Fans of Edmond Rostand's original 1897 play know that the most distinct feature of Cyrano is his nose; it's the main reason he fears he'll never have Roxanne's love. But Dinklage's iteration of the character goes without. In a recent interview on "Stagecraft," Variety's theater podcast, Dinklage said that before he first played the titular character in the 2018 stage musical, the prosthetic nose never spoke to him. In Wright's version, Dinklage maintained the sentiment. Bertolazzi shares that, save for one battle scene, he didn't use much makeup on the actor. "He's Cyrano, and that is enough" he says. "He's full of [more] power than a nose."
Overfussed makeup may not have been a concern for most of the film, but for one battle sequence in particular, Bertolazzi got a helping hand from Sicily's Mt. Etna. The active volcano eventually erupted while the crew were filming, but the result — essentially, lots of ash — helped make the army's faux battle makeup even more realistic. "I said to the team, 'Don't do any touch-ups,'" he says. "We had a great lesson from Mother Nature."
As for the hair, Miller didn't give Cyrano any extravagant wigs. Instead, she opted for boyish curls that could bridge the age between him and Roxanne. "[Cyrano's] life isn't about vanity," she says. "His life is about his words, his poetry, his swordsmanship, and I think the characterization that Peter had developed from having done this on the stage was there already."
