Oscars 2023: Montreal-born makeup effects artist wins best makeup and hairstyling for The Whale

The dramatic transformation of Canadian-American actor Brendan Fraser into a 600-pound character for The Whale shocked and awed many of those who saw the movie. Behind the prosthetic is Montreal-born makeup effects artist Adrien Morot, who won his first Oscar for best makeup and hairstyling at the 95th Academy Awards.

“Oh, my God. The entire movie community voted us as being the best of the year,” Morot said to himself backstage, after receiving the award. “I got a bit of emotional, I have to admit. It was almost like a lump on my throat.”

For Morot, it was inconceivable winning such a prestigious award when all he ever dreamt of was being featured in his favourite magazine.

“The most I could ever really hope for growing up and doing masks in my dad’s basement was to have one of my creations on the cover of Fangoria magazine, which was a horror movie magazine,” the makeup effects artist revealed. “When I would get one of my creations on the cover of Fangoria magazine, I really I know I made it.”

Morot remembered being as young as six years old when he began experimenting with special effects makeup. He has now worked on designing and creating characters for more than a hundred movies and TV shows such as M3GAN, Warm Bodies, and the X-Men franchise. But his most notable work is with Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale – which was nominated for an Oscar among other blockbuster movies such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Elvis for best makeup and hairstyling.

Morot said everything was a blur after The Whale was announced as the category’s winner. He recalled Fraser, who also won his first Oscar that night, telling him to “go, go, go.”

“I got on stage and I just gave a speech. I didn’t even really realize what was going on until I walked out of the stage kind of thing,” Morot said.

“Apparently, I snatched the Oscar out of Samuel L. Jackson’s hand, which I didn’t even notice and I didn’t thank him. So if I ever work with him again, I’ll apologize in person.”

Morot said he couldn’t have done it without makeup co-creator Kathy Tse and prosthetic artist Chris Gallaher, who helped apply, repair, and maintain the bodysuit throughout the filming.

Morot is currently based in L.A., where he continues to work on other projects like the upcoming sequel for the horror film M3GAN.