revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the scleral contact lenses she wore while playing Nebula in the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” were so uncomfortable that she asked to be cast for her role in the 2022 sci-fi film Replacing the digital eye color, “Double.” When asked about the blue eyes of her character in “Double,” Gillan said:
Gillan has played Nebula in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame,” so thankfully she’s used to shaving her head and sitting in a makeup chair every day last four hours.shoot.While she didn’t say whether her Nebula eyes are now digital, the contact lenses she wore in the first film were 22mm scleral lenses.Possibly the largest scleral lens is 24mm, so she covers almost all visible eyes, which may be uncomfortable for some wearers.
Scleral lenses are also thicker than contact lenses that cover only the pupil and iris, and colored cosmetic contact lenses are thicker.Combined with a makeup look that Gillan describes as “intense and slightly claustrophobic”, she has plenty of pain to channel in order to play her tormented character.
Gillan is definitely not the first actor to have cosmetic contact issues.Actor Bruce Campbell, in his book If Jaws Could Kill, details the harrowing experience the cast of Wicked Dead go through in order to appear possessed, wearing thick white scleral lenses every 15 must be removed in minutes as they will cut off.Oxygen enters the eyes.The effect on the wearer, he said, was like putting “Tupperware” on the eyes.Thankfully, for the cast of “The Wicked Dead,” scleral lenses are only available for scenes the dead possessed, but some actors weren’t so lucky.
In the 2000 holiday film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Jim Carrey wore heavy makeup all over his head, with bright yellow scleral lenses that hid any white in his eyes.He described makeup to Graham Norton as being “buried alive” and nearly quit the movie on day one after spending eight hours in the makeup chair.He said contact lenses were like “the knife in my eye,” and the whole experience was so unpleasant that producer Brian Glazer ended up hiring a former CIA agent to train Carrey on how to endure everyday torture.The training worked well enough to make it into a movie, and the team won an Oscar for Best Makeup, but at what cost?
contact lens color film
In the eight years since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol., digital effects have evolved, so expect Gillan to enjoy VFX in both the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.While the makeup itself is helpful in getting an idea of how she’s doing, and she describes it as “part of the process” of getting into the character, these touches could probably be done digitally without all the fuss.
Nebula’s storyline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is complex but far-reaching, and Gillan’s performance has helped her become a vital part of the sprawling franchise.Thankfully, she’ll have plenty of co-stars spending “The Guardian” in the makeup chair next to her, like Dave Batista’s Drax and her onscreen sister Zoe Saldana as Gamora.
When Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8, 2022, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5, 2023, you can see Gillan playing Nebula.
Post time: May-12-2022
