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| Photograph from Make-Up Artist Magazine (2013) |
In October 1995, at a Ladies Night in a local bar in Illinois, graphic design student Tami Lane told her friend Amy Flolo that she no longer wanted to pursue a career as a graphic designer.
“I discovered after four years of emphasis in graphic design and computer work that I hated computers.” (Lane cited in Bradley University, 2013)
Flolo told her about a two-week course their university was running; which included a trip to Los Angeles and an insight into the entertainment industry. In her spare time, Lane had been providing make-up for local theatres and Halloween houses, so she immediately applied, and was accepted onto the course.
As part of the trip, the class toured make-up effects studio KNB EFX Group, where Lane met part-owner and acclaimed artist Howard Berger.
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| This photograph, taken during the studio tour, shows Berger holding a prosthetic chin up to Lane's face. Photograph from Bradley University, courtesy of Tami Lane (2013) |
The pair instantly got along, and after graduating, Lane travelled the 2000 miles from Illinois to California to pursue a career in special effects make-up.
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| Google Maps (2014) |
After persistently calling KNB, Lane gained employment there sweeping the floors, stocking shelves and cleaning clay from molds. She “learnt all the skills from the ground up,” (Riley, 2013) from mentor Berger, who also became her best friend.
Lane stayed with KNB for the next few years, working as a special make-up effects lab technician on the horror films Wishmaster (1997) and Phantoms (1998).
In 2000, Lane was taken on as a prosthetics make-up artist for special effects company Weta Workshop, and was soon creating Orcs and Dwarves in New Zealand for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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| Photograph from SheWired (2013) |
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| Photograph from Tumblr (2011) |
After wrapping on The Lord of the Rings in 2004, Lane was snapped up again by Howard Berger, who wanted her to work with him on another fantasy series; The Chronicles of Narnia, as key prosthetic make-up artist.
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| Photograph from Bradley University, courtesy of Tami Lane (2013) |
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| Photograph from Bradley University, courtesy of Tami Lane (2013) |
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| Photograph from Autostraddle (2013) |
On 5th March 2006, the pair won the Academy Award for Best Makeup for their work on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
Watch the video here
After this, Lane continued to provide special effects and prosthetic make-up for many more films, including Splice (2009), Water for Elephants (2011) and Fright Night (2011).
In 2010, Lane was asked to return to New Zealand to work on Peter Jackson’s latest Middle Earth trilogy, The Hobbit. This time however, she was prosthetics supervisor and in charge of a core team of 16, and was personally responsible for the characters Dwalin (played by Graham McTavish) and Thorin (played by Richard Armitage).
“I was in charge of the prosthetics team and getting the prosthetics done on a day-to-day basis. Weta Workshop created the pieces for us, and we prepped the raw pieces, hair-punching the eyebrows for the dwarves and that sort of thing.” Lane cited in Make-Up Artist Magazine (2013).
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| A prosthetic piece with hair punched by hand. Photograph from Bradley University, courtsey of Tami Lane (2013) |
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| Photograph from SheWired (2013) |
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| Photograph from Vanity Fair (2013) |
Her work on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) earned Lane her second Academy Award nomination in 2013, and this time, she was competing with best friend Howard Berger, who was also nominated for Hitchcock (2012). Both would eventually lose out, as the Oscar went to Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell for Les Misérables (2012).
Lane’s work can next be seen in 2014’s The Amazing Spiderman 2 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
References
- Autostraddle (2013) Tami Lane, Academy Award Nominee: The Autostraddle Interview | Autostraddle [online]. USA: Autostraddle. Available from: http://www.autostraddle.com/academy-awards-2013-tami-lane-should-win-for-best-makeup-157724/ [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Bradley University (2013) Bradley University: An unexpected journey: Tami Lane '96 makes movie magic [online]. Peoria, IL: Bradley University. Available from: http://www.bradley.edu/about/publications/hilltopics/2013spring/lane/ [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Gilchrist, T. (2013) SheWired - Meet Tami Lane, the Oscar-Nominated, Out Makeup Artist Behind 'The Hobbit' [online]. USA: SheWired. Available from: http://www.shewired.com/box-office/2013/02/22/meet-tami-lane-oscar-nominated-out-makeup-artist-behind-hobbit [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Google Maps (2014) Bradley University to Chatsworth, Los Angeles, CA, USA - Google Maps [online]. USA: Google Maps. Available from: https://maps.google.co.uk/ [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Hanel, M. (2013) Creating The Hobbit’s Oscar-Nominated Yak Beards, Hand-Painted Blood Vessels, and Glowing Elf-Skin Makeup Vanity Fair [online]. USA: Vanity Fair. Available from: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2013/02/the-hobbit-oscar-yak-hair-beard_slideshow_item5_6 [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Make-Up Artist Magazine (2013) IMATS New York 2013: Oscar Winner Tami Lane Added as Keynote: News From Make-Up Artist Magazine [online]. Vancouver: Key Publishing Group. Available from: http://makeupmag.com/news/newsID/1098/ [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Nazzaro, J. (2013) Return to Middle Earth: Peter King, Tami Lane bring Tolkien classic The Hobbit to life. Make-Up Artist Magazine no.100 pp.54-60
- Riley, J. (2013) Oscar-Winning Makeup Artist Tami Lane On Working With Actors [online]. USA: Backstage. Available from: http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/inside-job/oscar-winning-makeup-artist-tami-lane-working-actors/ [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- Tumblr (2011) Lord Of The Rings - John Rhys Davies in the makeup chair getting his [online]. USA: Tumblr. Available from: http://l-o-t-r.tumblr.com/post/2378442207/john-rhys-davies-in-the-makeup-chair-getting-his [Accessed 19th February 2014]
- YouTube (2013) The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe winning the Oscar® for Makeup - YouTube [online]. USA: Oscars YouTube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1GwAIb_Ui0 [Accessed 19th February 2014]
