Turning evil into something beautiful was the job of Toni G, the makeup artist responsible for Angelina Jolie’s strikingly fierce look as the villainess Maleficent in this month’s Sleeping Beauty reboot. “Maleficent is so magical and scary, yet she has a beauty about her,” says Toni G. “Besides her prosthetics, her eyes were the perfect way to bring her to life. I was very inspired by the beautiful green, blue and yellow shades of the Labradrite stone.”
To celebrate the release of the film, she and Academy Award-winning makeup artist Rick Baker, her partner on set, teamed up with MAC Cosmetics to produce a Maleficent collection for recreating Jolie’s bold beauty look off screen—to be fair, Maleficent is the most glamorous evil queen we know of—and making it as subtle or intense as you wish. “The eye shadow palette is perfect for transitioning your makeup from day to night,” she explains. “For daytime, use the lighter shades to create a soft, natural look. Then amplify it for evening using the darker hues.”
To get a closer look at the process of turning Jolie into the film’s evil star, Baker spoke with DuJour about creating Maleficent’s signature style—including her trademark horns—for the role.
Maleficent is one of the most famous of the Disney animated villains. What was it like to bring the character to life?
It’s intimidating. We chose to rethink the look rather than redesign it, and because the title role was played by Angie, I thought the look of the character should reflect her own overall style. She had specific ideas about it and I worked with her to bring them to life. For example, it was actually her idea to add prosthetics.
How much time was spent crafting Maleficent’s legendary horns?
The horns were created over a period of two months. We did at least six different versions of various sculptures and spent a lot of time trying to find the most practical way to get them on and off.
With all the trial and error, were there just a ton of horns on set?
The horns were very thin and fragile, so we had to make many replacements for Angelina. We also had different kinds of rigs for mounting them on her head. Some sets were even attached with magnets. We also made pairs for stunts, so they were flexible and wouldn’t break. In the end, we probably made about 50 sets of horns.
And they look like they could be heavy.
We actually never made a heavy pair of horns. From day one I decided that we had to make them as light as possible and easily removable. That was a big challenge. There is a VacuForm skullcap that goes on her head. It’s held in with pins.
Products clockwise from top: Maleficent #36 Lashes, Maleficent Eye Brows in Fling, Maleficent Nail Lacquer in Nocturnelle, Maleficent Eye Shadow x 4 and Maleficent Lipstick in True Love’s Kiss
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