With theater, it’s the best because you don’t really think too much about it. You can just do it in five minutes on your own in your dressing room, and it’s almost like a ritual going into the show every night. But on film sets, you have a makeup artist. I’ve worked with Gemma Hoff, my makeup artist on set for a long time. We met on The Crown, and we’ve done loads of projects together since. She’s so talented.
What’s your relationship with Hoff like on set?
We have our own little regimes. We just go together and she knows me so well now. We have such a good time at work, creating the characters together. On The Crown, we had so much fun doing makeup from the ‘50s and then transitioning the second season to the ’60s when the makeup was a lot bolder, and the hair was completely different—we loved that transition. Suddenly you could do poppier colors.
The Crown – Margaret – Margaret, upset, arrives at the celebration in Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s honourAlex Bailey / Netflix
We’d go for a bright red lip or like, an orangey one, and more lashes because it was ’60s, and then the hair got much cooler. We loved looking at all the icons from that era, like Vanessa Redgrave and Bridget Bardot and Jane Birkin. And I think Gemma came from theater too, so we knew the power of kind of, like, dreaming of yourself somewhere else.
How is the glam process for action films different from period pieces?
With the action films, you have to wear less makeup because you just have to be able to, say, get in the water or launch into some kind of fight sequence. You can never be too done, really. I always prefer characters that are more undone anyway.
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