Roald Dahl’s Grand High Witch in ‘The Witches’ is truly terrifying – as anyone who has seen the 1990 film adaptation can attest. For his adaptation, director Robert Zemeckis enlisted costume designer Joanna Johnston (‘Lincoln’) to make Anne Hathaway’s character as fashionable as she is frightening, with the help of hair and makeup team Paula Price and Peter Swords King.
Their mood board for Anne Hathaway was filled with icons of classic 60s style like Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, as well as some of the top models of the era, such as Nena von Schlebrügge and Carmen Dell’Orefice. But this glamorous inspiration was twisted and turned into something sinister. As Anne Hathaway’s character transitioned from alluring to overtly evil, her costumes reflected the shift. Her fitted suits, primary capes, and lacey dishabille gave way to darker gowns that hinted at Macbeth rather than Monroe. (The team, on the other hand, sourced vintage hats, 50s-style floral dresses, and feathered coats for Octavia Spencer, who plays the grandmother).
The Grand High Witch’s makeup also grew more demonic as her quest to rid the world of children progressed. Swords King used a lot of dark violet eyeshadow around her eyes and Price created the appearance of horns by crimping her various wigs at Anne Hathaway’s request. Then, of course, there were the Grand High Witch’s facial prosthetics, which took four hours to apply. (Anjelica Huston’s makeup in the original film took seven hours to apply and five hours to remove each day).
In total, over the course of filming ‘The Witches’, Anne Hathaway wore 17 bald caps to give the appearance of a scalp covered in veins, 22 hand covers to make it appear as if she only had three joints, and 198 finger extensions, applied in a dedicated ‘finger tent’ on the set of Warner Brothers Leavesden studio, where most of the filming took place. As for her feet? All her heels were custom made to give the impression that she had square feet, as described by Dahl in the book.
Anne Hathaway’s transformation into the Grand High Witch is a testament to the power of makeup and costume to create truly terrifying characters. The film’s visual effects team, led by visual effects supervisor Kevin Mack, further emphasized the character’s disturbing features, making her even more menacing. The result is a memorable and chilling performance that will stay with viewers long after the credits roll.