Oscar Nominee Barney Burman On Trek Make-up
2 min readBarney Burman, nominated for an 2010 Academy Award for his make-up work on Star Trek XI explained how he got the needed make-up work done for Star Trek XI in a short time frame.
Burman had worked with J.J. Abrams before on Mission: Impossible 3 and when filming began on Star Trek XI, he let Abrams know that he was interested in working on the rebooted Star Trek.
“I was thrilled to have worked with J.J. again,” said Burman. “My team and I were recreating Star Trek, so it meant a great deal to all of us. We were all just so appreciative of the old series, and excited to be part of reinventing it. We all really gave our all, and put our hearts and souls into our make-up effects for that project.”
Once work began, Burman had to get much done with not much time in which to do it. “Our work on the new Trek had to be done in a ridiculously short amount of time, and with a laughably small budget,” according to Burman. “We had a thirteen week prep, when the scope of the project called for at least six months. So my crew and I worked round the clock for those thirteen weeks, continuing on for the five months of shooting.”
His work included creating a dozen “Hero” alien make-ups, a dozen foreground masks, and a dozen other masks for deeper background. Elaborate alien make-up for Alnschloss K’Bentayr (Kasia Kowalczky) required 42 straight hours of work by Burman and team.
About The Author
