The Nutty Professor

In 1996, the Nutty professor was made, Rick Baker was the make-up artist for the film. Prosthetics were still being used for horror during this time but it was also being used now for sci-fi. Like the godfather, prosthetics were used to change Eddies look, according to what character he was playing from the Klump family.

To do the make-up face and body cast was done of Eddie Murphy, they then made a rubber suit out of light weight polyurethane foam that was hand carved into the appropriate shape and then covered in a spandex skin, so it would move under his clothes. Parts of the suit was filled with water and cellulose to make the movements of the suit look realistic under his clothes. A second suit was create for scenes were Sherman’s upper torso was exposed, this suit was made to look as realistic as possible, to do this Rick Baker modelled the body after a local young man, that was then moulded into a shell. This body was made out of silicone, the hands were made as separate appliances from silicone, to fit Murphy’s hands like gloves. (The Nutty Professor Behind the scenes Rick Baker, Youtube, 2013)

Making the different characters were challenging as they weren’t being modelled after a creature but people, every aspect of these prosthetics had to be believable for Eddie to portray the different members of the Klump family. Plastercine was used to build up the appropriate structures for each character; it would have been built up on Murphy’s face casts. Negative moulds were made of the plastercine moulds, when they were set, the moulds would be cleaned of the clay and the space that was left was then filled with foam rubber and then baked. It would then be removed and the appliance would be ready to apply on the skin.

To apply the top of the bust, a plastic bag was put over Murphy’s head, this helps the 1 piece prosthetic to slide over the head without ripping. Instead of using sprit gum, the old fashioned adhesive, Baker used the medical adhesive glue also known as pros aid, stating from the middle of the appliance, working his way to the edges, the edges were made paper thin, this was to help blend the piece into the skin. (The Nutty Professor Behind the scenes Rick Baker, Youtube, 2013)

The colouring of the prosthetics were a big part of the process, many different colours were used to colour the appliances, this was to show all the different colours, tones and pigments in the skin.

To create the dramatic weight change, latex bladders were glued on Eddies face and on very thin foam rubber piece were put on top of that, air would be inflating the bladders. To create the extremely swollen lip, Baker used silicone, made on a denture that could be clipped on to his own teeth, this would mean that a casting of Eddie’s teeth would have been done to achieve the bottom lip. One of the most extreme transformation that happened with the help of an appliances was when the bottom half of his face drops and become extremely large. The technique that was used is called morphing, this is when the first shoot is of the actor and the last shoot is of the completed change. CG effects would then be used to create the morph in between.

The main reason for developing new techniques and materials is because make up artists want to make their creations look ultrarealistic; at the same time, it's important to make sure the actor isn't heavily affected by wearing a prosthetic, so their acting isn't impeded. There is a trend with respect to time for how human prosthetic pieces look. In the past, make up artists aimed to create creature like monsters as far from humanly possible. In recent times, it seems to more prominent for make up artists to transform one person into another, while looking completely different. Hence these changes came about to facilitate this more natural transformation (albeit prosthetics are still used for creature like work).