Sínann Fetherston speaks with makeup artists Lynn Johnston and Nirvana Jalalvand about their work on the latest season of Wednesday. Light spoilers ahead.
The final episodes of Wednesday season two have dropped on Netflix today (Wednesday, of course), wrapping up the spooky story with gothic galas, mystical mishaps, and serious sleuthing.
With much of season two filmed across Ireland, Irish fans were particularly invested in Tim Burton's iteration of the dark comedy, and the production certainly delivered.
Snippets of the Emerald Isle can be found throughout the show, whether it be in the set design (wallpaper based on the illustrations of Irish stained-glass artist Harry Clarke), the costumes (the works of Irish designers Paula Rowan and Mihai Mar both featured), or the exceptionally talented crew behind the scenes.
One such talent is Irish woman Lynn Johnston, an Oscar-nominated make-up artist known for her work on movies like Albert Nobbs and Breakfast on Pluto.
Despite her success in features, she insists that she had to be talked into taking on such a high-profile project: "I was really nervous because I don't normally do big TV things, I normally do smaller films," Johnston explains.
"It was really exciting at the same time. I always loved the characters from the Addams family, from the old black and white TV show. Re-runs of that used to be on Saturday mornings, so the TV show itself really excited me."
Although she says the work was "great fun", she admits that each character came with intricate details surrounding their characteristics, and getting each one right was a team effort.
"We were building on the looks of season one with most of the cast," she explains. "The costumes are already on board before we come on, so any looks really stem from looking at the costumes."
"I really enjoyed when Uncle Fester zaps Agnes [DeMille], I just thought that was really cool," she says, reflecting on her favourite moments.
"It was really funny because I forgot that Francesco, the hair designer, had done all this static stuff with her hair. It was a lovely surprise. His wigs were really beautiful and his team were really strong, so I think when you have a really high screen value, the make-up sits in well with it."
Working to bring Burton's unique aesthetic to the screen, the team of makeup artists, prosthetic artists, costume designers and hair stylists pulled from a wide range of inspirations.
While Grandmama Hester Frump (Joanna Lumley) was largely influenced by English socialite Daphne Guinness, Isadora Capri (Billie Piper) was inspired by Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon’s characters in The Witches of Eastwick, and Gwendoline Christie returned with her Hitchcockian wardrobe, with hair and makeup modelled on Tippi Hedren's performance in The Birds.
As for Wednesday, Jenna Ortega's makeup artist, Nirvana Jalalvand, says that the joy of season two was found in the "fabulously ridiculous" moments.
"From season one to season two for her look, it's actually pretty similar because Wednesday is the kind of person who is very settled in who she is," she explains.
"She knows what she wants and she's a busy girl solving murder mysteries and crimes around the school and putting the world to rights."
Despite her uniform appearance, some of Wednesday's paranormal pastimes do lead to exceptionally striking looks. The thick black tears that stream down her usually pristine face when she hits psychic burnout have become one of the most memorable of the season.
"We only had two weeks to sort it out," Nirvana muses. "A black product that was eye-safe didn't exist, so it was lots of phone calls, getting people to make things, but it worked really well in the end."
As a lover of special effects make-up, Nirvana says that the work she's proudest of appears in a particularly chaotic episode, when a mystical mishap leads Wednesday and Enid to swap bodies, resulting in a stone-faced Werewolf and an unsettlingly sparkly Addams.
"I was so excited when I read that," laughs Nirvana. "Any time I get to do something different on Wednesday is exciting. Part two is full of different hair and make-up looks, actually."
"The body swap was really fun because we all collaborated together," she adds. "It was a real team effort to establish what we would swap with them, and the development of those swaps through the episodes. The points where they're rebelling, the points where they're trying to maintain their covers."
Fans of the show will know that Wednesday had her Nevermore school uniform customised to her monochrome aesthetic due to her severe allergy to colour. So, when Enid changed up her look for a rainbow-inspired ensemble, it gave Nirvana and her team the chance to play with prosthetics.
"That whole allergic reaction scene was really fun," she smiles. "My favourite thing is when we get to combine beauty makeup with special effects makeup, so that was the perfect blend of the two."
"I think the thing that I was actually most happy about was that body swap allergic reaction," she notes. "I think that looked fabulously ridiculous."
Season two of Wednesday is available to watch on Netflix now.
