Behind the Scenes in Hollywood

AfterEllen.com has interviewed countless lesbian and lesbian-adjacent actors, writers and directors over the years. But behind every star, film and TV show, there are hundreds of artists and professionals working to make it all happen. Enjoyed the sex scene in Bound, did you? You have dozens of people to thank, including the crew people who picked up and moved parts of the set mid-shot, as the camera swung around on Jennifer Tilly showing Gina Gershon how to "see again."

Production jobs, commonly referred to as "below the line" in the biz, require creativity, stamina, gifted hands and the desire to wear a baseball cap to work every day. It's a match made in career heaven for lesbians. Here are five such women who work behind the scenes, all of whom have stories to tell, brushes with fame and some of the coolest jobs ever.

Tami Lane, Prosthetic Makeup Artist

Tami Lane with Howard Berger

Photo Credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage

Tami Lane is an Oscar-winning prosthetic makeup artist. From her first job on Rescue 911 for a local TV station in Peoria, Ill. — where she created makeup effects for accident re-enactments of limbs caught in brush cutters, among other things — to her latest project, the upcoming film Surrogate, starring Bruce Willis, Lane has worked on some of the biggest fantasy/adventure films ever imagined, including The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

AfterEllen.com: What is a prosthetic makeup artist?
Tami Lane: I paint people's faces and bodies for a living. I scare people. I make people laugh. I age people. I get to work with amazing people, over and over.

AE: How did you break into your field?
TL: I was an art major in college and did a lot of theater as a hobby, volunteered at haunted houses and things like Rocky Horror Picture Show. My first blood was made of ketchup, barbeque sauce and something like maple syrup. It's gross.

AE: And strangely, that's also my signature marinade. How did you get from Peoria to Hollywood?
TL: I came to L.A. on a class trip [during] my senior year. I toured K.N.B. EFX Group, a creature shop famous for From Dusk Till Dawn, Evil Dead 2 — the big slasher films of the '80s. And I met the owner, Howard Berger, who said to me, "Go back and graduate, move to L.A. and call me." So I did. He interviewed me, a length of time went by, and finally, he called and said, "We have this big show and I need some people in the shop — some grunt workers — sweep the floors, clean the molds out." So, they hired me. That was in 1996.

AE: And a mere 10 years later, you won the 2006 Oscar for Best Achievement in Makeup for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
TL: That was a dream come true. It's indescribable. It was literally 10 years from the time I knew nothing, to being on that stage.

AE: Did you think you would win?
TL: Everyone thought we should win, but we were up against Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. And I thought, "Aw, they're going to give it to Star Wars." Beating out Star Wars was pretty cool. [laughs]

AE: Beating anyone would be cool. Where do you keep your Oscar statue?
TL: My mother has it. She has it on the mantle at home.

AE: What was it like working on Narnia?
TL: I was the key prosthetics makeup artist, overseeing 40 makeup artists, [doing] quality control. I also had key characters that I would do every day. I did Mr. Tumnus, the faun [James McAvoy], and Ginarrbrik, the White Witch's little minion. We'd go to work at 2:30 a.m. in the morning, and probably get home at 10:30 p.m. at night, five, sometimes six, days a week, for seven months.

AE: How long did it take to make up Mr. Tumnus and Ginarrbrik?
TL: Mr. Tumnus took three and a half to four hours, [with] a couple of us working on him, because we had to glue body hair all over him. Then, I did the face. But all of the makeups would generally take two hours to four hours.

AE: Do you ever have actors falling asleep on you?
TL: Oh, all the time. I prefer them coming in hung over and just wanting to sleep. They don't talk. But sometimes, they twitch, so you have to be ready.

AE: What films were the most fun to work on?
TL: My favorite has to be Lord of the Rings. I spent four years working in New Zealand on the Creature Unit. It was, creatively, the best working environment because we had no idea what the Orcs [characters] looked like. Usually, they were made for close-ups, which meant they were going to get killed by the good guys. So, we'd have a box of chins, a box of foreheads, a box of noses.

AE: A lot of women in Beverly Hills have the same thing in their bathrooms.
TL: [laughs] I know. I'm trying to patent that. "You want a new nose today?"

AE: Well, you'd have your day nose, and your evening nose.
TL: Yeah. We could create new creatures every day. It was exciting. And we were getting choppered everywhere. In the morning, I would be at the studios in Wellington, and in the afternoon, the character would be required on the other side of New Zealand. So, I'd climb aboard a helicopter and get choppered out there, film the last part of the day, and get choppered back to Wellington.

AE: Are there many women in the prosthetic makeup field?
TL: No. There's a lot of female, regular, straight makeup artists, but as far as the blood and guts and creatures, it's all men.

AE: It's a boy thing.
TL: Yeah, it's a boy's club.

AE: Has being the only woman on the team ever been an issue for you?
TL: No, because I can out-drink any of those guys. [laughs] No, seriously, I've proved myself over and over again. At least that's what they tell me.

AE: Do you get calls from friends on Halloween asking, "Tami, can you make me zombie tonight?"
TL: Yeah, it depends. My real friends don't ask me because they realize it's work. Plus, I have enough problems getting my own costume together. It's a lot of pressure to be an effects makeup artist on Halloween.