The Oscar-winning prosthetic artist admits that making cauliflower ears for Dwayne “Rock” Johnson on the “Smashing Machine” is the easiest thing to make.
In the film, Johnson plays a real-life MMA legendary car. Johnson spent two hours sitting in a make-up chair and undergoing a conversion process that hidden tattoos in addition to cauliflower ears, certain brow bone pieces and other prosthetics.
The film stars Emily Blunt as Kerr’s wife, Dawn Staples, Bass Rutten, Lindsay Gavin and Olexandre Usaku. Safdi’s solo director’s debut mark – he previously worked with his older brother Josh Safdi.
Cauliflower ears are a distinct feature of Kerr, and are also known as “wrestler ears” after years of trauma. “Damage occurs internally and begins to expand,” explains Hiro. “The shape of the ear changes depending on the frequency of damage. It builds up the buildup of fluid and tissue, creating the shape.”
Hiro noticed that Kerr had a big one in his right ear and a small one in his left ear. So he made a prosthetic leg to fit Johnson’s ears.
But Hiro, who counts Bradley Cooper, Gary Oldman and Charlize Theron as some of his most iconic transformations, says recreating Kerr’s prominent brow bones in Johnson is the most challenging prosthetic limb.
Dwayne Johnson
A24
Hiro said, “The first thing you notice in Dwayne is how big his eyes are and how calm he looks. Mark is against it. Heavy brow bones affect the appearance of his eyes.”
Hiro explains that he had to be careful because his eyelids are soft and delicate. “Pressure affects the way an actor expresses himself,” he says. “Dwayne needed freedom to move.”
So Hiro created a room that stuck to Johnson’s eyelids. “It was a millimeter or two, and it was glued to him. And it moved with him, almost like natural skin.”
The technology involved was involved to make it right. “When I did a facial scan, I opened his eyes, half closed and closed his eyes, scanned him. Finally, I carved a mold, a hybrid of all different stages.”
In one scene, Johnson’s character goes to a barber shop and shaves his hair. Up until that point, he had a wig, but for that scene, Hiro worked with the barber to teach him how to shave his hair. “Silicon skin doesn’t behave like human skin, so I was teaching him how to move the clipper.”
Additionally, Hiro had to create a prosthetic piece for Johnson to inject the medication into the veins of his arm. Once Johnson got the piece, he skillfully plunged into a prosthetic that hidden blood and saline. Hiro explains that the device is not something that is easy. “He pushed it in and it was tricky because the blood was mixed in with the syringe. So there’s a chamber with blood in it, and when I pull out the needle, the syringe is filled with blood.
