Viola Davis is no stranger to power-packed performances in her career. The Oscar winner has proved time and again that no role is too challenging for her. Over the years, Davis has played many memorable characters in various genres. Her latest role as the chilling antagonist Dr Volumnia Gaul in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is earning her accolades around the world.
Getting into the physicality of the character though, proved to be a daunting task for The Help actor. Davis confessed that there was an arduous amount of time spent on her makeup and prosthetics that were required to embody Dr Volumnia Gaul. This also became a daily dose of severe physical pain for the star.
Viola Davis Endured Hell For Her Role In The Hunger Games Prequel
Through her arresting performance, Hollywood star Viola Davis showed why she was the perfect choice to play the dangerous Dr Volumnia Gaul in the recently released The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The role of the Head Gamemaker in the prequel also required the star to endure a lot of physical pain especially when it came to nailing the look of the character.
Davis, in an appearance in The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, revealed the torturous times she had in the makeup chair, which also included fitting of prosthetics to give a unique look to the character. Recalling the torrid days on set, The Woman King actor said,
“The Hunger Games makeup took hours. And then it took maybe 45 minutes to take it off. And the hardest part to take off was the nose. I mean, it was so hard that the makeup artists literally had to brace their feet and just pull it. It was like an a**l probe”
Despite the pain that she tolerated every day, Davis was grateful that she was given the opportunities to play characters that she could go crazy with, and take her performances to the next level.
Viola Davis Requested This Physical Change To Dr Volumnia Gaul
Oscar winner Viola Davis went through a lot of challenges in the makeup chair to perfectly personify the fearful antagonist Dr Volumnia Gaul in The Hunger Games prequel. Apart from her excellent performance, fans across the world also lauded her character’s physicality and look. A chunk of credit for that should also go to Davis herself, who had some opinions about Dr Gaul’s physical features.
Director Francis Lawrence revealed that Davis requested the makeup department to change the color of her character’s eyes, with one being a hazy dark brown, and the other, a piercing blue, possibly from a failed experiment. This, she felt, would add that manic and unhinged element to the role. The lead makeup designer, in an interview to People, elaborated on why the actor was spot on with her judgment, and how this small detail elevated her performance multifold.
“Between the hair, the costume, that eye, it really just took her to a scary place. Then you throw in her acting — I mean, come on. You could have heard a pin drop when she would walk [on set].”
With this valuable input to her character, Viola Davis proved that she was not only a brilliant actor, but also possessed a keen cinematic sense that allowed her to look at the bigger picture.
