Aging actors via practical FX makeup is not new ground for the Terminator series, as the franchise has always dealt with the future – or showing us the outcome of certain life-changing events.
The first make-up artist to utilise aging in the Terminator franchise was Jeff Dawn, in collaboration with Stan Winston Studio, who handled the prosthetic applications for Dawn to work with. As with Bill Corso’s work on T:DF, the work Jeff Dawn did was great but just like CGI characters – it can sometimes go into uncanny valley territory and feel off, some things just can’t fool the human brain… not yet anyway but technology in the practical effects and digital effects fields have come a long way since 1991.
AGED Sarah Connor – Terminator 2: Judgment Day
In the special edition of Terminator 2: Judgment Day a deleted ending was restored showing that the future was saved, and an older Sarah Connor reflects on events as she watches her son John Connor (a US senator) playing in the park with his daughter.
The future war was indeed averted.
AGED John Connor – Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The aging process was repeated on Actor Nick Stahl, to show a victorious General John Connor stood atop a destroyed Aerial Hunter Killer whilst surrounded by his Resistance soldiers.
Another flash-forward was also filmed with an aged Kathryn Brewster (Claire Danes) and aged John (Stahl) but it hit the cutting-room floor and has not been seen since.
AGED ‘The Commander’ Dani Ramos – Terminator: Dark Fate
The storytellers and “world builders” of Terminator: Dark Fate wanted to show a key plot point in the future when Grace (Mackenzie Davis) offers her life to go back and save the young Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes).
This sequence required an Aged Dani Ramos to help sell the scene.
Bill Corso worked in collaboration with Legacy Effects for the casts/prosthetics this time around, matching a process going back to the Terminator roots with Stan Winston and his studio delivering some of the best visual effects in Hollywood.
Makeup artist Bill Corso gave fans a glimpse of his make-up work on “The Commander” via his personal Instagram.
Bill Corso said:
The scene described by Corso was of course leaked online from the special features of the home release of Terminator: Dark Fate.
What do you think of the age makeup in Terminator: Dark Fate and the other Terminator movies (T2/T3)? Leave a comment…
(Take our poll) Which Terminator age makeup do you find most believable?
Source: Bill Corso
@terminator Dark Fate is now out to own on all media. Here’s a makeup that got lost in the editing process. Our heroine Dani( the beautiful Natalia Reyes), now 25 years later, in a subtle age makeup as ‘the Commander’. This was for a flash forward in which Grace tells her beloved Commander that she wants to be the one to travel back and protect the young Dani. I modeled her look on Salma Hayek who was the same age as we wanted her to be and Salma still looks great ( minus scars) Here you’ll see the final look, before, roughed sculpt of appliances and the my approved Photoshop design. #terminator #makeup #design #art #age #concept #prosthetics
*If you use any of the images of Natalia Reyes as Dani Ramos in this post please give credit and link back to Bill Corso’s Instagram.
9 Comments
They all look kinda bad. Linda made a decent grandma in T2 I guess, so I like that one best if anything.
Dark Fate is bad, but this cut-out Reyes’ age effect is definitely the best. Linda’s age effect is poor in comparison, but also it was harder to show her 30-40 years older. Old Stahl looks like young Doc Brown
They should have invested more money in the script and not in the FX.
I think they should have invested less money in the script and keep the FX effects, which were decent. Too many cooks spoil the food, it’s an old saying. This movie was a typical marketing investment with no soul involved, dozens of unnecessary paycheck grabbers involved – normal nowadays in movies and music
I think you both mean the same thing.
They should have focuesed more on the story, less on the FX.
T1 is the best example: not a big budget movie but a lot of soul in it.
Less financial risk = more freedom in storytelling.
je suis d’accord ! le plus important c’est l’histoire le script, les efftes ne doivent pas avoir un si gros budget !
It looks like a zombie. Understandable that it was deleted.
I want to put it in other words:
What did Kyle Reese say to Sarah Connor in T1 when she asked about John Connor?
It inspires confidence. When I see the photo for the article, I have a lot of pity for the poor person that does not fit in Terminator -verse.
Pour moi ca se joue à pas grand chose entre sarah et dani mais je pense que sarah ils l’ont un peu trop viellis que Dani vu qu’elle est jeune l’on viellis plus donc on voit plus ou moins la différence du viellissement sans trop que ce soit poussé !
Ils auraient dû mettre l’argent sur le scénario et le script plutôt que les effets visuels ! l’âme du film est le plus important pour le téléspéctateur.