When I got the call to design the hair and makeup for the Channel 4 factual drama about the police’s interrogation of Tony Martin, I was extremely excited.
The script for ‘The Interrogation of Tony Martin’ was compelling and definitely a project I wanted to be involved in.
The drama stars Steve Pemberton who plays Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer who shot dead a burglar in 1999.
Dave, our Director wanted Steve to look as much like the real Tony as possible as he is quite well known from media coverage of the case and has a distinctive look. Also, there is an up to date, non-drama interview at the end of the film, so it was very important that the likeness between them was believable. This was where the challenge as the makeup designer came in!
Steve had been growing his hair for the part (plus eyebrows, stubble and nasal hair) but unfortunately it wasn’t quite long enough at the back. Also, Tony has quite fine wispy hair so we agreed that using a wig to get the right length and texture was the way forward.
Usually, on a bigger budget film, you would have a wig made for a leading actor which would be made to measure and fit perfectly. Unfortunately, due to time and budget constraints, this was not the case. Also, the filming was well lit and very static, mostly close up shots of the actor’s face during interview scenes, shot on HD, with nowhere for wig lace to hide.
I went to meet Steve and the film director Dave, in London a few weeks before filming. We spent several hours at a wig studio trying various options and completing the look with a full makeup test. Between us, we finally nailed the makeup and Steve became Tony. As an actor, Steve has had a lot of experience wearing wigs, prosthetics and character makeups for various TV shows and was very patient as we tried out wigs, dirt and ageing. I think for him it was a really important process to get into character and all three of us were happy with the final look.
How I created the look…
Every morning before filming, Steve came to makeup to have the wig put on and makeup applied.
Due to the close-up nature of filming and the fact that the wig we chose was not made to measure, I folded the wig in half and pinned it from the top of the head to create more length at the back, and then used Steve’s own shorter hair to cover the join. This involved applying hair mousse and water to his own hair, then attaching a setting net to his head and then blow-drying very flat to create the illusion of thinning hair. In real life, Tony probably uses a hair product to flatten down the hair on the top of the head and leaves distinctive wispy bits at the nape.
To create the rugged look of the Norfolk farmer, I used a dark red skin ink to add thread veins and weathering to the skin on the nose, cheeks and forehead. I applied a subtle amount of makeup dirt to the skin and under the fingernails. We kept Steve’s stubble length to about 2 days of growth to give the unkempt look.
It was important that the makeup was as natural looking as possible as the character needed to be believable and also look right with the other actors who were only wearing a little powder to prevent the skin looking shiny on camera.
The make took 1 hour 15 minutes to complete and finally, we were ready to start filming.
The drama was a huge success and very well received. It was great to work on a fabulous project with such a talented cast and crew.