The Defenders makeup designer Sarit Klein on palettes, heroes, and beard design

We chatted with Sarit Klein, who has been the lead makeup designer for all the Marvel Netflix series, to talk about The Defenders.

Marvel’s The Defenders is the hotly anticipated show on Netflix, bringing four separate TV shows into one. And it takes a lot for these superheroes to get their look just right. Not everything has to be CGI, and makeup still plays a key role in shows.

Culturess had the chance to chat via phone with Sarit Klein, the makeup department head for all of Marvel’s Netflix shows. She gave us some fun insight into color palettes, the amount of work it takes on crazy shooting days, and which Defender is her favorite (that one was a little unfair of us to ask, but too bad!). She was just a delight.

Are you excited for The Defenders to finally come out so everybody can see it?

So excited! We went to the premiere, so we saw the first two episodes. And they’re amazing. Part of our job is to, you know, be behind the monitor, work closely and adjust and maintain. There’s color correction, there’s whatever they’re doing in post, and then there’s the fist glowing, so when that all comes together with the color palettes you see on the huge screen, I was like, “Ahh! It’s amazing!” It’s just really exciting

Marvel’s The Defenders, photo credit Netflix

How exactly do the color palettes differ from series to series? Since I know you worked on all four of the other series…

It was good that I worked on the other series so I had the knowledge of what each color palette’s going to be. S.J. Clarkson directed the first two episodes of Jessica Jones season one and she directed the first two episodes of The Defenders, so she established the visual look of the Defenders with the color palettes.

So, since I established the superheroes on their own shows, coming in with this knowledge, it was easier for me knowing that sometimes in the same scene, we’re going to have… you know, you turn around to see Luke Cage, you see a yellow color palette, different filters are used. And you turn back to Jessica Jones, it’s more of a purple.

For me, it was pretty easy because it was more continuous than the work I was doing on the other shows.

How exactly did you get involved with Marvel for the Netflix shows? Because that seems like a pretty awesome gig.

It really is! I mean, I thought I was just hired to do Daredevil. I was actually on another show and I left that show to do this because I knew it was going to be such an amazing adventure. And when I got hired to doDaredevil, they said, “Well we’re actually hiring people for the gamut of three years, five shows.” It was like, “Woah! Okay! I’m in!”

Then I called Josh Turi, who’s a prosthetic designer, who I’ve worked with on other shows. And I said, “I’m gonna need a strong team, do you want to join me?” And he was like, “Hell yeah! I love Marvel!”

Coming into it, I knew that Josh and I would be able to do this.

And it’s nice to have that kind of long-term commitment, too, so it’s not just one show and done and then you need to start looking for something else.

Yeah. But we also didn’t have a break in between shows. We pretty much had like a week off. So I was prepping each show as I was shooting another show.

Is it different or difficult working with Marvel compared to other studios?

It’s not difficult. One thing that I love for Marvel is that they actually come prepared to the actual shoot day. There’s the huge prep phase before each show, and then before each episode. So all the time I’ll be shooting an episode and the first day of an episode, I already start prepping the next episode.

And let’s say it’s a special flashback episode, which you have on Luke Cage… I prepared two months in advance. We had to design the beards, we had to get them approved, so that was a big process on itself, knowing that Marvel and Netflix have to approve things like that.

So it’s not difficult—it actually works well because you come off a day and you know that it’s all approved now, we just need to shoot rather than delaying production because of little things we need to decide on that day. I think it’s a great process. And there’s a lot of details that, you know, people aren’t aware of, like the colors of blood, the red color palette for Daredevil… little details that the fans may or may not notice.

Are there any quirky tricks for any of the Defenders regarding their makeup? I assume Luke Cage and his unbreakable skin is mostly CGI, but anything weird like that that you have to think about and keep in mind?

Well, a bunch of them have tattoos, so if someone’s in short sleeves or shirtless, there’s a lot going on that you have to cover, create, things like that.

Marvel’s The Defenders, photo credit Netflix

How long does it take for Iron Fist’s tattoo on his chest?

Josh Turi is the one who handled that. I pretty much gave it to him, there was so much going on on my end. The actual application of the tattoo didn’t take too long, it was under thirty minutes once it was approved with all the tests

How much influence do you draw from the comics?

Well, obviously the shows are based on the comics. But they want to create a more contemporary feel, more dark and nitty-gritty and real superheroes that are vulnerable. There is some influence, but it’s a huge collaboration and there’s so many emails, discussions, meetings prior to establishing the superhero—or any character, actually—discussing what makes a look.

Also, for instance, I’ll go by what wardrobe they’re wearing. So I’m involved in that meeting or email chain as well. There’s a lot of different chains going on in different departments that pertain to my job, actually, so I’m constantly on my phone.

Which character presents the biggest challenge on a daily basis?

I don’t really consider it a challenge, it’s just the process that it takes Madame Gao to get her through the work… it’s a longer process than any of the other characters. She’s over an hour in makeup because of the aging. Every part of her skin is aged with a stretch and stipple technique, so that takes two people to do that, and then we hand-paint all kinds of age spots, little things to age her. And then you get her wig on… she’s the longest, but she’s one of the most fun!

I just have a couple of fun questions that I always like to end interviews with… Who is your favorite Avenger?

I love Iron Man.

Who’s your favorite Defender?

Oh my God, I can’t answer that! (laughs) …I love all of them. But I’m definitely attached to Jessica Jones.

Do you have a favorite brand or preferred brand for makeup?

I can’t say I have one favorite brand just because there’s so many different needs of a character, of an actor. I will say, though, that I tend to go and use more organic products just because the makeup and skin care is on the actor sometimes twelve to fourteen hours a day and it seeps into your skin. I prefer to use vegan, paraben-free, organic products.

There’s so many great things out there! For instance, I can just name a few I love. Julie Hewett makes this amazing organic camellia oil that I can use as a makeup remover and also as a moisturizer. You can use it as a booster, put it in your moisturizer.

Living Libations, which is a Canadian organic company, has many lovely oils that you can also put on the actors to enhance their mood or put in a diffuser. You can also use that as a cleanser, as a moisturizer.

Makeup brands… again, I try to use organic, but there’s just so many different things. There’s Tata Harper skin care. They make multi-use lip and cheek stains. I love, love Dior, I love Chanel. There’s so many out there, I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to try things. Companies will send things to set to support us on the shows, so I’m very grateful for that so I get to play around and kind of choose what works. I get people to know about them as well.

Anything else you want to talk about?

That I’m so proud of the hard work that we did on The Defenders. This was the biggest team I’ve worked with. Five girls were the core team without the special effects guys and you’ll see there are many huge scenes, and I can’t wait to share literally our blood and sweat with everyone (laughs).

Next: Game of Thrones season 7: 5 predictions for episode 6

The Defenders is on Netflix Friday, Aug. 18.