Jacqie: Honestly, I feel like film makeup people have been the cleanest compared to other departments. We’ve always used disposables and they’ve always done the actor bags but it’s the little things now. Actors can’t eat in the trailer now when they used to give them breakfast and it’s all these things that we’re just used to doing. I saw 14 people recently without masks and mentally for me I’m like, “Whoa! How many people am I doing makeup on?” you know? I’m really safe and everyone’s going to be really safe. It’s what we’re getting through now to make a movie.
MTH: Well, congratulations and good luck on the project. We hope everything stays safe.
Jacqie: Thank you. They’re doing a whole bubble thing. They are allowing us to go home on the weekends and asking to be respectful of the bubble when we’re shooting. So, we’re all practically quarantining and testing three times a week. We should be fine. It’s a little bit of a low-budget one but I just love the script and it’s based on a true story. So, I definitely want to be a part of it.
MTH: That’s exciting! Also, with a smaller set, it’s almost better because there are less people and less risk. Do you ever get scared of your creations? For example, you’re done and you take a step back and think, “Oh F**k! This is scary!” or if they walk around the corner.
Jacqie: Yeah, I’m a scaredy-cat. It’s more the sound of someone jumping out at me or those bushes at Halloween Horror nights and people jump out and I’m like, “Ahhh!” I remember doing some monster makeup (laughter) and I was doing the final touches and he leaped out at me. (laughter). I was throwing my brushes and thought, “Why would you do that?!” I want to say no, I don’t get scared but I kinda do.
MTH: That is hilarious!
Jacqie: Everyone always gets me.
MTH: Are there any upcoming projects you’re working on that you want to promote?
Jacqie: The last one I did with Bobcat Moretti. My actor friend Timothy Realbuto is in it. We’re going to film the second half of the movie in a year. It’s about the lap band surgery people get. He’s talking to a nutritionist. It’s the one Taryn Manning was on and Vivica Fox is in it. I’m so excited to see his transformation and finish that movie strong. It was a good time. I’m really excited about that one. It’s boxing too. You know, I’m part Filipino and we have Manny Pacquiao. We got to film with different boxers and it was such a fun movie and we’ve only done half of the movie. In one year we’re coming back to it.
MTH: That sounds like a great project. Looking forward to seeing it! Ok, our last traditional question is, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”
Jacqie: My favorite scary movie…this is a really good question! The Exorcist! I was little when I watched it and it just scared the crap out of me. I would replay in my mind where the girl’s head spins around. The only other one that gets me is Fire in the Sky. I can’t say that’s my favorite because that one scared the sh*t out of me. I was so scared my dad told me to leave the area and I was watching behind the couch. An alien was throwing this goop on him! That one til this day and The Fourth Kind. Anything that has that realistic alien I will not do. But little cute aliens I don’t mind but anything like The Fourth Kind with those eyes and stuff. Those and Poltergeist really scared me.
MTH: (Charlene) I’m with you on The Exorcist. I saw that movie when I was 10 years old and I had nightmares for 6 months because first of all…
Jacqie: Yeah, I was trying to be a good girl! The devil’s going to come into my room and make the bed shake!
MTH: (Charlene) Yes! I had never seen anything like that before. My parents wouldn’t let me watch horror movies. I was at a sleepover at a friend’s house and the Dad rented Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Exorcist for a bunch of 10-year-old girls. I didn’t know what to do with myself and then I thought, “Is that going to happen to me? Am I going to get possessed?”
Jacqie: That’s exactly it! I remember asking my parents, “If something gets in me are you going to still love me?” (laughter) It says based on a true story. I wasn’t able to see horror movies like you as a child but I saw cheesy ones and was never scared and when we were allowed to sit down and watch The Exorcist my mind was just blown and it was like my first real, “Okay, are you sure you want to watch it?”
MTH: (Daniel) When I was a kid we went to the premiere of Little Monsters, the Fred Savage movie, and Howie Mandell told me how he put the makeup on, the horns, the glue, and it was all fake. So, from then on anytime I saw a horror movie I just thought, “Oh, that’s just makeup. That’s special effects. It’s just an actor under make-up and I was able to watch it because he explained it to me I was able to be like, “Okay, it’s fake.”
Jacqie: Do you feel that ruined your thing with horror movies getting terrified?
MTH: (Daniel) It changed it because then it wasn’t about watching a horror movie to be scared. It was watching it to see the effects and the monsters because I appreciated them. I always knew I wanted to be an actor as a kid. So, I appreciated that it was an actor putting on a performance and I was able to just enjoy it as a movie and having it look cool versus being scared.
Jacqie: That’s the fun thing. Working at Universal Horror Nights and going through The Exorcist maze…if I went through this when I was little…
MTH: (Charlene) Oh, forget it!
Jacqie: I wish Universal would do this for all their hard-core fans, if you could ever walk through a maze during the day to see the details of everything. I got to do that for A Werewolf in London. That was the animatronic werewolves. I went through it once taking my time strolling and someone was in the werewolf costume and I dropped. They get me so good because they know I’m a jumper.
MTH: That’s so funny! That’s a badge of honor to scare the makeup artists. Thank you so much for joining us!
Jacqie: Thank you too!
MTH: Be safe on set and have fun!
Jacqie: I’m excited to get back to work. I’m nervous but I love it.
For more on Jacqueline Holden or to book her go to jacquelineholdenmakeupartist.com. Find her on Instagram @makeupbyjacqie.
Thank you for doing this interview Charlene & Daniel. Makeup artists are a very important piece in the filmmaking process and rarely get the spotlight they deserve. I really enjoyed reading about Jacqueline’s journey. Also, I think it’s very cool Daniel that you got to be a zombie for George Romero’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
Thanks J!
Jacqueline is great and so talented and totally agree! Make-up artists are such a pivotal part of the movie-making process especially in horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. re: Daniel. That was so cool! I had to work and was sad I couldn’t be there but so excited for him and hearing about the process.