Movies - TV
Planet Of The Apes Needed More Makeup Artists Than Hollywood Could Provide
By MATTHEW BILODEAU
The legacy of 1968’s original “Planet Of The Apes” is still alive and well, but back in the late ‘60s, John Chambers’ makeup effects for the movie pushed the standard of makeup artistry and prosthetics at the time. However, in order to execute his Academy Award-winning effort, he needed a whole lot of makeup artists to get the job done.
There weren’t enough trained artists to go around, so producer Arthur P. Jacobs figured the solution would be to train a bunch of folks into becoming makeup artists until they had the routine down. Jacobs said, “We had 10 trailers that were turned into classrooms for makeup … It took three to four hours to put it on every day and about an hour and a half to get it off.”
By the end of the arduous shoot, “Planet of the Apes” had produced over 25 makeup artists, which ate into a significant amount of the movie's $5.8 million budget. Even though it was a difficult task to bring characters like Zira and Dr. Zaius to life, the film essentially gave way to a whole new generation of makeup artists, whose work could be seen across the industry.