The makeup
Ivana Primovac was the makeup and hair supervisor; the wigs were by Peter Owen; the prosthetic makeup was designed by Conor O’Sullivan and Jo Allen; Elaine Offers was Julianne Moore’s makeup artist. Dr Mitchell Cassel of Studio Optix provided the aged-look contact lenses and Fangs FX provided the dental veneers that Julianne Moore wore.
Forget all the hype about Nicole Kidman’s prosthetic nose: this was the makeup from The Hours. This makeup may have been overlooked in the publicity because making Nicole look dowdy seemed a bigger story, or simply because putting Julianne Moore into old-age makeup was a late decision added in reshoots.
Whatever, this makeup was good enough to stand up to the extreme closeups used by Stephen Daldry: it deserved and should have had an Oscar nomination. Okay she may not look 80 – just how many fifty-year ageing jumps have you seen that worked in closeup – but she does look genuinely old.
