Stuart Freeborn

How does one acquire a gifted make up technician for a film series that only accepts verisimilitude? In 1976, three names reigned the Hollywood make-up business: Dick Smith, who had created the horrific transformation sequences for 'The Exorcist' as well as gory prosthetics for 'Taxi Driver'; Rick Baker, a young man who had caused a storm with his miraculous and unconventional approach to prosthetic ageing work for the television movie 'The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman' and his contributions to the remake of 'King Kong', which included live action ape make-up superior to Carlo Rambaldi's mechanical ape of the same film; and most importantly, John Chambers, who had been called upon for a special Academy Award in the late 1960s for his groundbreaking work on 'Planet Of The Apes'. The ape make-up allowed human actors to work with their eyes visible underneath prosthetic headsets and groomed ape fur. Chamber's creations enabled a world of talking monkeys to exist on screen, interacting with human characters and showing a wide range of emotions. If anything, Chamber's special Award was a public acknowledgement that he had single-handedly revolutionised the standards of creative make-up forever. And who could be a greater judge of visual excellence than the paying cinema audience? Well....

The revelation:

The same year that 'Planet of The Apes' received it's special Oscar nomination and Award, Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' had submitted similar themed make-up of an equally high standard to the Academy Award judges. To realise his now historically important 'Dawn of Man' opening sequence, Kubrick, a renowned perfectionist, insisted on using real actors who could perform exactly to his direction, as opposed to using wild, spontaneous apes. Obviously, the performers required ape costumes and make-up of such quality that they would be indistinguishable from the real species. to do this, Stuart Freeborn created the ape suits from weaving human hair, yak hair and horse hair into a new woollen fabric. He also innovated a brand new make-up effects technique with his revolutionary approach to the ape's teeth. Whereas John Chambers had merely used the rubber of his 'Planet Of The Apes' headsets to show his simian dentures, Freeborn researched into dental and anatomical structures and decided that his apes teeth should be part of a separate skull/jaw piece underneath the mask. He then went forward and curled the rubber mouth piece to go over the top of the skull teeth, creating not only more believable make-up, but prosthetics easier for the actors to perform in.

Alas, this posed no threat towards John Chambers award for 'Planet of The Apes'. The reason? The Academy was not convinced by the appearance of the make-up for Kubrick's film. In fact, it was not even convinced that the makeup was even make-up. The Academy was so convinced by the quality of the make-up, that it insisted Kubrick's production company had employed real apes.

Injustice often prompts the greatest complement.

In 1975, a new science fiction film was to be made. Specifically, it called for human actors to interact with such physically diverse characters as a six foot dog-creature called a 'Wookie', enough exotic creatures to fill a spaceport bar...........
.....To cut a long story short, Stuart Freeborn designed and created the appearance of cinema history's most popular and famous intergalactic characters: Chewbacca, Yoda, Jabba the Hutt, Ewoks, Wampas and every other alien creature for The Original Star Wars Trilogy. With the exception of Rick Baker's additional aliens filmed as pick ups for the Cantina Bar scene, and selected minions from Jabba The Hutt's palace which were constructed by the Industrial Light & Magic creature shop, George Lucas is indebted to Stuart Freeborn's imagination, stamina and talent. These characters remain so believable today not only for their appealing personalities, but also their characteristic physical identities, something not yet matched by the advent of the universally despised Jar Jar Binks. Ask anybody for their preferred interpretation of Jabba The Hutt, and Freeborn's full scale animatronic eclipses the little (if any) praise of the Special Edition's unconvincing, computer generated abomination of a replica.

John Chambers may have grabbed the special achievement Oscar, but while Freeborn was bathing in the glory of 'Star Wars', Chambers was producing the lacklustre make-up creations for the television remake of 'The Island Of Doctor Moreau'. If anybody wants an essay into why the Academy Awards does not justify the top of the talent, they need not look further than the career of Stuart Freeborn.

Stuart Freeborn was Born in Beckenham, Kent, England. In 1937 it was here in his hometown that Freeborn began his history of hyper-realistic prosthetic work, when Britain's "The Times" newspaper announced that Emperor Haile Selassie had been sighted driving through Beckenham. Not only had this caused public questioning, but it had left the country's politicians in uproar. Alas, it was merely young Freeborn in a home-made prosthetic make-up! Unfortunately, an illusion this successful did not win him a position in the film industry, but severe disciplinary action from the Beckenham police. Later aged 21, Freeborn sent photos of himself made up as an old man to Alexander Kordas Denham studios. taken to the studio, he was asked to repeat improvise the make-up and screen test his results on the stage that Charles Laughton was filming 'Rembrant' on. The quality of this remarkable craftsmanship earned Freeborn an immediate reputation, and summoned the attention of Alexander Korda himself. And thus began a legendary career in special make-up effects.

Stuart Freeborn's first great on-screen old age make-up appliance was for David Lean's 'Oliver Twist'. For the film Freeborn transformed Alec Guinness into the patriarch rogue, Fagin. Later on 'Bridge over the River Kwai' he changed the film's English extras into Japanese soldiers and prisoners of war. For Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr.Stranglelove' he created numerous make-ups for Peter sellers, enabling the actor to play more than one character.

Freeborn also produced the head decapitation scene for Richard Donner's 'The Omen'.

So, within the context of verisimilitude, who would Richard Donner possibly hire for the numerous, preferably subtle and seamless make-ups and effects for Superman? Of course, he chose Stuart Freeborn in a heartbeat, and the rest is history.

Stuart Freeborn supervised the make-up on all of the Salkind Superman movies, and at Christopher Reeve's request he worked on Cannon's 'Superman IV: The Quest For Peace', albeit for a much smaller paycheque. Freeborn stood by the rule that Clark Kent parts his hair on the right and Superman parts his hair on the left. He therefore addressed both Superman and Clark Kent as two separate people. He also made Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor bald using a latex skull cap and Jeff East's nose the size of Christopher Reeve's. More special effects orientated jobs included the accurate construction of flying stunt dummies, a polar bear for the North Pole sequence, a dummy cat for Superman's meeting with a little girl, the make-up for evil, Bizarro Superman (from 'Superman III') and perhaps his most unrecognised accomplishment, the prosthetic chest mould he used to emphasise Superman's stomach muscles. Christopher Reeve may have worked full out for the role, but with the diverse range of physical movement required by the actor, it would take more than the costume's lycra to ensure that his chest fabric appeared as consistently skin tight as it's comic book counterpart. Freeborn's other major contribution to the series was the Vera robot make-up seen in 'Superman III'. A visual parody of Maria from Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis', Freeborn gave silver contact lenses to actress Annie Ross and glued her face in silver computer micro-chips and chrome paint. When Vera opens her eyes on close up to reveal her gleaming chrome eyeballs staring in the face of the audience, the effect is perhaps more chilling than director Richard Lester intended. Coupled with Ross' standout physical performance and comedic timing, Vera's robot make-up creates an amusing enemy for the Man Of Steel that any other filmmaking technique would not have realised as effectively.

Nick Dudman>>>