Olivia Colman's badger make-up inspired by Blade Runner

25 January 2019

Olivia Colman's "badger" make-up in 'The Favourite' was inspired by Daryl Hannah in 'Blade Runner'.

Olivia Colman

In the movie, Olivia's character, Queen Anne, is accused of looking "like a badger" by Rachel Weisz's character, and Nadia Stacey - the head make-up artist of Yargos Lanthimos' comedy-drama film - how now revealed the look "kind of originated" from Daryl's character Pris in the iconic movie.

In an interview with Vogue magazine, she said: "I actually hadn't initially known that it was in the script, so then I had to suddenly start thinking: badger make-up.

"I've always loved the make-up on Daryl Hannah in 'Blade Runner', and so that was kind of where it originated.

"There were a lot of stripes in the outfits, in the flooring, in the decor, and then badgers obviously have stripes, and so that all sort of made it into the look. No reference was too bizarre in a Yorgos world!"

The acclaimed film - which also stars Emma Stone - tells the story of two cousins vying for the attention of Queen Anne.

Nadia explained that the film's director wanted "very little make-up" on Olivia, 44, Rachel, 48, and 30-year-old Emma as they were "strong female leads".

She said: "They wore very, very little make-up. At one point I did a sort of 'no make-up' make-up on Emma, and Yorgos sent her back to me.

"There were times we cheated a tiny bit - I can admit this now, it's too late to get told off for it - but generally it was very stripped back and there wasn't a moment where any one of the three asked for more.

"They were just these strong female leads, and I never wanted make-up to be a barrier to that."