Episode 36: We speak with Prosthetic Makeup Designer Mark Coulier, Mark is the winner of 2 Oscars and Baftas, Marks resume is a long list of incredible projects, we will touch on a few in this episode but I am sure it will leave you wanting to know more. We chat about his start in the industry, collaborating with so many amazing artists over the years and what projects he has coming up..
MARK COULIER
Mark Coulier is creative director of one of Europe’s leading make-up effects companies, Coulier Creatures FX.
OSCAR AND BAFTA WINNER 2014 for best make-up, for his work on Tilda Swinton on Grand Budapest Hotel, and OSCAR AND BAFTA WINNER 2012 for best make-up, for his work on ‘The Iron Lady’, transforming Meryl Streep into Margaret Thatcher.
In 2000 he received an Emmy award for ‘Arabian Nights’ and another nomination for ‘Jason and the Argonauts’.
In 1999 he received an Emmy award for the mini-series ‘Merlin’.
Mark Coulier started his career back in 1987 and worked as a freelance sculptor and make-up artist for all the major effects companies in London. His all round knowledge of processes, ability to create characters from the ground up and take them right through to completion, and organizational skills soon lead him to be hired as a key on projects such as ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Event Horizon, Alien III, Star Wars: Episode 1, The Mummy, Mummy Returns, The Fifth Element amongst others.
In 2000 Mark accepted a key roll in Nick Dudman’s creature dept on the first Harry Potter movie. Who would know then that this would extend over a period of 10 years and 7 movies with Mark overseeing the creation of Lord Voldemort and other memorable characters such as the inflating Aunt Marge and many others.
During this time Mark also managed to fit in several films as Prosthetic Make-up Designer such as Danny Boyle’s ‘Sunshine’, and several TV series, from ‘Little Britain’, ‘Come Fly With Me’ and the ongoing ‘Merlin’ which has just finished it’s fifth and final series. In 2011 Mark was busier than ever before, creating prosthetics for Ralph Fienne’s directorial debut ‘Corialanus’, and two of the most creatively challenging and rewarding projects of his career to date:
‘The Iron Lady’: Prosthetic make-up designer
‘WWZ’: Prosthetic make-up designer, creating an army of Zombies in the Brad Pitt blockbuster.
Coulier Creatures FX then went on to recreate the horrific burn injuries suffered by Niki Lauda in the Ron Howard movie ‘RUSH’ a story about the rivalry betweem Hunt and Lauda for the 1976 Formula 1 Grand Prix Championship. This was closely followed by the long awaited Nelson Mandela biopic ‘Long Walk To Freedom’ creating character make-ups and ageing these characters over a 30yr period.
Mark gets the greatest enjoyment out of the challenges that projects like this bring and is looking forward to new projects that will excite the company and get their creative juices flowing.
To see other projects Mark has worked on visit: IMDB or Instagram