Lured by the horror of it all

Tami Lane

Special effects / prosthetic

makeup artist

Current credits: On-set makeup artist for the mutant-laden horror film “The Hills Have Eyes 2,” shot in Quarzazate, Morocco; filming “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” in Auckland, New Zealand.

Previously: “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Superman Returns,” “John Carpenter’s Vampires.” Oscar in 2006 for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

Job description: Executes and supervises makeup that is created by makeup designers.

Creating a mutant: “The characters were created and sculpted in L.A., but there is always a bit of finesse, like wounds, that you kind of add. We shot a lot of the stuff in daylight, so we had to be very particular about the coloring of the mutants. Some of the mutants we changed on the day per the director’s wishes or whatever.”

The foundation: “For ‘Hills’ it was like going back to the roots. Everything was made out of foam latex. We didn’t use any silicone or gelatin.... We were expecting to be out in the hot desert, and foam latex is the most durable of the materials that we use. Plus, our prep time back at the shop was very tight. In order to do silicone makeup, it takes an extraordinary amount of time to do because you have to create special molds. Foam latex doesn’t take as long.”

Improvising: “A few creatures we kind of designed on the spot. There is one mutant, the director [liked] him so much he ended up making his part a lot bigger. The director wanted a certain look for the mutant, so we took pieces from other things and put them together.”

Speedy? No.: “One mutant -- it was a half-body and full facial pieces -- took us four or 4 1/2 hours with three of us working on him. For that character, it took about an hour to take [the pieces] out. But for other characters who were [just facial], it could take two or three hours to apply and 45 minutes to take out.”

Impaling, decapitating: “It’s just endless creativity, even though the designs have been approved before I come into the game. I also like problem-solving a lot. I have had to deal with special effects -- figuring out impaling, how to decapitate a human being. But it’s also problem-solving with makeup, making it more durable and having it last 12 hours a day. When new products come out, that’s pretty exciting. There is a line of paints I like to use that are made in Australia that not many people in L.A. have heard of because they don’t export them out. They can last without needing to be touched up.”

The latest “Narnia”: “The species are the same, but the designs are different. I am doing dwarfs, fauns and minotaurs. I have been doing a dwarf called Trumpkin, who is a good red dwarf played by Peter Dinklage. The product that we used on his facial prosthetic is gelatin. It’s not as durable as foam but gives us a greater translucency. But gelatin disintegrates in water. There is a scene in the movie where he gets wet, so we use foam rubber.”

Background: “When I was a kid growing up, ‘Star Wars’ was my favorite movie, and I loved comic books. My favorite book was ‘How to Draw Monsters.’ I always drew and painted a lot as a kid. When I got to be about 15, I joined the community theater in Peoria, Ill. I wanted to do set design, so I was on the tech crew. I was a painting major in college. My senior year, a friend of mine ... told me about this class that went out to Los Angeles -- you meet directors, writers and go to different studios. One of the things on the tour was going to K.N.B. Effects Group....

I met [the owners] Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero. Howard told me to graduate and then come back to L.A. and give him a call. That’s what I did.”

Winning the Oscar: “That was probably the most amazing month of my life.”

Resides: Los Angeles and Wellington, New Zealand

Union or guild: Not a member

Age: 32

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-- SUSAN KING