In “The Morning Present,” viewers get a glimpse of the glamorous and grueling nature of manufacturing nationwide morning information exhibits by fictional UBA community anchors Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon).
Season 3 of the Apple TV+ drama sees UBA anchors and executives in a number of new places past their residence base of New York Metropolis, from Texas to the Hamptons to Montana (and even area!). These environments impacted the work of make-up division head Cindy Williams in surprising methods.
“Once we are capturing in warmth, we feature coolers to retailer the make-up in. In any other case, it melts,” Williams advised IndieWire. “We have now hand followers and attempt to preserve them as cool as potential as a result of in any other case, the make-up will disintegrate in excessive warmth.”
The situation additionally informs Williams’ make-up design for the characters. For Laura Peterson (Julianna Margulies), an anchor and Bradley’s lover, Williams created a softer search for her time at her Montana ranch throughout the pandemic in distinction to her elevated anchor make-up for New York Metropolis.
“Anchor make-up is heavier. [There’s] extra shading, highlighting, eye make-up, and stronger colour for the cheeks, lip, and forehead,” mentioned Williams. “When she’s within the countryside, she’s extra pure. [When all of the anchor characters are] at residence, it’s about making the pores and skin look as pure and dewy as potential. All the pieces is toned down.”
Williams notes {that a} less complicated design nonetheless entails many particulars. She and her group use objects like tinted lip gloss and mascara to realize the “I’m not sporting something” look, and Williams works intently with the lighting group and director of pictures to make sure the real-life make-up scheme interprets to the digital camera.
“We have now to think about lighting, the colour of the room, of the ground, and what they’re sporting,” mentioned Wiliams. “Sure issues present up on digital camera that don’t present as much as the attention, so we would look behind the digital camera [to check]. If they’ve darkish circles underneath their eyes, we are going to ask, ‘Are you able to throw gentle on right here?’”
However typically Williams provides make-up to create darkish undereye circles, like for Mia Jordan (Karen Pittman). Like location impacting the make-up for Marguiles’ character, Williams switched up the search for Pittman’s character to underscore what was occurring for the character plot-wise.
“She was extra put collectively within the final season,” Williams mentioned. “She’s now at all times underneath stress due to her job promotion, so she’s drained. She’s been up all evening, and he or she doesn’t have the time to do as a lot as a result of she’s underneath loads of strain.”
Williams and her group additionally take cues from the hair and wardrobe departments. They work intently to develop a personality’s general look with the administrators and writers, and take cautious notes about any bodily shifts or modifications that have to align with how the plot impacts the character. Like with the arrival of Jon Hamm’s character Paul Marks, a tech billionaire who’s contemplating shopping for UBA, as he shakes issues up on the earth of morning tv. Facial hair is in Williams’ area, and if Marks is meant to be clean-shaven someday and have stubble the following, William is tasked with sustaining continuity.
“It’s exhausting to alter facial hair with TV since you don’t shoot so as,” mentioned Williams. “You could have to go beard, no beard, beard. It’s an enormous problem to maintain observe of all of it. We have now books and take notes and photos on what we accomplish that we will refer again to it.”
One of many key abilities Williams has developed throughout her time working in make-up is on-the-fly problem-solving. The flexibility to pivot whereas on set has confirmed useful, whether or not it’s working with lighting or discovering fast corrective make-up options to pores and skin points. This fashion, she will make sure the actors’ appears to be like align with each the glamor and the grit of “The Morning Present.”