Page 9 - 22_Bafta Academy_John Malkovich_ok

Lisa Westcott is understandably a little preoccupied with thoughts of a convincing bald cap for Rupert Everett as she briefly takes a break from her lat- est project, the intriguingly-titled Compleat Female Stage Beauty.
Everett’s playing Charles II in Richard Eyre’s new film, a lavish backstage romantic comedy set during the Restoration era. In 1661, to be exact. Everett’s co- stars include Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin, Hugh Bonneville and Tom Hollander
What’s described as a “sharp, sexy” story of gender-switching theatrical battles sounds not a million miles – well, about 60 years on to be more precise – from that other historical stage-set romp, Shakespeare In Love.
Not really surprising to discover that also is one of the prolific Westcott’s credits which went on to earn her Academy nomina- tions on both sides of the Atlantic.
No fewer than seven BAFTA nominations have, to date, been converted into masks for Bleak House, Wives And Daughters, Our Mutual Friend and The Madness Of King George, her first ever feature film which, she quickly notes, also featured Everett in a regal role.
That brief roll-call of her work in film and television suggests ‘classic’ and ‘period’. Westcott won’t argue with that: “Historical and period pieces. Yes, I’m pigeonholed; that’s really all I do now because that’s where I get my buzz. It’s what I’m best at and what I have a passion for.”
Even her most recently-seen work for big and small screen, I Capture The Castle and Cambridge Spies, are both stylish recreations of the past.
Whether it’s Victoriana (Mrs Brown, From Hell) or World War II (Bomber Harris, Last Of The Blonde Bombshells) Westcott’s work always seems perfectly to complement the age in question.
But just because she and her teams seem to get it right so often doesn’t mean the job’s any less stressful.
“If you get a really naff wig or really naff make-up then you might as well all go home really. Also when you think that a good third-ifnotmore-ofanyfilmis on medium shot or close-up then the hair and make-up is an extremely important contribution, especially with the period stuff. Never mind the costumes, never mind the sets. Your work’s up there for all to see in 35mm, sometimes 20 feet high. There are tricks you learn over the years you can’t put a price on,” she says.
Most of those tricks were first learned at the BBC where Westcott spent 26 years after a conventional hairdressing apprenticeship in her teens.
“I was extremely happy at the BBC. The training, in which make- up and hair were inseparable, was next to none; you’d go all over the world, you never stopped working and they also managed your career. You weren’t allowed to specialise and so had to do work right across the board. This made you very flexible. Ask me to do anything and I can probably do it for you. That kind of training is just not there any more. I was incredibly fortunate.”
Westcott is, not unnaturally, very proud of her craft: “It’s extremely artistic, like being a painter. Everyone develops their own style. A lot of people I know are aware of the stuff I’ve done because as they say, ‘only you would do that.’
“What’s my style? I hope the characters are fairly strong and that they look real. Hair is such a powerful thing to do, you can form character with it alone. One of my great bete noirs is I can’t bear everything to look too neat and tidy. If someone walks around on a windy day then their hair will often be broken up. Life’s like that.”
Asked to cite her own person- al favourite among her work, she ponders for a moment: “What I’m doing at the time is always my most favourite. But I guess a peri- od I particularly loved doing was 1830 for Wives And Daughters. At
night I’d be sometimes designing these weird hairstyles and I simply couldn’t sleep because I was so excited at the prospect of get- ting to work the next day.”
While her CV seems to suggest she never stops working, the reali- ty is that she keeps a very deliber- ate balance in her life between work and a “busy home life” which also involves 18-year-old twins and a large house “in the wilds of Oxfordshire.”
But now it’s business and clearly no little pleasure too on her latest collaboration with Richard Eyre, their third after Iris and Absence Of War.
“He’s divine, it’s a wonderful script and also an opportunity for
me to show off. I’d never done 1661 before and had great fun researching the period – muse- ums, National Portrait, God knows what else - finding out the shapes that work, what makes the ‘look’ of that time.
“You find out the rules for that period then you can start being a bit cheeky with the characters. But,” stresses Westcott, “you have to know what the rulebook is first before you can begin to throw it away.”
Photo main: Lisa Westcott at work on Richard Eyre’s new movie Compleat Female Stage Beauty; and scenes from I Capture The Castle and right, Wives And Daughters
1661 and all that
Award-winning hair and make-up designer Lisa Westcott talks to Quentin Falk
arts and crafts
7