Frances Hannon, the makeup and hair designer on “Wicked,” is proud she worked on a movie that mainly used practical set designs, instead of CGI or green screens.
The same can’t be said, she noted, for Marvel movies.
“I was always glad we were never going to do the green in post [production]. That was a joy and very much supported by Cynthia [Erivo],” Hannon exclusively told The Post while describing what her first reaction was to seeing her work shine in the movie.
“At the end of the day, [it] was very much Jon Chu’s call, but that really made a huge difference. Jon very much like things to be tangible and there for the artists. The sets look big, but they truly they were that big. I mean obviously there was some post [production] on them, some CGI, but when you see how massive it is, you won’t believe it.”
Hannon, who has won an Oscar for her makeup and hairstyling work in film, praised the director of “Wicked” for using practical, tangible sets to make the epic two-part fantasy film.
“It’s wonderful to work with someone like Jon who wants it old Hollywood, wants it real and wants the artist to live it. It’s different from a lot of the stuff I’ve done where it’s Marvel and you’ve got a lot of blue screen and so much happens afterwards,” she said. “You sometimes feel surprised at the story.”
“I wasn’t surprised at the story,” Hannon added about “Wicked,” “but I was so moved and so emotional.”
Hannon had an important job turning Erivo, 37, into the green witch Elphaba. She told The Post how she ultimately perfected that process.
“I started by trying to find the right shade of green for the skin tone because one would never use anything that was used on stage because that was face painted and played for the back of the audience, whereas we wanted it to work in every light, but certainly in big closeups. Once I found the shade of green that I thought was right by working on models, I couldn’t make that shade of green work in all the different lights.”
Hannon said that once she decided on the right shade of green to use on Erivo’s Elphaba, it was never changed throughout the filming of both movies.
“The green itself was the base, and then we contoured on top,” she explained. “I added freckles to give her a story arc, so we had somewhere to go younger and then progression for when she changes in her storyline. So the green stayed the same. The contours became stronger, the eyeshadows were stronger, her hair became looser and wilder. Her skin tone was her skin tone.”
Hannon also confirmed that Erivo and Ariana Grande were extremely involved in the visual creation of their “Wicked” characters.
“They collaborated in every way in every department. They are so amazing,” she shared.
“Wicked” is in theaters now.
