Scene Stealer: Turning Frank Langella into Richard Nixon for ‘Frost/Nixon’

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Though the greatest special effect of ‘Frost/Nixon’ came from Frank Langella’s haunting ability to channel the essence of disgraced former president Richard Nixon, he did have some help from hair and make-up. Hairstylist Colleen Callaghan used old pictures of Nixon and a 1977 cover of Time magazine, in particular, to work with wig-maker Favian Wigs by Natascha in recreating the exact wave of the president’s hair. The $5,000 wig, which was made from real human hair, was applied to the actor in a 45-minute process that ended with Langella transforming himself internally. ‘Toward the end [of the application], he would start to pull into Nixon,’ Callaghan says. ‘On the set, everyone addressed him as Mr. President.’

The second key aspect to Langella’s appearance was his nose, a gelatin-mold created by makeup artist David Anderson. ‘I created five different noses,’ Anderson says. ‘Choice 1 was basically Langella’s nose with two bumps. Choice 5 was a full-blown Nixon nose, but it looked a little gross on Frank’s face.’ The production went with Choice 4 -- something just shy of the full-size presidential schnoz. The challenge was keeping the set cool enough. ‘If his body temp got too high,’ Anderson said, ‘the nose would melt.’ Tricky indeed.

-- Patrick Kevin Day