Based on Sofía Vergara’s make-up artist Todd McIntosh, three distinguished and iconic options wanted to be lined up when reworking Vergara into Griselda Blanco, also referred to as “The Godmother,” for her newest function in Netflix’s “Griselda“: her nostril, her “white smile” and her eyebrows.

McIntosh, who labored intently with the actor, notes “Griselda was not a fairly woman. So, the concept was to remove the issues that make [Vergara] fairly and to make her look common. On prime of that, inform the story by conventional make-up.”

Within the six-part restricted sequence, Vergara’s transformation is outstanding. Utterly unrecognizable, she performs the infamous and ruthless Griselda. The story charts Griselda’s transfer from Colombia to Miami within the Seventies and follows her into the Eighties as she builds her drug empire, fearlessly taking up the opposite cartels to run one of many greatest cartels in historical past.

To remodel and transport Vergara again into the Seventies, eyebrow covers have been used. McIntosh says, “Her eyebrows are so recognized together with her and her look. So, we put eyebrow covers over her brows to get rid of that, and we used laced forehead items that have been thinner, much less fairly and scraggly, and we gave her that ‘70s arch to maintain the time interval in place.”

Nonetheless, early testing got here up with challenges, because the eyebrow items weren’t staying in place. “We determined to put her again, and the entire make-up was accomplished together with her laying again together with her earphones in, and I’d work from above with my magnifying glasses, mixing in and defending her pure brows so the adhesive wouldn’t pull her actual hairs out.”

The opposite problem was mixing. “You chop near the eyebrow, you run into bother with a mixing edge being near the forehead,” McIntosh explains. “Otherwise you go to the highest of the brow, and it will get misplaced within the hairline, the wig and the lace. That’s the answer we selected.”

As for the tooth, the concept was for them to look regular. Initially, she was given a backside and prime plate, however when Vergara was talking, they pressed collectively and prompted a problem. “She was discovering it arduous to enunciate, so I took out the underside tooth and painted them in for the remainder of the present with completely different nicotine and brown tones.”

As soon as the prosthetic items constructed from translucent silicone (forehead covers, nostril items and false tooth) have been utilized, McIntosh set about discovering the best make-up to use. “Sofía wished the make-up to be two or three shades darker than her personal. So, I used to be placing on an opaque coloration over a translucent product, which makes all the perimeters present up,” he explains. He ended up utilizing Revlon Colorstay line as a base since he knew from previous expertise it labored fantastically and would cowl up these edges.

When it got here to choosing out eyeshadow and lipstick shades, McIntosh famous that the time interval meant ladies didn’t essentially change their lipstick shade each week. “The concept was most girls selected a coloration or type for his or her make-up and didn’t change it. They stored these colours.”

He opted for darker lips and eyes on Griselda, and as her character evolves, the make-up will get darker and deeper. “As she turns into extra paranoid, the browns go to black, and issues begin to shift,” he says.

A key turning level is in Episode 4, when Griselda discovers a number of of her staff have been decapitated. To avenge their deaths, she makes her first-ever kill. It’s one other shift for her — she desires everybody to respect her, but in addition concern her. Make-up-wise, McIntosh says, “As soon as we’re into the actually tough stuff, there’s a whole lot of smeared make-up and messy lips.”

For her ultimate jail look, McIntosh says he had a number of discussions with Vergara about how they’d strategy it. Ultimately, a prosthetic neck wattle piece was used to offer that sagging, aged look to that space. And stipple was used to age her.

Vergara’s complete transformation took three hours. McIntosh spent an hour and a half on making use of prosthetics and make-up, whereas an extra hour and a half was spent on making use of the wig, physique make-up and wardrobe. “What we wished to realize was to not cover Sofía fully, however to rework her into another person.”

Vergara, who serves because the present’s government producer, was extremely concerned within the course of, working intently alongside McIntosh. “She was extraordinarily devoted. Every thing about this character that Sofía created, from her stroll to what sort of bra she wore, she was concerned in. She would examine each evening,” he says.

Did she ever exit in public dressed as Griselda? “We stored it just about beneath wraps,” McIntosh says. “I’m certain folks wouldn’t have acknowledged her.”