We’ve all wondered what it would be like living with scissor-hands. Personally I’d be using mine all the time to open my Amazon packages. Cutting zip ties and emergency tracheotomies would be a heck of a lot easier as well, though of course there’d be alot of drawbacks. Still, it’s one of those things you fantasize about no matter how impractical it would be.
After pondering the question for far too long, I started thinking about poor Johnny Depp. After all, he’s probably the only guy who’s worn scissors on his hands for the better part of a three month film shoot, even if they were prosthetics (there may be some dedicated cosplayers out there listening to “Ice Dance” right now who’ve beaten that record).
Naturally, this made me curious about the prosthetics, and, as usually happens here at Monsters of Makeup, I decided to do a little research. To be honest there’s precious little information out there on the actual makeup used for Edward Scissorhands. I’ve done my best though. After visiting some decrepit gothic mansions, being thrown from a window, and selling some Avon products, this is the account I’ve pieced together.
Cryptic Doodling
In the book Burton on Burton, Tim Burton explains that his original idea for Eddie came from a drawing he did when he was a teenager:
“The idea (for Edward) actually came from a drawing I did a long time ago. It was just an image that I liked. It came subconsciously and was linked to a character who wants to touch but can’t, who was both creative and destructive— those sort of contradictions can create a kind of ambivalence. It was very much linked to that feeling….It had to do with relationships. I just felt I couldn’t communicate. It was the feeling that your image and how people perceive you are at odds with what is inside you, which is a fairly common feeling….So the idea had to do with image and perception.”
One of these drawings may be Tim Burton’s original sketch for Edward. A Google search for “Edward Scissorhands original drawing” or something similar will turn up all three.
The drawing on the far left and the one in the middle are both included in Burton on Burton when Burton discusses the original drawing. However, neither is specified as the original. The middle drawing presents Edward in his suburban clothes very similar to how he looks in the final film, so it’s likely this could be a concept sketch Burton drew for the costume department during filming, but I’m merely speculating.
The drawing on the far right was included in the Tim Burton exhibit that ran in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2011, though it is dated “1990” in the exhibit. Since this is the year the film was released, it could mean the drawing is a piece created by Burton during filming that he could use for reference.
Most articles I’ve read on the topic use (most often) one of these sketches to depict Burton’s “original drawing”, so I’m presenting all the information just so you’re aware. I mean, who wants to take their original Tim Burton drawing down to Michael’s to be framed, only to find out that it might not be original? Might as well order a Sleepy Hollow movie poster and be done with it.
Blend, and blend, and blend…
After working with Burton on Beetlejuice, makeup artist Ve Neill was brought on to create Edward’s pale visage. Suburbia is a big place, so she assembled a crew of additional makeup artists to help. Matthew Mungle, who later won an Oscar for his work on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, became Neill’s assistant with the Edward makeup.
Other artists who no doubt exclaimed “DARN. THIS. STUFF!” while filming include Rick Stratton, Brad Wilder, Selena Miller, Andy Schoneberg, and Dave Grasso.
From costume department to makeup chair, the process of turning Depp into Edward took an hour and 45 minutes each day. The makeup used for Edward’s face doesn’t seem to be specified anywhere. Most likely Ve Neill used foundation to create the pallid complexion, with a powder to keep it in place.
The scars were made of foam and had to be glued on individually. Ve Neill apparently wasn’t a fan of the scar’s quality, saying in a retrospective interview that she was given “these little wormy foam scars which were really crappy.” She went on to say that if she could go back and tweak any one of the makeups she has done it would be the scars on Edward’s face. Let’s just hope nobody goes all George Lucas on us and CGI’s scars onto poor Eddie’s face.
According to one source, Tim Burton didn’t make Johnny Depp shave his eyebrows for the role, and makeup appliances were instead used to cover them up. This could be the case, since most of the behind the scenes photos show Ve Neill starting the makeup process directly on Depp’s eyebrow ridge.
Black lipstick gives Edward his darkly charming smile. His lips start out darker near the beginning of the film, become lighter as he integrates into his new surroundings, then go dark again once the townspeople turn on him. It could have been a conscious decision to express his light and dark moods, or maybe the lipstick just needed to be heavier in the gloomy castle scenes so it would show up on film. Either way, goth kids are getting some invaluable beauty tips.
In true Tim Burton tradition, dark eyeshadow was generously used. During filming, Ve Neill and Johnny Depp found that they could subtly change Edward’s expression by adjusting the shape of the dark circles around his eyes. When he’s in a lighter mood, his eyes are framed in a way that emphasizes an innocent gaze, with “sharper” angles. When he kills Jim (Anthony Michael Hall), his eyeshadow is fuller, a bit more rounded, and drawn further down to create a much more manic look.
You Look Rather Slashing
Once you’ve given life to an emotionless killer like the Terminator, it’s nice to help create an emotional one like Edward. Designer Stan Winston was hired to construct the prosthetic hands, the first of two collaborations with Tim Burton. According to the Stan Winston School website, it’s Winston who’s responsible for the idea of Edward’s hands being actual scissors instead of just metal blades.
If you look more closely at the early drawings of Edward, you’ll notice that the fingers do appear to just be long metal blades. Tim Burton is reported to have said:
“I didn’t think he’d actually have scissors for fingers. I thought they’d just be long sharp pieces of metal that weren’t finished – but this is much better!”
Tim Burton and Stan Winston make an interesting combo. Burton’s misfit and sometimes “kooky” style has become a staple of imaginative artwork, while Winston always took a more practical approach to design. When discussing the scissor-hands, Winston said “…it was an interesting challenge, because I had to dispense with reality, which is very difficult for me. My designs, and what we do in the studio, have a tendency to really go for what is real.”
If you’re the type who encourages others to dispense with reality once in awhile, you probably get some funny looks (I once pretended to be Captain America in front of a no-nonsense lady and she didn’t appreciate it at all). Now when you come across people who don’t seem to grasp your less-than-serious outlook on life, you can point to Edward Scissorhand’s scissor-hands and say “See what happens when you leave reality behind for a bit?” They still might not get it, but I digress.
Winston and his team created several versions of Eddie’s bladed digits, with the primary sets being made of resin. The resin was then vacuum-metalized with aluminum to look like steel (vacuum-metalizing is a process that allows you to coat a thin layer of metal onto a non-metallic surface). A mechanical pair of hands made of real steel were also crafted, which were operated by puppeteers in the hedge-cutting sequences. These hands were sharp and according to Winston “actually could cut.”
Early in the production, a pair of scissor-hands were made for Johnny Depp so he could take them home and experiment doing everyday activities. I’m willing to bet he tried at least once to go to the bathroom while wearing those babies.
Leather Everlasting
Edward’s goth-chic was assembled by Colleen Atwood, who made her “Burton debut” on Edward Scissorhands. She said that when the film was made it was tougher to find quality materials in the industry than it is now, especially for leather. So, while in New York, she went hunting.
“What I did for Edward, what I often do, is I go out and look for materials, I have a vague idea of what I want, and at that time there were still all these leather shops on Orchard Street, so I went and found bits of leather and put them together. Going out on the street and digging around is still kind of a thought provoking part of the process for me.”
She used parts from old machinery and vinyl that she found in these shops, adding “I pulled a lot from the 19th century.” Due to the limited amount of material, only two costumes were made along with one stunt costume that Atwood describes as “really janky.”
The combined efforts to transform Depp into our beloved Mr. Scissorhands netted an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup at the 63rd Academy Awards. The award went to Dick Tracy. That movie deserved it on a technical level, but on a personal level there’s probably no award out there that could properly crown the achievements of Edward Scissorhands.
Colleen Atwood said about the costume “I wasn’t really going for a period. I was going for timelessness, a world more than a period.” Honestly, you could take these words and apply it to pretty much any part of Edward’s character. Edward’s enduring charm goes beyond 25th anniversary Blu-rays or 30th Anniversary merchandise (though that stuff is still pretty cool). We all have some outsider in us. That’s why we continue to think of him as our timeless misfit, our oddball, our epitome of the misunderstood individual. Or is that Tim Burton…?
Monster Merch
Need to add more Edward stuff to your collection? Probably not, but it’s fun to look anyway. These are affiliate links, so any commissions I may receive will be used to purchase new wallpaper for the Bogg’s family bathroom.
