That meant the hair and makeup departments were tasked not with creating exact replicas of the original cast but instead playing subtle tricks on the eyes and mind. “When doing a likeness makeup, I think it is the total sum of the smallest details that can alter your perception of the actor in front of the camera,” Sawyer says.
The hair and makeup teams often had to work on five to six actors each morning, but ultimately were able to get everyone on set within two to three hours—a huge feat given the main cast included upwards of a dozen people. The transformations in the film are uncanny, but surprisingly, their looks weren’t executed with (too many) prosthetics. Rather, Thompson and Sawyer leaned into traditional movie magic devices like clever wig application, contouring, and old-age makeup. Keep reading to learn who shaved their eyebrows, who spent hours getting their hair curled, and who sported prosthetic moles.
Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd
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Sony Pictures
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Thompson says the most difficult character for her to create was Dan Aykroyd, played by O’Brien, given the differences in their respective builds and appearances. “[Aykroyd] had a head that was massive,” Thompson says. “He was a huge, lumbering person, and Dylan is not.” While Aykroyd was 22 when SNL premiered, O’Brien was 32 while filming, which helped create the illusion of O’Brien appearing more overpowering in stature.
Thompson also notes that Aykroyd had naturally unruly hair that “appeared like a wig”— a stark contrast to O’Brien’s wavy but controlled coif—so her other primary challenge was to make O’Brien’s wig look unkempt with Aykroyd’s signature cowlicks without it distracting the audience. And it couldn’t minimize the surface area of O’Brien’s head in any way; again, that head needed to look as big as possible. Thompson also concealed O’Brien’s natural hairline to trick the eye into thinking he had a larger forehead.
Luckily, that’s where the challenges ended with O’Brien. “Dylan’s a character… He’s so much fun but incredibly professional at the same time,” Thompson says. “He walks in and seems like he’s just the cool kid on the street, but you get down to brass tacks and that kid knows exactly what he’s doing and super smart; it’s kind of no bullshit.”
Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase
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Sony Pictures
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Cory Michael Smith plays Chase’s trademark arrogance with so much flair, it’s hard not to root for him on screen (even if you don’t want to). Because Smith already looked rather similar to a young Chase, the hair department was able to recreate the latter’s distinct rectangular hairline and floppy comb-over style by zhuzhing Smith’s natural hair. “That was the main goal every morning: to get that [rectangular] shape. We had to really finesse it,” Thompson says. “And the poor guy; we had to cut his hair shorter on the top, and he had to wear [it like] that for two months, but he still managed to make it look really cute when he wasn’t shooting.”
Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman
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Sony Pictures
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Braun is the only actor to portray two iconic figures, Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson (yes, the Muppets legend), in the film, which meant he spent a lot of time in the hair and makeup trailer and that his filming schedule ensured he only shot one character a day. “[Braun] is so game for all of it, and he’s very meticulous and into all the details,” Sawyer says. “So he was a lot of fun to find the character with.”