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Heads up! Exclusive makeup FX pics from “THE DICTATOR”

Posted by Michael Gingold Aug 21, 2012

Special makeup artist Mike Marino has worked his magic on horror and fantasy fare ranging from BLACK SWAN to MEN IN BLACK 3, but he has also contributed to comedies as well, including the Sacha Baron Cohen vehicle THE DICTATOR. With that film hitting disc today, we’ve got some closer looks at Marino’s magic, and his comments.

In THE DICTATOR, out on “Banned & Unrated” DVD and Blu-ray/DVD combo from Paramount Home Entertainment, Cohen plays Hafez Aladeen, ruthless ruler of the Republic of Wadiya who gets into assorted misadventures when he is called to New York City to address concerns about his country’s nuclear weapons program. A couple of these required Marino’s prosthetics wizardry, and the artist tells Fango, “One that stood out was a scene where Aladeen’s double is shot in the head. I convinced them to do a full replica of Sacha instead of a makeup, feeling it would be much better than a makeup or wound; if he could react to a perfect replica of himself, it would be much more effective. Larry Charles, the director, and DP Lawrence Sher were assuming they could shoot around the prop if they had to, but when we showed up with it on set, they could not believe how real it looked and shot close-ups of it instead.

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“The other effects chores on THE DICTATOR included a cut-off head of Eldridge Douglas [Hollis Granville] that could be manually puppeteered,” along with others not pictured here such as “a bodyguard with abnormally large breasts, which eventually was cut out, and mangled teeth for Sacha as the goat-herder. Sacha was incredible to work with, and very respectful of our contributions. The whole crew treated the effects as something special, which I feel has been lacking in the current practical-effects world. Being a unique team at Prosthetic Renaissance, we feel we can turn a somewhat negative attitude about practical effects around by creating the best work possible. My amazing team on THE DICTATOR included Mike Fontaine, Kazu Tsuji, Chris Kelly, Diana Choi, Roland Blancaflor and Dave Presto.”

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