Oscar nominees Nick Dudman, the makeup effects designer of the Harry Potter films, and Lisa Tomblin, head hair designer, recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about what went wrong aesthetically with the first shoot of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 epilogue, and how they improved the appearances of the actors - Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Bonnie Wright - to look like realistic adults in their late 30s. The team, including Dudman, Tomblin, and Amanda Knight, is nominated at this Sunday's Academy Awards for achievement in Best Makeup for their work in the finale of the series.



Dudman mentioned, among altering Dan's Harry Potter face ever so slightly to look maturer, that the epilogue was almost scrapped midway through post-production. It was kept at the end, including the reshoot, as a means to service the fans who had waited years to see the characters as adults.

Nick Dudman: “If you’re turning somebody into a goblin, it’s a fantasy character. If I say, ‘That’s a goblin,’ and you say it isn’t, well, that’s your opinion. If you say, ‘That doesn’t look like Dan Radcliffe,’ we’re in trouble.”

“Ninety percent of the time, it attracts attention to itself,” Dudman points out. So the process of creating the scene was intense, with the team looking at the actors’ parents and their characters’ onscreen parents for clues about the aging process. Initially, the plan called for lavish makeup. “We made the girls more hip-y, more bust-y, with a little more tummy. We made prosthetics for the guys so we could take their hairlines back fractionally. And we made a whole series of prosthetic pieces: Eye-pieces, nose-pieces, cheek pieces, chin pieces, ear-pieces.”

“We did go too far with the makeup [in the first epilogue shoot],” says Dudman, “and the costumes didn’t feel right, the performances didn’t feel right.” At one point, they even debated whether they’d keep the epilogue in the final film. “The only reason you’re doing it is to satisfy the fanbase. It wasn’t really necessary to the story at that point. The movie ended so well with the battle.”

Lisa Tomblin: “Dan Radcliffe had a gray wig. Rupert had a receding wig with little bits of gray in it. Emma had a short wig. But it didn’t really work. It’s very difficult to age somebody that’s 20. It’s not like you’re aging someone that’s 30 and has the start of wrinkles.”

“We just tried to do too much in the beginning,” says Tomblin. “We simplified. Harry Potter always has his floppy hair in front of his face. Let’s take his hair away from his face! No gray, just change his glasses, and hey presto, he looked older! He looked more mature.”

“It’s so easy, when you’re aging guys, to go into caricature. You can make the girl seem much more mature just by changing her handbag.”

Order the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 DVD and Blu-ray sets, out today in the U.S. and December 2 in the UK, at the Amazon links below, or through the official Warner Bros Shop.

Amazon.com (US) - Deathly Hallows 1-disc DVD | Deathly Hallows 1-disc Blu-ray | Deathly Hallows 3-disc Blu-ray triple play | The Complete 8-Film Collection DVD | The Complete 8-Film Collection Blu-ray

Amazon.co.uk (UK) - Deathly Hallows 1-disc DVD | Deathly Hallows 3-disc 3D Blu-ray | Deathly Hallows 3-disc Blu-ray triple play | Deathly Hallows 2-disc DVD | The Complete 8-Film Collection DVD | The Complete 8-Film Collection Blu-ray | The Complete 8-Film Collection BD limited edition