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| BELOW, FROM TOP: Tom Weston-Jones, Kyle Schmid (RIGHT) and Franka Potente (LEFT) and Kiara Glasco in 'Copper'
All photos © BBC AMERICA/Cineflix (Copper) Inc.
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Mayhem in Manhattan: Bringing 'Copper' to life |
Posted: Thursday September 06, 2012
Joe Nazzaro
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It’s 1864, and New York City is still recovering from the Draft Riots of the previous year. In the slums of Five Points, Detective Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones) and his fellow police officers struggle to maintain order in the notorious immigrant neighborhood where violent crime is a way of life.
That, in a nutshell, is the premise of Copper, a gritty new police drama airing on BBC America. Created by Tom Fontana and Will Rokos and produced by Barry Levinson, Fontana and Rokos, the pilot episode of the series recently gave the channel its highest-rated premiere to date.
 Creating a realistic-looking period drama was a formidable task, which fell to key make-up artist Linda Dowds, who came aboard just two weeks before the start of principal photography. “I love period,” claimed Dowds, “so one of the things I wanted to do was be as authentic as possible and really go beyond what had been done before. I did a lot of research, even finding a professor who had written books on prostitution, specifically one about 1864 New York, which was really fortuitous, so authenticity was the principal thing I was looking for.
“The other element I wanted was to add as much dirt and grime as possible. Five Points was a really dirty place, where people lived in filthy hovels without access to bathing facilities. There were oil lamps everywhere that created a griminess that became embedded, so it was a combination of all those factors, plus what they did at work if they even managed to get a job. I didn’t want the upper-crust characters to be pristine-looking either, so with the character of [Manhattan aristocrat] Morehouse [BELOW], for example, he was into opium and went to  those dens of iniquity, but even being exposed to oil lamps would leave a film on your face, so I wanted those people to look not as put-together all the time. It was a dirty place, and a difficult time to live.”
Male actors were told to start growing their facial hair as soon as they were cast, which helped give the make-up department a head start on period looks. “I also got in touch with Sarah Weatherburn in London who does brilliant facial hair,” Dowds continued, “because I wanted to put together a cross-section of quality pieces to pick and choose from. If somebody came in and didn’t have their facial hair set, we had some beautiful pieces to add, which was really helpful.
“What also ended up happening was because we were shooting sequentially, as the characters evolved throughout the series, their hair grew longer and their beards got thicker and rattier. I feel that if people like the look of the first couple of episodes, they only get better as we go along.”
For some of the bigger crowd days, Dowds quite literally had her hands full as her department transformed scores of Toronto extras into 19th-century New Yorkers. “I had a great team that really liked doing period work,” she noted, “but we also had a bunch of background performers who stayed with us consistently, so that was helpful as well. (continued below)
“As I mentioned earlier, I wanted the dirt and grime to be really embedded and not just freshly applied, so I made up all of those materials myself. I wanted to maintain good skin on everybody and I wanted them to know that it mattered what we were putting on their skin, so the products I made were all from organic materials and natural pigments. They had a real sheen and texture to them, so that was the real appeal for me.”
While the makers of Copper wait for a decision on future installments of the series, Dowds is happy with what she and her team created in season one. “I’m glad we were able to make people dirty or grimy and with no make-up,” she said, “and our cast really embraced that. I’m really proud of the overall look and how our department was able to contribute to that. And I think the show only gets better as it goes on.”
Copper airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on BBC America and 9 p.m. on Showcase. The DVD/Blu-Ray release is scheduled for Oct. 30, 2012.
FROM LEFT: Ato Essandoh, Kyle Schmid and Tom Weston-Jones in Copper
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Tanya Fischer in Copper
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Joe Nazzaro |
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Back in the Make-up Groove |
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Make-up Around the World |
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In a World ... |
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Fine Form |
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International Man of Make-up |
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Sultry Summer |
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