Unveiling the work of an Oscar winner prosthetic artist
Josh Weston, 43, has worked professionally in a career spanning more than 20 years. From his first contract on tv programme ‘The Lost World’ in 2001 to Oscar and BAFTA winning success in the movie ‘Poor things’ in 2004, Josh Weston has made a career out of metamorphosis. Hollywood stars such as Willem Dafoe, Tom Hanks, Simon Pegg, Austin Butler and Jim Carrey have all been transformed by his prosthetics. Other awards include Primetime Emmy awards, the Artisan award, Cin Euphoria award and an OFTA Film Award twice. His is a glittering career.
We interviewed Josh and about his fascinating work. What inspired his designs? He said that looking at other people’s work that he had grown up with had helped him in his creations. Two of his favourites were ‘Dick Smith and Rob Baker – ‘Two pioneers in the field of what I do’.
We were curious to discover how Josh balances realism with his imaginative work. He replied that ‘Realism comes from observation which comes from a sculpture which you make by hand traditionally’.
What advancements in prosthetics has had the most impact in his work?
Josh answered that ‘Digital stuff is advancing all the time – it’s speeding up a lot of things’ and that it is ‘cutting out a few of the old techniques – life casting for instance we used to do, which is putting material on an actor’s face, but now you can do 3D scanning, and the quality of the scans are really, really good’. He then went on to explain that ‘It’s down on the time and makes things a little more comfortable for the actor if they don’t want to have a traditional life-cast.’ He finished by saying that ‘Digital stuff is getting there, so that would be the biggest advancement really.’
After that, we asked him to ‘Tell us about the moment you won your Oscar.’
He explained, ‘It was quite amazing really, because I was up against quite a good few other artists’ and that there were a ‘good few movies that year’. He also described it as ‘a big surprise’, even though he thought they had a chance because of the type of film it was. He described the movie Poor Things as ‘really well written, original,’ and that they had ‘a really good actor, William Dafoe, under the makeup.’ He ended it by saying that he ‘didn’t think we’d win, but I thought we’d get nominated, which we did obviously’ and that ‘the rest is a bit of a haze’.
What advice would he give to someone just starting out?
Josh’s advice was to ‘go down a digital route’, but ‘if you don’t want to do what I do, then obviously you need to sculpt as well. But doing both, I would say is quite important.’ He thought that ‘In 10 years’ time, [I have] no idea where this industry will be in terms of what I do – it might all be sculpted on a computer; it’s going that way, people are doing things like that. These days, there’s certain things that aren’t quite there – human touch is always the best, but it will change eventually, so get into a bit of digital as well, I would say – it adds another string to your bow.’
This is an artist of exceptional talent, who knows almost everything to do with prosthetics and other aspects of his craft. It was a privilege to have an insight into his world and to tap his immense knowledge.
Reported by Finley W and James L
