multiplicity: Spider

In this wonderful David Cronenberg movie schizophreniac Dennis (Spider) Clegg is in his thirties and lives in a halfway house: he has, at best, a tenuous grip on reality. Miranda Richardson is seen as his mother, his father’s lover and a version of Mrs Wilkinson the halfway house warden.

Miranda Richardson said she relied heavily on makeup and costume to mentally prepare for each distinct character, but she wasn’t able to fully nail the role of the tarish Yvonne until she came up with idea of changing the look of her teeth:

Costume and makeup were a big part of it. Sitting in front of the mirror, you can see the transformation taking place and I was continually working on this right before going on the set. While I was waiting to be called on to the set, I was thinking about her [Yvonne], what to keep in mind, and I sort of had a little lightbulb come on. I rushed into makeup and and told them to make a little gap in her teeth or something that made her seem from somewhere else. It all came together after that.

Becoming Yvonne involved nearly two hours of hair, wardrobe and makeup changes, including the addition of those grungy looking teeth that Richardson juts towards the camera like they’re her prize feature. Miranda said: They’re my teeth. I’m not wearing any prosthetic.

Stéphan Dupuis was chief makeup artist; Inge Klaude, Christine Allsopp & Andrea Finch were makeup artists. Mary-Lou Green-Benvenuti was hair designer; Carol Marinoff was assistant hair.