Films and Actors who Portrayed Elizabeth

Elizabeth-The Golden Age

As well as being the main lead in Elizabeth 1, Cate Blanchett was also the main lead in Elizabeth The Golden Age. She played the role of Elizabeth 1 in these movies. Susan Howard and Joe Hopker were the makeup artists for this movie. Carrying out my research on this movie I came across this Interview that Cate Blanchett gave about this movie.

During the interview she states that costumes and make-up does help portray the character. Compared to the first movie, I thought that the makeup in this edition was much more bold and modern, yet keeping it Elizabethan. The makeup really reflected the Elizabeth's personality, as her being a powerful woman, a warrior and yet she was the Queen of England.

This says a lot about the reign of Elizabeth as it shows her as a very powerful woman with a mind of her own. However, as shown in the movie she did stumble at certain points specially when it was a situation bout love. As we know that the Elizabeth owned many wigs, they are shown in a scene in the movie. Overall, I think that the makeup in this movie does show the transformation of her from being a woman who turned into a warrior for her country at the end.

Ref
The Golden Age


The Virgin Queen
  
The Virgin Queen is a short BBC series that is base on the story of Queen Elizabeth 1. Anne Marie Duff plays the role of Elizabeth. This particular TV series, showed Elizabeth in the late 16th century till her death. As this was at the time when the queen was ageing, Neil Gorton created the prosthetic make up that would give the ageing effect. Lauge Voigt sculpted breasts and a stomach for ageing Elizabeth.

She stated, "I wanted to be a woman of her various ages and have integrity within it, not be doing an impression of something..I knew that with makeup and costume I would look good- the prosthetics not only looked amazing but they gave my face restrictions that it wouldn't normally have- and we worked on obvious things like vocal differences and the physicality...What I wanted to do was to try and find an old brittle bones approach.. I hope I've achieved that. I kept thinking in my head, 'Why on earth have they cast one actress, not two?' but I just went for it and I hope that it works."
This shows how committed Anne Marie Duff really was towards the role of Elizabeth, as she had her hair line shaved, eyebrows and lashes bleached and also had her body sculpted with prosthetics.


Her looks in this movie can be compared to the looks of Bette Davis in the Virgin Queen(1995) as she too had her hairline shaved, but she had her eyebrows shaved completely and also had some prosthetic work done to herself. However, I think that Perc Westmore did a more bold and aging look than that of Anne Marie Duff. Looking at completely shaving eyebrows for a role, it can be argued that today in the 21st century will an actress really go to that extent and be committed for the role?

Even though these are all portrays of Elizabeth 1, I think that they look more contemporary than Elizabethan. Looking at the image of Elizabeth from the Golden Age, the make up as well as the styling is more modern than historical. For example, even though she is wearing the ruff and the gown it still has a modern touch to it. I feel the same looking at the image of Bette Davis, this is because even though it has the historical appearance some touches of the make up are contemporary. Like the slight pencil lined eyebrows, today in the 21st century its all about the tattooed eyebrows.


Ref 
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/period/c16/uk/elizabeth/virginamd.htm
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/period/c16/uk/elizabeth/essex.htm