Hair and makeup help us immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of fictional works, creating some of the most iconic and thrilling characters through their appearances – such as Heath Ledger’s Joker, David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, or Elphaba in Wicked. These characters left an imprint on us due to their unique and instantly recognizable looks, thanks to the impressive work of the hair and makeup department.

I met Tara Cooper, an Austin-based artist who has been freelancing for 22 years. 

Although Cooper originally pursued two and a half years of premed studies at University of Texas, her passion for makeup led her to a different path. Encouraged by her adviser one day, a local theater actress, she discovered that her creative interests – makeup, wigs, puppets and masks – could be part of a theater degree. 

Her latest project is “Hit Man,” a movie directed by Austin’s very own Richard Linklater. We all know what the concept of a hit man is – someone undercover paid to kill specific people. For this movie, Cooper was both head of the makeup department as well as the character wig and makeup designer. She got to design 10 unique looks for the lead character Gary Johnson, portrayed by Glen Powell.

But this film was not her first rodeo. Cooper has worked across a variety of mediums and a wide range of projects all different from one another. Her portfolio features experiences in theater, the big screen, headshots, live events, shoots and even working with many CEOs. Cooper notably worked for 19 years with St. Edward’s Mary Moody Northen Theatre, designing hair and makeup for almost 70 productions.

Curious to know more about her work on “Hit Man” – Cooper agreed to discuss the creative process she went through behind the film’s distinctive hair and makeup designs.

How did you come up with all the different aspects of Gary? 

I spent so much time mentally with these characters that I felt I knew all of them. 

Everything just had to be a bit of a good old boy, a little southern-centric at first, because the characters kept changing as I was working on them. So, I think I actually designed 40 characters, and then we picked out which ones we liked best. It was a lot of fun because Rick (Linklater), Glen and I would basically talk about cool ideas – I would show them what I had, and they would be like: “Okay I like that,” “maybe do a little bit of this” or whatever. What I like about working with Rick is that he lets you be your artist. I wanted the characters to be super contrasted like you know that Glen is a different person there.

How was it to makeup one of the most growing actors of this year? Did you ever feel intimidated?

No [laughs]. Glen is the nicest person you ever wanted to meet in your life. I have already worked with him on “Apollo 10 ½,” which was another film that we worked on together in 2020. I think part of it too is that I don’t get starstruck anymore, just because I worked with a lot of really big people. I did a movie with Paul Rudd in 2013 – I gave him a mustache, I did Elon Musk’s makeup, I have done Willie Nelson and his whole family… At a certain point, they’re just humans, and Glen is just always super nice. There is not a single mean bone in that guy’s body. I am really thankful and actually sad he is not in every one of my projects! He is really a blast.

Do you have a favorite Hit Man design?

My favorite one is Tanner, he is the guy shooting the clay pigeons. It’s mainly because I hand drew his custom neck tattoo. Basically, I casted Glen’s head to build a pattern out, hand drew everything and sent it off to get fabricated. Apart from the character being really funny, I love that all my artwork is featured. I even put “Hit Man” on his knuckles [laughs].

What are you the most proud of once you see your work on screen? What was the feeling? I am wondering – are you critical of yourself?

I have pretty bad imposter syndrome so I think a lot of it is: “Did you really do all of this?” Most of the time, when I see the critics and stuff come up, I don’t even believe that I am up there. But I got to bring my assistant Nicole Schultz on this project, and honestly, I think that I am almost more proud of her work than mine, just because she killed it. I love that she got that opportunity and did such a great job. When I think about that, I think about all the people that got me through there [starts crying]. It’s just wild, I worked so hard to get to this spot and I just can’t believe it.

Do you have a behind-the-scenes story or experience that can show the process complexity of the hair & makeup world? 

We didn’t have any makeup tests [laughs]. So I would get in there, panicking out of the trailers. It was all back to back, we had to do six of the characters in three days. For the character “T,” we were running low on time, and it was our last day of shooting so they were gonna cut this character completely. I really fought for him to be in the movie, but it was so wild. I had to shave Glen’s face in the back of a court scene, and to top it off, I had never done freckles before, so I was super psyched I could do it! What made this project even more special was that Allison Lowery – my mentor who taught me how to build wigs – created the wig for “T.” One of the other wig builders was one of my students from St. Ed’s. I just love the fact I got my mentor and my student in this project.

Cooper’s spectacular work in “Hit Man” led her to red carpet appearances at the Venice Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. She is the epitome of following her passion and has made a name through the different challenging works she has achieved.

Her next projects include a biopic on Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind) with Carla Gugino and a segment of “Merrily We Roll Along,” a project over 16 years with Paul Mescal, Beanie Feldstein and Ben Platt.

Takeaway: Next time you’re watching a film or performance, take a moment to appreciate the creative expertise of the hair and makeup department and all the hard work that goes behind it!