THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES Makeup Designer SHERRI BERMAN On The Film’s Period Looks & Character Inspiration In 'On Makeup Magazine'

Emmy Award-winning lead makeup designer SHERRI BERMAN LAURENCE spoke with industry trade magazine On Makeup about the inspiration for the looks in THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES. 

Sherri discussed everything from the film’s period feel to the characters’ visual evolutions and the use of prosthetics.

Where did you draw inspiration for the makeup design for this film? 

Everything starts with meetings with director Francis Lawrence and costume designer Trish Summerville. They had ideas for some of the characters, and an overall style for the film. Like the other Hunger Games, this film is set in the future. but Francis wanted it to have a touch of a period look, with a nod toward the 1940s and 1950s. I then incorporated those elements into character-specific inspiration boards and refined and mapped out each of the characters' looks. 

How do the looks reflect the socioeconomic differences of the areas? 

The Capitol was the wealthiest, so the people were very put together. This was where the background actors had the most classic 1940-50s looks. The Academy, where the mentors are, is also located in The Capitol, so those looks were more put together. The mentors were fresh-faced for the day-to-day, and more stylized and dressed up for the reaping day. This was their most glamorous and futuristic look. Each of them had a specific makeup design to complement their costumes. District 12, where Lucy Gray is from, was the coal mining district. Francis wanted it to look like old black-and- white photos of the Appalachian region in the 1930s/40s. The colors were muted, and the people were covered in coal. grease, soot, and sweat. 

What was the Inspiration for Lucy Gray's makeup? 

The inspiration for her was ethereal and playful. For the reaping, we wanted to do something flushed and beautiful to go with the iconic rainbow dress from the book. Her performance looks were colorful and included a gold upper lined and bleeding red messy cupid's bow, gold shadows, bright pink lips, and shadows, with a nod to an overall period look. 

Sidenote: Rachel Zegler said on twitter that Sherri justified every makeup choice for Lucy Gray by coming up with a backstory as to how she would've made the product in District 12; crushed flower petals, fruit juice, bugs, you name it. 

What did the design for Viola Davis's character include? 

Francis wanted her aged significantly and to have an almost mad scientist look-he referenced Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka. Viola's aging transformation was accomplished by Tamar Aviv. Viola's personal makeup artist, Sergio Lopez- Rivera, and I spoke about her regular makeup and he had ideas that worked well with what Francis wanted. Viola also wanted two different colored eyes. I designed the contacts (made by Jessica Nelson at Veiled Optics) which were a hazy dark brown to give an aged look to one eye and an icy blue discolored eye to help make her character even more intense. 

Can you tell me about some of the other character's different looks?

Lucky Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman) was one of the most fun characters to create. He's the ancestor of Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) who has been assigned to host the 10th Hunger Games. He starts off with a drab look and becomes more of a celebrity TV personality, and his style changes. We started with bushier eyebrows, pale uncorrected skin, and a plain mustache. Each script day, we added more pancake makeup and bronzer, stained his lips. and began plucking his eyebrows into a pointed shape. By the end, he was an extreme version of his new style. 

Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) starts off more pale and gaunt, with a little red around his eyes from stress and exhaustion. Once he becomes a peacekeeper, we created a healthier look by adding bronzer and more makeup under the eyes. In the final part of the movie, his look is more distinguished, so we evened the skin completely and gave it a subtle glow. 

Snow's cousin Tigris (Hunter Schaffer), is a young version of the tiger-like character from the earlier movies. Francis wanted her to be as fresh-faced as possible, with an edgier fashion-forward style. We plucked her brows in severe upward points and bleached them white. Her Hunger Games look was very monochromatic with shades of pink starting at her cheeks and circling her eyes and little to no mascara to complement the bleached eyebrows. 

How much of the transformations were makeup design vs. prosthetics? 

Transformations were done through both makeup and prosthetics. Prosthetics were a huge part of this film. We had an incredible Special FX Team-Jörn Seifert from Twilight Creations ran the Special FX department. Most of the transformations, but certainly not all, were from the games for the wounded or killed tributes. Sometimes our FX team would recreate the prosthetics and sometimes we would just paint them to match. Other FX used were burns and scarring on Snow's back, stitches being sown into the skin, bite wounds.. and some of the coolest creature sculptures that are kept floating in jars in Dr. Gaul's lab.  Jörn and his team did beautiful work and it was an honor to work with them. In terms of makeup, we had to create and recreate different levels of dirt, grime, sweat, illnesses, and blood on our tributes for months. We also painted other characters who were ill, rabid, dead, injured, beaten, and hung. Bleaching and shaping of eyebrows, colored contacts, shading, contouring. highlighting faces and bodies, and facial hair were part of the different transformations too. 

How would you describe the difference in makeup for this prequel which takes place 64 years prior to the other films? 

Francis Lawrence wanted the makeup to be more gritty and natural looking and less fantastical. It is still futuristic, but with a vintage twist. 

On Makeup is published biannually and digital issues are available here. This article is from the Fall 2023 Issue, which has not been published in digital format yet. Thanks to @collette.co2 for sending us the magazine 

Words: Shannon Levy Photos: Murray Close/Courtesy of Lionsgate