Emmy Winning Makeup Interview with John Caglione Jr. By Therese Fitzgerald

One thing is for sure, John Caglione Jr. loves working with people and he’s not stopping anytime soon. This native Long Islander and award winning Hollywood makeup artist best known for his acclaimed work in the blockbuster film Dick Tracy has worked with Hollywood’s leading actors, actresses and directors to help bring that magic to the big screen for thirty years. Now John talks about his past work, his beauty secrets for the fall and the upcoming American Gangster with Russell Crowe.

Q: How is makeup in Hollywood different from Broadway?
A: Well, I don’t do too much Broadway. To tell you the truth, I’d have to guess. Years ago, I did Frankenstein on Broadway, which unfortunately opened and closed on the same night, because it was so expensive to produce. I think it was like a million dollars a night back in 1978 or something like that. The second one I did was called Golda’s Balcony, which was a thing on Golda Mier.

Q: Do you come up with the characters’ looks yourself or does the director tell you how it is going to look?
A: Well, it depends on the show. When I did For the Boys with Bette Midler, I had to increase her age to 85. The costume designer had some sketches, not of the makeup so much, but of the wardrobe and then some of the older looks I had to fill in. But I really had to use my imagination and I was scared to death, because Bette Midler has such a famous face. I mean, you say Bette Midler to someone and everyone can picture her. She’s not an unknown actor, so to change one line on that famous face was pretty scary for me. And I had to age it from the forties, mid-fifties and sixties up to eighty-five, so I guess I kind of just went off of her life cast. I take an impression of the actor’s face first and I use this impression crème. Kind of like what the dentist uses to take impressions of your teeth and I put it all over their face and then I take it off and pour plaster inside, so I have a positive plaster cast of the actors face. The one thing that was tough with Bette Midler was that her face was so smooth and so unlined, it was just a scary proposition to try to age her, but I think I pulled it off all right. Then, when I did Dick Tracy, there were all these character makeups, but I really had a blueprint to follow because of Chester Gould, who drew Dick Tracy and there was a prune face and a flat top and there was a drawing to actually follow, so my job was just to interpret a line drawing.

Q: You have worked on everyone from Dakota Fanning and Johnny Depp to Madonna and Al Pacino. Are there certain faces that are harder to work with?
A: It all depends on what I’m doing. It depends on the makeup job really, but I’ve been pretty lucky to work with some great actors and they come into the project and kind of know what they want to try. And you know it depends. When I did Mona Lisa Smile, I did a lot of fifties makeup on Maggie Gyllenhal and Kirsten Dunst.

Q: How did you get the 1950s look for all the girls in Mona Lisa Smile?
A: Well, the fifties had a very kind of blueprint look, so the idea was to overlay that onto all these actresses. The typical things are like the doe eyeliner. Lashes were big and that kind of pinky lipstick. All those trademark things that say it’s the 1950s. We had some beautiful faces to work on like Kirsten, Maggie, Julia Stiles and Jessica Goodwin. It was a really great experience. Personally for me it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in awhile. It was just so creative and the hair was beautiful, the wardrobe was gorgeous and I really love to do beauty makeup, so that was a real kick and a lot of fun.

Q: How was the makeup for Naomi Watts done in Stay?
A: Well, I actually didn’t do Naomi Watts. I did her only when she was in trouble like she had these suicide wounds on her wrist. I did everyone else in the film like Ryan Gossling and Ewan McGregor and everybody else, but I didn’t do her street makeup.

To tell you the truth, it was pretty straightforward makeup; it wasn’t a real glamour gig for her. I actually got a call to do a film with her recently here in New York, but I’m on this picture American Gangster with Russell Crowe. I just finished My Super Ex Girlfriend and I got to do a lot of fun makeups on Anna Farris. I got to do a lot of different glamour looks for when she’s a civilian and then she kind of gets really glamorized when she turns into the superhero with Uma Thurman. So that’s the most recent kind of beauty thing I’ve done and she was just a really great person to work with. You know so supportive. Just great.

Q: How did you change Anna’s makeup when she was transformed into a superhero?
A: It’s just all out of the kit. It’s just beauty makeup to the tenth power. One thing I have to tell you is I’ve been real lucky in my career, because I’ve gotten to do almost every kind of makeup. I did Dick Tracy with the cartoon prosthetic kind of makeup and then Bette Midler. Then I did Heat, where it was just all straightforward makeup with bullet hits and blood. Mona Lisa Smile was all fifties beauty makeup, so I’ve been really lucky. Usually in our business, they have people who specialize in certain things, but I’ve been really blessed that I’ve been able to cover all those territories. Right now when I do a film as the department head, they don’t hire a special effects makeup artist because I head the special effects makeup and the beauty makeup...so it’s been great as far as my career.

Q: I heard you had your own line of Halloween makeup called the Caglione Collection.
A: Well, I had that for a while and it just didn’t take off. It was a seasonal thing and we did it for about five years. It was a blast. I mean if anyone called me to do Planet of the Apes, I could pull it off, but it just didn’t take off the way I wanted it to, so we stopped it about a year ago, but it was fun. I still have a lot of masks left over, so Therese, if you ever want to win five hundred bucks on a Halloween costume, you can give me a call.

Q: What other projects are you working on now?
A: Right now, I’m doing this movie American Gangster and the director is Ridley Scott. He directed the first Alien movie. I’m doing Russell Crowe’s makeup and it’s all about a New York City cop’s story. I’m just doing Russell Crowe. I did a little job before this one, a low budget film called Tenderness and Russell was in it for about two weeks and he asked me if I would want to do this one. I said, ‘of course.’ I think he’s one of the greatest actors of all time and I just jumped at the chance. It’s all just straightforward makeup. I just make him look as handsome as he is. There’s really no big work for me there, but it’s a privilege to watch him work. I never get over the thrill of seeing how an actor makes their transformation. It’s so amazing to me, and to be a part of that process is so great. It’s just a thrill and even when you’re doing street makeup, you can get behind the camera and see these great actors just do what they do and it’s still a lot of fun for me after thirty years.

Q: Do you have any makeup tips for the fall?
A: I would say just keep it crisp and light. You know, real cheeky. There’s this stuff that Tarte makes. It’s like a gel. It looks like pink under arm deodorant and it really gives a real translucency that looks very natural and kind of flushes out. So keep it real clean and cheeky.

Q: What line of makeup do you use most frequently and why?
A: Lately, I’ve been using Shiseido. Those are really nice. They’re a Japanese company and they make really great colors and great foundations. It’s kind of a moist look. I think you can get it at Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom’s.