Para Malden has worked in the world of makeup for film and TV for around a decade, helping bring the distinct worlds of Black Panther, Lovecraft Country and Haunted Mansion to life. Offscreen Central had the opportunity to chat with Malden, the makeup department head of The Piano Lesson, to hear all about her hands-on work with director Malcolm Washington and all of the different considerations and research that went into bringing the cast’s looks to life.

Matt Minton: I know this film had its big premiere at TIFF a few months ago so I just wanted to see how you’ve been doing and feeling with this film hitting the film festival and award circuit?
Para Malden: Well, I’m actually pretty excited about how everything is going. It’s projected to do very well so I’ve been hearing nothing but great feedback on it. Before it even came out, one of the producers contacted me and was like, “Para, have you heard the news?’ And I was like, ‘What news?’ and she said it tested great across the board. Just to hear that your work aided in producing a project where it is reading so well to the audiences is a good feeling.

Matt Minton: Congratulations on all of the success! I know that you previously worked with the hair department head, Andrea Bowman, on The Color Purple. In this film where you’re both department heads, I would love to hear about how your collaboration has evolved since your last project together?
Para Malden: Well, we both keys on our first project together back in 2018. We started building our on set relationship and outside relationship since then. And I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mona on several different projects over the years. We already have that chemistry dynamic and she’s actually the person who recommended me for the job for The Piano Lesson. I still had to interview and everything like that but she knew our dynamic together and that we were going to be in the same trailer, just how the flow and the cohesion together would go in order to help the energy and the production of our work. We’ve had plenty of long days and nights on The Piano Lesson but it didn’t feel long. We had a great time working together.

Matt Minton: Absolutely. Obviously, this film is a period piece set in 1930s Pittsburgh so I’m sure there’s lots of considerations that have to come with accurately portraying that time period. How closely did you reference past pictures and images – were you going for a 1:1 historical accuracy, or was there sort of a new, any new flavor or style that you wanted to add to it?
Para Malden: Well, no, I actually wanted to keep the authenticity of the time period, specifically Pittsburgh, because when you get into different time periods, also where they lived played a part in how they wore their makeup. And so I definitely wanted to be able to give that and that’s something that Malcolm Washington, the director wanted. When I had an interview with him, we both collectively wanted to be able to do that. We wanted for people to look at the screen and feel like they’re actually looking at something that is based in 1936 Pittsburgh, not like a current day replica of it. So I really wanted, as the department head for makeup, to be able to give that to the audience and give that to the director as well.

Matt Minton: That specific focus really shows in the final product. And I was actually watching back an interview Andrea did on the red carpet at TIFF talking about what it means to authentically bring Black hairstyles to life. How did you approach authenticity for these Black actors from the perspective of a makeup artist?
Para Malden: For me, the authenticity of it came from the time period. And we even had books. Malcolm had a book that I actually ended up purchasing that we used as reference photos. And you can go all the way down to the specifics of the tone of red that they wore as far as like lipsticks, and even down to the shape of their nails, how that was and even to the shape of their eyebrows. That tells a different time period: how someone wears their eyebrows in the ‘20s versus how they wore them in the ‘30s may be different. Also, if they are more up north they’re dressing more in like suits and stuff like that. Or are they from down south and they may be like a sharecropper or something like that, like they’re stylizing of their eyebrows may have been different and you can still tell a story and make a character authentic just with those simple details. Even when it comes to the male grooming facial hair, like how they wore their beards or even the styles of how thin or thick their mustaches were told their profession and how they upkeep. So those minor details tell a story in itself or make it even more believable.

Matt Minton: That’s so interesting. Those little details really do pay off for people paying close attention. Another consideration for you I’m sure was the location since a majority of the film was filmed in Georgia. With the weather conditions and the heavy rain and humidity, how did that affect the way you approached the makeup?
Para Malden: We wanted to keep the skin glowy as well because they didn’t have centralized AC in that time period in their homes. So we wanted to keep the skin looking very hydrated. And so that kind of helped as well tell the realism of what they did or didn’t have in that time.

Matt Minton: Now talking about more specific characters, I think one of the standouts for many people has been Danielle Deadwyler’s portrayal of Berniece. She’s really the heart of the film as you see her perspective change. How did you approach the look of her character and her transformation from beginning to end?
Para Malden: There’s a scene where it’s a flashback of when her husband was alive. It’s just a sweet scene of them in a lake together and we wanted to keep it as natural and raw as possible with that. So even just from seeing how that was then, when she felt more whole, you know. And then with losing him in the storyline and fast forwarding into the current day of what we were portraying, she still had her different looks of if she was at home, versus if she was going out in the town, versus if she was going to work. With Danielle, she was just a pleasure to work with. And she really allowed you as an artist to have your creative ability in helping tell the story of her character. My main goal and objective is that each actor feels comfortable so they’re not worried about do they look right on camera. I want them to be as confident in knowing that I have their back. My team has their back, so they’re able to give the full performance that is needed. That’s one less thing I want them to have to worry about when they are going and they say action.

Matt Minton: I can imagine that that’s especially important for such a big ensemble cast where they are often all in the same room together. Another character I wanted to ask about was Sutter (Jay Peterson) and how you approached showing his three distinct looks throughout the film.
Para Malden: So for Sutter we had more of a flashback for him too when they were telling the story of the fireworks, it was his more youthful look of when it was basically telling the story of taking the piano. So he had that look. But then we did film him going down the will, we had his old age makeup for that. Now for his ghost look, we had several meetings and tests for that. Not just with me and my effects artist but with Malcolm. Malcolm is very hands on and that’s what I actually love about Malcolm. He’s so into the details. And so we did several camera tests of our own. And so we got it to where he felt like if something was a little too overboard or not, or pull back here, and we all agreed on the different nuances that needed to happen in order to have a good, believable ghost. It was like a realistic ghost type of thing. It wasn’t like Casper, right? It was more real, realistic, as if this person came and went. It wasn’t like the ghost of him in his old age, or in his youth, it was post falling in the will look. So it was interesting to create that.

Matt Minton: As we head further into awards season, I think this is a really exciting opportunity to highlight more below-the-line craftspeople and artisans because audiences oftentimes don’t realize how much hard work goes into even the smallest details. For you as a makeup artist, what do you hope people will understand about the craft?
Para Malden: It’s not just showing up and doing makeup. We really read the script, we dissect the script, we dissect each character, we come up and formulate what their looks should be per day, per scene, depending on what’s happening, depending on what’s going on. Then outside of that, you’re dealing with scheduling, you know, outside of the artistic part of it. And I feel like the reason I would like for people to know those things is because, like I said, it’s more than just showing up and putting some makeup on someone’s face. There’s research that’s done as well even if it’s the current day or period. If you want it to look believable on this person portraying a specific character, you still have to do your research. I had a look book ready for my interview of potential looks for each character, of inspiration photos of the direction that I would like for each character to go in. But that took preparation, that took research, that took time. Before even having the job I wanted to come prepared as much as possible with my ideas. With doing this job for TV and film, it’s something that I love to do. I love to help tell the story. That would be my biggest thing, I would love for people to know how much work it takes and it’s essential, just like every other role as well.

Matt Minton: Lastly, what was a fun memory you had on set or a memorable moment with the rest of the cast and crew?
Para Malden: See before you said fun moments, I was just going to go ahead and tell you my most memorable would be in the trailer. We would have so much fun in the trailer. Whether it’s when you’re setting up camera and we’re having a quick dance break, it was full of laughter, and I really feel like we became like a little family just by starting in the trailer. Because most of the time when actors see us, they start the day with us and a lot of times they end with us too. So I love to set a tone and an energy and an environment where they could be lax. I feel like my job, part of my job, is to make sure that they are comfortable, and if that’s having a laugh, because they might have needed it, you know, or a dance break. We’ve even heard other departments say, ‘We heard y’all outside the trailer’ because we are having a good time and that’s what I love to have.

Matt Minton: Awesome, well thank you so much for your time today. This was a pleasure!
Para Malden: Thank you so much for having me, Matt. I really appreciate it.

The Piano Lesson is currently streaming on Netflix after playing multiple festivals including Telluride and TIFF.