As soon as the first Bombshell teaser dropped, many were ready to claim Charlize Theron's performance as a great feat of transformative acting. She had become Megyn Kelly. That people were saying this after having only seen a couple of pointed glances and a tense smile left me perplexed. Were people reacting to the acting or the makeup? Still thinking about Theron, one remembers how she sailed to an Oscar in 2003 but Monster didn't receive a much deserving companion Best Makeup nomination. Sure, that performance is incredible, but part of the transformation is the cosmetic wizardry of the makeup brush rather than the virtuosity of the actress.
When it comes to "transformative performances", a lot of people conflate great acting with great makeup. This is especially true when it comes to the recreation of real-life characters and is also a discredit both to the work of the actor and of the makeup team. If the deed is done correctly, the two parts of the transfiguration will work symbiotically, but sometimes equilibrium fails to manifest. There are those actors who let the makeup do all the work but still reap the spoils of awards glory. With that in mind, I invite you all to peruse a dozen of Oscar nominated performances from the past 20 years and answer the following question: Are these examples of GREAT ACTING or GREAT MAKEUP...
Rami Malek in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
Neither good makeup or good acting.
Christian Bale in VICE
Good acting, great makeup.
Sam Rockwell in VICE
Mediocrity all around, though the makeup is at least technically impressive.
Gary Oldman in DARKEST HOUR
Letting the great Makeup do most of the work, though there's a lot of shouting too.
Steve Carell in FOXCATCHER
A grotesque performance and an uncanny feat of makeup.
Daniel Day-Lewis in LINCOLN
Both great, but only the acting was recognized by the Academy.
Meryl Streep in THE IRON LADY
Inconsistently good performance, consistently great makeup.
Marion Cotillard in LA VIE EN ROSE
Perfect and both the work of the actress and the makeup team won awards in recognition of that perfection.
Charlize Theron in MONSTER
A great performance greatly helped by miraculous makeup. Still, only Theron got the Oscar.
Nicole Kidman in THE HOURS
Good acting and distracting makeup.
Jon Voight in ALI
Nice makeup does all the work but gets none of the glory. Mediocre Oscar-nominated performance.
Willem Dafoe in SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE
Both are great in a scary way. Thankfully, both aspects of the transformation were justly nominated.