How Bodysuits Are Designed To Look Realistic In Movies & TV [Video]

Bodysuits let actors go through physical transformations that they couldn’t easily make on their own, from gaining weight to gaining muscle to being pregnant. Bodysuits don’t have to look very realistic if they are covered by clothes, but if the actor’s stomach or chest is exposed, then they will have to trick the viewers. For “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” legendary special makeup effects artist Kevin Yagher of Kevin Yagher Productions Inc. created muscle and fat suits for actors Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. To make the muscle suits look real, Yagher and his team sculpted subtle veins and used an airbrush to paint on skin details like pores. They used silicone for the skin, as the material is translucent the same way human skin is, and foam latex underneath to help it move like a real body. Meanwhile, a realistic fat suit needs some jiggle to it. After working on the Nicolas Cage movie “Adaptation,” Yagher learned that stuffing a fake paunch with beads is the best way to make it bounce.

[Insider]