Celine Godeau

"When I was really young I’d take the black soot from around our fireplace and put it around my eyes. I can’t tell you why. It was an urge from within. I remember seeing punks for the first time at the end of the ’70s. It was the first time I’d seen coloured hair and Mohawks. I was compelled and intrigued. I would make eye contact with anyone who looked shocking and it would freak my parents out."

When I was a little girl, I saw POLTERGEIST. Sylv and I kept our cool until bedtime came along. Monsters in closets and under beds, evil clowns, alternate dimensions in TVs, secret Indian burial grounds... there was a lot to be scared shitless about. Our mom, being the very cool lady that she is, told us that there is a team of people behind the scares that designed everything from the story to the creatures. We couldn't believe that someone had actually MADE the monsters! How cool is that? Scaring people as a job? Wow. That's when our unbridled love for prosthetics and the artists behind them.

My mom was talking about people like Celine Godeau. Celine is one of the most talented and humble artists I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and working with. She's one of the insanely talented people that live in my fair city of Vancouver, but I didn't meet for years. So, what did I do in the mean time? What any sane individual would do. I cyber stalked her and drooled over her amazing work. Just give this ridiculously gifted girl's name a google or snoop her IMDB page and see that's she worked on WATCHMEN, X-MEN, FANTASTIC FOUR, FREDDY VS JASON, ELEKTRA, SLITHER, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, SMALLVILLE, RED RIDING HOOD, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, SUCKER PUNCH, SNAKES ON A (mother fucking) PLANE, MAN OF STEEL, and our upcoming AMERICAN MARY. Celine is also an instructor for the very impressive make up school Blanche Macdonald. Oh, and she's won a Gemini.

"At Blanche Macdonald it was like a window opened. I was able to see the career options open to me that had never been discussed before. I realized that all my interests linked up and ma de perfect sense here, even my interest in medicine, archaeology, and true crime scenes."

FACE CHARTS by Marian Mina, facebook.com/marianm.mua & www.marianmina.com

FACE CHARTS by Marian Mina, facebook.com/marianm.mua & www.marianmina.com

A true innovator and mistress of her craft, Celine has even gone on to design her own line of film make up products named The Lab of Godeau.

"As a Vancouver based makeup artist sometimes we don’t have the option of purchasing things available in other established film areas. Out of necessity as much as passion I started creating products that were really useful. Everything from sealers to mouth stains that looked and tasted good. It’s all natural. When you work on a lot of different faces and different skin you have to be conscious of allergies and different requirements people have. Sometimes it’s personal choice – a lot of products contain animal products and some people don’t want any of that. When I started looking at what it took to formulate them I realized that there were options that involved no chemicals or animal products. I didn’t need to be a chemist to formulate them.

It took me back to my time growing up in the country and exploring nature – pulling flowers apart and seeing where the nectar comes from. Later on, I had this opportunity to reverse engineer products. I took products from the States that worked well but didn’t show the ingredients. I could break them down and recreate them."

My working experience with Celine can only be described as creative intercourse. From the moment she walked in I became a total fan girl and even admitted my online obsession with her and her work. She did make up, prosthetics, and even hand doubling on AMERICAN MARY with her precise and flawless work. I wish I could share some shots of her from set and her work, but I'm afraid our wicked lips must remain sealed at the moment. I can say that Celine absolutely puts her everything into her work. She is a true artist and even speaking with the woman is inspirational. She conducts herself and her work with true professionalism, class, and an obvious love for her work.
< style="font-style: italic;">"As soon as I got into prosthetics and saw that it involved sculpting, life casting, mold-making and air-brushing my mind went crazy. I was instantly drawn to that direction. I realized that with a lot of wonderful character makeup, you wouldn’t even realize it was makeup. You don’t see the makeup, you see the character. It’s a paradigm shift realizing that with good makeup – you don’t even see it right away."

If I could ever have a career other than my own, it would certainly be make up and prosthetics. To be able to dream something up or have a nightmare and then be able to bring those creations to life is astounding. Maybe one day Celine will let me clean brushes for her. Until that fine day, I look forward to bringing new beasts and beauties to life with her and am so grateful to know her in more than an online stalker kind of way. Celine is truly an inspirational woman and if you're interested in make up and prosthetics, do yourself a favor and go study at Blanche Macdonald with one one the coolest women to ever lift a brush.

Fatally Yours,
Jen