If you’ve been watching Season 3 of the Amazon Prime series ‘The Wheel of Time’ (binge-watch all episodes now!), you will no doubt have been mesmerized by the stunning looks of each of the characters. With a series like this which have huge production budgets, it requires a large number of production crew behind the scenes to pull it altogether.
The creative looks especially are incredibly time-consuming and require a lot of effort from a team to make each character fit into the imagined world we see on screen. On ‘The Wheel Of Time’, the hair, makeup, and prosthetics are a vital part of what brings the characters to life. Each of these three departments require a lot of talent, time and creative vision. And the credit goes to the visual mastermind and 2x Emmy-nominated makeup artist Davina Lamont, who headed up all three departments on the show!
Yes, you read that right – Davina was in charge of all the hair and makeup on the show, as well as the prosthetics. Davina’s unique position meant she was managing every aspect of detailed looks for extensive cast and background characters.
It was a tremendous task, which required her to pick all the beauty brands she and her team would use on a large and very diverse cast, including Fenty Beauty, Danessa Myricks, SK II. Davina was in charge of 400 wigs of various color and textures, as nearly all the hairstyles you see on the characters were wigs.
Additionally, she had to manage extreme weather conditions while shooting in Namibia in the summer, including finding perfect sunscreens and other challenges like making sure the makeup and wigs would stay intact during stunt and fighting sequences. For example, in Episode 1 of Season 3, during an elaborate fight sequence, Davina and her team were doing meticulous wig prep and sewing on every single wig onto stunt doubles to make sure the wigs didn’t rip and stayed put!
Finally, as the prosthetic department head, she designed and executed multiple elaborate looks, including the Episode 4 look on Oscar and BAFTA-nominated actress Rosamund Pike, where she appears to be slowly covered in salt.
This overview of her work on these three departments on ‘The Wheel of Time’ feels like a monumental task for any team of people, let alone one person to oversee, and we wanted to get the inside scoop on how Davina did it.
We had the opportunity to ask her what it was like to keep hair, makeup and prosthetics intact in Namibia’s extreme heat, how she transformed a cast of blonde and brunette actors into a society of redheads, and how she managed the task of creating and executing distinctive looks for each main character, all background actors, and stunt doubles in a show heavy on ensemble scenes, elaborate looks for female cast members, and stunt sequences. Phew!
Can you first tell us where your film career began, and how you got your foot in the door of hair and makeup?
I started over 30 years ago in New Zealand. I trained for a year in all things makeup. After my training, I put myself out there for free work for almost 2 years, so I could learn and work with as many designers as possible, but I also wanted to see what area of makeup I loved the most. I landed a job on ‘Lord of the Rings’ for 2 solid years in their crowd team, which would cross over onto the main team; this is where the biggest amount of learning began.
I worked with some of the best wig makers, prosthetic artists, and stylists that you could ask for. From here, it lead to me working on ‘King Kong’ and ‘Avatar’. I really did have a fortunate start to my career. It was about 15 years ago that I got an agent and started working more overseas in Europe and England.
What have been some of your favorite projects to work on, and what have been the most challenging?
‘The Wheel of Time’ series is definitely one of my favorite projects for its creativity and freedom to design and create amazing avant-garde hair and makeup. Another favorite is the ‘Genius’ series with Antonio Banderas and Geoffrey Rush as Picasso and Einstein, respectively. They were a favorite as I got to do so much aging makeup, and recreating historical figures is a favorite of mine.
You recently worked on the Amazon series ‘The Wheel of Time’ which is a huge production. And your role in this was unique – heading up THREE departments! Can you tell us how you got involved in the show, and how you became the head of hair, makeup and prosthetics?
I was fortunate to have had a phone call from a friend of mine who was the line producer on Season 2. He wanted me to be a part of the show, and I had the best time on the show, so I agreed to come back for season 3.
I normally take on makeup, hair, and prosthetics on most shows, and on this show, Nick Dudman was heading up the creature prosthetics department, and I would take on some of the cast characters that required prosthetics. I love having the variety of being able to design all 3 departments and having an overall look, it’s fun and keeps me extremely busy.
How did you divide up the work, and create a process that wasn’t too overwhelming for you (or was it?!)?
Definitely at the start of the job, it can be overwhelming. I had so many repairs on the wigs from the end of season 2 into season 3, along with new looks to design for the recurring characters that grow and change from season to season. All the new characters that had to have design work and concepts, even Loial the Ogier had a change in wig and facial hair this season, which took up to 6 weeks to produce.
Timing is super important during the early weeks of prep; it’s a fine line of getting all the wigs, hair, products, and prosthetics made in time for fittings. I had daily meetings with my very large team of artists so we could divide up the workload, so everyone knew exactly what was happening. I personally just had to write a long list daily and start crossing off from the top, and then I feel like I’m making headway.
What did the day-to-day look like for you in hair and makeup and how do you prepare for a massive show like this?
My day-to-day consists of lots of meetings with my department, my supervisor, costume designer, ADs, directors, and showrunners, to make sure we are all on the same page of what I’m building, and or what is required from me and my team. I also take care of the makeup budget, so most days I’m talking to my coordinator to check on spending.
On ‘The Wheel of Time’, I had a team of 30 artists, 10 full-time in my workshop helping me build wigs, facial hair, run prosthetics, sort tattoos, wash and re-dress wigs from set, color and cut actors’ wigs or hair. So, every day there were plenty of jobs to do. Every day, there would be an updated list that we needed to get completed that day or that week, depending on the schedule. Running throughout the day would be multiple fittings on cast and stunts, more than likely we would have at least 3 fittings and 1 with a full fitting with costume.
In the afternoons, I would chat with my concept designer, who was in a different time zone,
about any adjustments to designs. I would chat to my wig makers, also based in other countries,
to see what was coming up that needed to be made. Once shooting began, I would often help
the on-set team with any cast in the mornings, and be on set with any new cast members for the
first day of shooting, before heading back to my workshop to begin our day. Being organized
and communicating with multiple departments and crew is the most efficient way of shooting.
What was the prosthetics process like, and how did you draw on your background experience for this department?
I loved designing the ‘Rand’s’ in all his ancestors’ looks in episode 4. Nick Dudman (creature and prosthetics designer) and his team, along with Jordi Morera (prosthetics artist and sculptor), did an incredible job of bringing these looks to life.
Back in New Zealand, I was fortunate to work for Weta Workshop, in their hair finishing department, and run flat molds for a few shows. So I had an early start with amazing artists and one of my mentors, Gino Acevedo, guiding me through his craft of painting, building, sculpting prosthetics, and how important it is today to be able to draw on those days to build a character today. It was an unforgettable experience.
How many wigs were you in charge of altogether, and how on earth do you keep track of so many?!
I had over 400 wigs on the show, and it was almost a full-time job to keep track of them all. I had a great labelling system as almost every character had multiple looks, so they had to have multiple wigs. Some of the looks had very intensive designs, so recreating them during the makeup call wasn’t a possibility.
On top of that, almost every character had a stunt double. I made sure my workshop team would do a stock take every month, so we knew where every wig was at all times.
How did you work with the weather conditions in Namibia, which presented its own challenge for hair and makeup especially? And how do makeup and hair departments typically prepare for unforeseen weather on a film or TV project?
I personally found the dry heat of Namibia actually okay to work in. It’s completely different from the damp heat of Thailand or India, where you really are sweating your makeup off constantly. Those who were finding it tough, we had cooling towels that we had sitting in containers of ice that we could wrap around their necks and wrists for fast cooling.
Also, they supplied an AC tent that worked well for the actors. The looks for the actors in this location was a bronzed, tanned, weathered, freckled look that would be difficult to stay on some actors’ skins due to heat and sweat, but we would mix it up with some using alcohol colored pallets that would increase longevity.
Can you give us a breakdown of creating a look for Rosamund Pike’s character, and how long of a prep time it takes for your team to do this?
Rosamund is incredibly collaborative when it comes to her character, Moiraine. We both caught up for a coffee before I started in prep, and I asked Rosamund if she would be interested in having a longer wig this season. I gave her a longer wig in season 2 for a scene where she was 20 years younger, and honestly, it looked so beautiful on her that I wanted this length again for season 3, to which she was very excited about.
I got to work making 3 hero wigs for her, which took roughly 4-5 weeks to make. We also wanted 1 wig to be slightly lighter in color, more bleached from the sun while she was in the desert.
All her future looks in episode 4 were a collaboration from both Sharon Gilham, the costume designer, Rosamund, and me, about how many looks we could produce and how long it would all take. I think we ended up with 14-17 different future looks for her, and shot on two different continents. The prep work for these looks took over a couple of months to build and test. Her ‘dry’ look in the rings took my team a couple of weeks to test and finalize the finish look.
I needed a product that would stay on the skin, withstand wind and high temperatures or when she was upside down in the rings, but also I needed to be able to add to her skin throughout different stages. Most importantly, I had to be able to remove it gently and not have it affect her beautiful skin. Rosamund’s looks this season were stunningly beautiful.
What was the most exciting part of working on this show, and what audiences will get to see on screen?
This whole season has been a tremendous success, and I have had a great deal of fun coming up with new and exciting looks. Rafe, our showrunner, has allowed me to think outside the box and come up with looks that I believe we have never seen on screen before. We have designed 7 cultures and completed over 2000 fittings on cast and stunts.
The looks have been endless, and once on set, there was so much detail from every department that you could see how much love went into the show. Tanchico is a feast for the eyes, and the Aiel culture in the desert has a beauty and rawness to it. It’s an incredibly unique show, and I’m pleased to have been a part of it.
What were your favorite beauty brands to work with and use on the show?
Emma Lewisham and Allies of Skin for skin care, Lisa Eldridge, Pat McGrath, Denessa Merricks, Fenty Beauty, Ciele makeup, Makeup by Mario, Tower beauty, Nars for makeup. Wow, Sam McKnight for hair products.
What will you be working on next?
I am currently shooting with Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer on an action comedy in Prague called ‘Ride or Die’.
Watch ‘The Wheel of Time’ Season 3 on Amazon Prime now. See more of Davina Lamont’s work on her website, and follow her on Instagram.
