Pierre-Olivier Persin: The Makeup of The Substance

The Substance was a cinematic experience that transcended the horror and sci-fi genre–exploring societal themes of exploitation of body and mind, with a tragic character that as a last resort gambled her life with a product that promised youth and beauty beyond imagination but came at a terrifying cost if not used correctly. Coralie Fargeat crafted more than a cautionary tale, a mirror into a world that categorizes beauty without a soul that is showcased by unforgettably striking visuals, supported by outstanding prosthetic makeup which recently earned the film an Academy Award. Special makeup effects designer Pierre-Olivier Persin confessed his surprise at the amount of practical effects Fargeat was looking for in The Substance: “The script was loaded with crazy sequences. I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be a big job’. Coralie really had no boundaries at all, she really wanted to go as far as possible. She was the complete opposite of shy, so I was happy to follow her [journey].”

The body horror’s visual unpredictability as the story unfolds through the different stages of Elizabeth Sparkle has to be credited to Persin and his team at POP FX. The makeup artist revealed that Fargeat wanted to go “hardcore from the very beginning”, but suggested to the director a more subtle, gradual approach to keep the audience at the edge of their seat. It was also about finding the right balance between plausibility and fiction. He said, “I really wanted to do things as realistic as possible from a skin point of view, texture and color, but to hell with medical realism [laughs]! That was completely on purpose.” In the end, The Substance was about tragic characters, not monsters–something Pierre-Olivier Persin had to keep in mind while designing them.

YOU ACTIVATE ONLY ONCE

Elisabeth’s Substance activation commenced the surreal birth of her other self. The back prosthetic scenes were challenging at so many levels. The harsh light of the bathroom set and the high-definition standard of today’s cinema were the most critical judges for skin detail (which had to meticulously match Demi Moore’s). Persin’s design process began with a small silicon maquette that he was able to animate and film–a sort of quick proof of concept for Coralie Fargeat which eventually translated into a three-day shooting process to execute the birthing scene.

The bathroom set was raised to accommodate Persin and his team, which puppeteered the silicon dummies. For the rippling effect, “it was a mix of puppetry [with our hands] and bladders. We had a fiberglass shell holding the silicon skin inside the body that was cut in a very precise way because we knew that the movement was going to travel from the back of the neck to her bum. The trick was keeping the silicon from losing its shape. It was a fine line of being able to keep the anatomy correct and realistic and at the same time being able to animate.” The back splitting open was quite simple, Persin admitted. The wound was held together with powerful magnets, and once open, Sue’s back and arm (a livecast of a crew member) were puppeteered from below–together as a whole creating a dream-like sequence.

YOU SWITCH EVERY SEVEN DAYS WITHOUT EXCEPTION

The evolution of Elisabeth as Sue gradually stabilizes herself past the seven days is terrifying because of its irreversibility. Pierre-Olivier Persin revealed that one of the main sources of inspiration for the gradual, additive process was David Cronenberg’s The Fly. It began with just one finger, probably the most crucial piece of the puzzle. Subsequently, every element in the old age makeup had to blend in just right on Demi Moore to make it all believable. The final form (before the second Substance activation) was the “Gollum”, the hunchback full body prosthetic where Persin could finally release Fargeat’s vision and have total freedom from realism. In order to fully showcase this physical stage, “of course, we put Demi Moore inside the makeup, but we also needed an additional actress in full body makeup to shoot all the reverse shots while still having the close-ups on Demi’s face. We also had a stunt double wearing very precise Gollum makeup.” He added, “Coralie was able to edit the sequences flawlessly. To me, that’s what really sells it.”

MONSTRO ELISASUE

Monstro Elisasue is a body horror masterpiece and the culmination of Elisabeth’s terrifying journey. Persin recalled beginning the creative process for Monstro with a rough maquette that was quite close to the final version. Apart from Elizabeth’s screaming face on the back, the special makeup effects designer had more flexibility for the rest of the design: “This is where Coralie was great. She was never like, ‘Oh no, it makes no sense, she has too many boobs’. She never questioned that. For instance, I made one thigh bigger than the other to really keep things asymmetrical but still balanced. Also, from my very first maquette, I put the arm facing back, and a bum at the back of her head. I really wanted to keep the character Monstro interesting in every angle … you always discover something new,” Persin said.

The New Year’s Eve party show was truly over the top, showcasing a gory decomposition of Monstro. From a technical point of view, Persin shared that they had to adapt the powerful blood rig inside the suit, improvising along the progression of the script and the shoot all the while keeping the suit waterproof and in one piece for the final scene. This moment was brought to life with a perfect marriage of practical and digital effects: “Coralie asked VFX to follow our blob and the kind of puppetry animation that we had, but they’ve added a really cool slug-like movement. Bryan Jones and his team did a great job blending with our practical effects, which is really tricky most of the time,” he revealed.

In retrospect, Pierre-Olivier Persin reflected on what the film meant to him and everyone else involved: “The Substance wasn’t a product at all. It was a matter of life and death for Coralie, for me, and for many other people in the crew. Coralie worked for years, nights and days. I worked nearly a full year, night and day on the movie too. That was more than another job.” The Substance is truly a human experience on so many levels, a tragic story with an unexpected happy ending: self acceptance.

Make sure to check out Pierre-Olivier Persin’s Instagram for more behind-the-scenes bits, and to learn about POP FX’s other projects, visit popfx.info.