Moon Knight was one heck of a ride. It crashed onto our screens whirlwind us into a chaotic story filled with mind-bending fantasy, complex identity, Egyptian gods (including a hippo goddess), and amazing fight scenes. The Disney+ series follows Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac), a mild-mannered gift-shop employee who experiences blackouts and memories of another life lived. He soon discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary, Marc Spector. Now, Steven and Marc have to find a way to embrace each other in order to solve a mystery that takes them deep into the world of Egyptian mythology among some of the most powerful gods.
It’s easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamour of the finished product we see on screen. Yet, it’s sometimes overlooked how many pieces have to come together to complete the telling of a story. You’ve seen the end credits of your favorite film or TV show, tons of names scroll across the screen to give credit to each and every individual that touched the production. One of these key components that can not be ignored is the role of the hair and makeup designer, or as the biz calls it, the MUAH.
From cuts and scrapes, blushing cheeks and fevers, aging up or aging down, Donald Mowat has done it all. With a career that spans more than 30 years, the Oscar-Nominated artist has controlled the appearance of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars in some of Hollywood’s biggest movies. His resume boasts films such as Skyfall, Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Sicario, Nocturnal Animals, Blade Runner 2049, and the latest, Moon Knight.
Mowat recently spoke with us about how he crafted the looks for Moon Knight, his most difficult projects, and how creating the perfect face and proper hairdo carries the subtle power to propel a story forward.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. The full interview is available to watch on our YouTube channel.
What’s your process? And, how much influence do you have vs the director when it comes to deciding the look for these characters?
I really appreciate you speaking to people in my world and the world of the crafts and artisans because we do a lot. Not to say we’re unsung, but we do a lot of behind-the-scenes that people don’t know about until great people like you talk about us. So, thanks for that.
I never worked on a streaming, on a Marvel [series]. I worked a little bit on Spiderman: Far From Home. So, I kind of went in and treated [Moon Knight] like a movie because I think you have to treat everything like a picture, like a story. I knew Oscar Isaac. I presented ideas to Mohamed and all the people involved.
We really had definitive ideas certainly about Oscar being, and I don’t want to misuse terms of split personality, schizophrenic disorders because I’m not a psychiatrist or psychologist. But, I knew there were things about people who have those types of conditions that I’ve seen on subways, I’ve seen them in the streets. I know people who suffer from some of those conditions. So with Steve and Marc, we did little things. Like Steven has sort of a jetlag appearance; he’s exhausted, he’s a little sweaty, he’s a little bit insomniac, and then Marc is strong.
And then May (May Calamawy) came along, who’s beautiful. She’s newer to the business and she has textured natural hair. And we wanted to preserve that. She is one of the first, if not one of the only, Palestinian Egyptian women on television. That’s kind of rare.
And I’m really proud to be part of that, of a character that’s unique, and new (and shouldn’t be unique and new but is). Mohamed Diab who’s Egyptian said I want her to look like an Egyptian woman and not something that’s a stereotype of what we’ve seen as Egyptian and I’m really proud of what we did with May and she was so delightful to work with — a breath of fresh air. That’s what we did. That was the process of doing a couple of tests with hair and makeup.
Moon Knight was shot in a variety of locations: Hungary, Slovenia, and Jordan. How did the climate affect the makeup or hair design?
Jordan is hot, but so is Hungary. Budapest is very hot in the summer. We worked mostly in the studio. Budapest is like New York in the summer, it’s a little bit steamy and hot. I really wanted people to look like we were in a warm environment. So we’re not using powder, especially Steven, he always looks like he’s a little bit sweaty.
And then May, I felt like the more she’s sort of is in her character, we wanted kind of a not action woman but the sense that everybody looked like they were just real people. It was very important to the directors that they looked like real people and not too manicured and not too done. But also looking kinda gorgeous at the same time and there’s a way to do that. There’s a fine line. We got pretty spoiled. We were in pretty good locations.
What was your “aha” moment when you decided this is what you wanted to do for a career?
Back in the day, in the 40s, 50s, 60s, even into the 70s in movies, feature films, when you saw the credits on films at the end and you watched — all the makeup was done by men and all the hair was done by women. Interesting, right? Now, it’s all shifted. But when I saw that, it actually gave me sort of an assurance or something that went “Ya see? Men do makeup.” That was my aha moment. That really was because I remember being able to tell my father.
And I knew the names. I started to recognize all these names of men like George Frost and the Westmores, and other people went you know I’ve noticed all those names. Some movies have it at the beginning of the movie. That was my “aha” moment. That’s the first time I’ve told that story but that’s the truth of it. It gave legitimacy to wanting to do the job. I guess like a boy wanting to be a fashion designer or Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, why not? But I really felt like suddenly my job had a purpose. What I wanted to do, that kids couldn’t make fun of it. For most boys it’s sports or it’s athletics or if you’re really bright or intellectual or intelligent it’s medicine, science, law. And here it was. So that was my moment.
What was your most challenging film?
I would have to say, the jobs that are not on paper where you go “Oh that’s easy” because they never are. The ones that really you go “oh, this is a piece of pie” you’re gonna do it in minutes. Those are the hard ones. The ones that read really difficult. Blade Runner 2049, very challenging. Nightcrawler, Nocturnal Animals, Skyfall, Prisoners — all challenging films.
Were they fun? They were not “holla let’s go party”; they weren’t those films. On Friday, you were so tired because you worked so hard into Saturday morning, but you were proud of the work. You went “Wow, I really kicked it. We really did it together. We made a beautiful, incredible movie.” Friday night, are we going for a drink? No, I’m going home to soak my feet. But they were great movies.
I’ve been on other jobs that were not a lot of fun. They weren’t great movies. And, you know, I’ve worked on a lot of those. Prisoners, amazing. The Fighter was great. The characters you remember; you relate to them. And there were other jobs that were disappointing. Because you thought, why didn’t people like it? I mean, First Man, I just didn’t understand why it didn’t do better. I thought it was a really good movie. But, other people didn’t feel that way.
Makeup and hair can seem like subtle aids to the story, for you, how do they work with a production? How can they enhance or stifle the story?
Such a great question because, I think there are jobs that can just be “God, why did they do that?” And it’s nobody’s fault, somebody just didn’t take a minute and talk it through or do another test and go “Are you sure?” Are you sure you wanna do that and live with it for four months? Or, that closeup with a scratch or a scar or a hair or something.
I think sometimes makeup, for me — this is only my opinion — I’m a ‘less is more” kind of guy. I think you can make it work by subtlety. I think if somebody’s got cancer, yea we know it’s bad, we know it’s not a good ending. But I think there’s a way to make it look that helps the actor tell the story, help the writer, the director. You’re there to help tell a story. But, I don’t want the makeup to be the story. And sometimes when people tell me “The makeup was incredible,” I kinda go yea but was the movie any good? I’m sort of torn in that. And then there are other films where you go, “God, maybe they missed something here.” With my own work, I’m my own worst critic.
I wish the actor had been more willing to do period makeup. Or, maybe they were frightened because that made them look too brown — people say things as we do in our own lives “Do I look fat in this?” or “Does this make me look funny?”
I think the greatest thing for me is working with an actor who lets that all go. It’s very hard, it takes a lot of courage to say, “You know what Don, whatever you think. I want what’s best for the part.” When I think of films going back, like Precious. When I think of what Mariah Carey did in that, what Mo’Nique did, what other actors did in films — just going back to Russell Crowe in films, or Melissa Leo when I worked with her on The Fighter. I mean we made those people look pretty bad in The Fighter. But, they were really actors wanting to look the part and not get an endorsement for a commercial. That meant a lot to me.
Watch the full unedited interview with Donald Mowat below.
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