EP#104: Children of the Night - An Interview with Matthew Mungle

Join Justin and Angelique as they chat with Academy Award Winning make-up and special effects artists Matthew Mungle about classic monsters, Mausoleum, Silver Bullet, Dracula, and more!

Matthew Mungle bio:

"Academy Award winner Matthew W. Mungle is regarded as one of Hollywood's premier Make-up Effects & Prosthetic Artists. With over 250 film and television projects to his credit, Matthew has earned accolades and recognition as one of the industry's top masters of Makeup Effects Illusionist.

Born in Durant, Oklahoma in 1956, Matthew was one of five children born to Atoka dairy farmer Jene and Becky Mungle. As a boy he recalls seeing Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. In 1964 with the release of The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao and The List of Adrian Messenger, Matthew credits the films as having been his greatest influence and deciding factor in becoming a Make-up Effects Artist. He was fascinated with the make-up, often "borrowing" his mother's cosmetics to create his own version of horror. In 1968, a film that would revolutionize make-up effects and further impact the small-town boy from Atoka was the release, Planet of the Apes. It is hard to say how many times Matthew saw the film. What he did know was that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his idols, namely Lon Chaney, Sr., Jack Pierce and John Chambers, who won the Academy Award for the specialized make-up creations for Planet of the Apes. As he got older, he would learn from books and magazines such as Richard Corson's Stage Make-up & Dick Smith's Do It Yourself Monster Make-up Handbook and would send away for theatrical make-up from New York and Dallas specialty stores - experimenting with face casts and prosthetics on willing family members and friends. Although his parents thought it was a phase he would soon outgrow, Matthew knew differently.

Return of the Planet of the Apes was released when he was a sophomore in High School and he encouraged the owner of the local movie theatre to let him dress up as one of the chimpanzees to promote the film. Not only did he dress and act the part but also created his own prosthetic make-up. The realism was so startling to the small town of Atoka, that many thought Hollywood had sent an actor to hype the film! Matthew would continue to promote films at the Thompson Theatre in Atoka by applying his own make-up and costumes until he graduated from High School.

Although his sights were still on Hollywood, at his father's insistence, he applied and was accepted into Oklahoma State University as a theatre arts major in 1975 after graduating from Atoka High School. Working with props and make-up for various productions, Matthew eagerly absorbed the educational tools being given.

Matthew finally arrived in Hollywood in December 1977 after applying and being accepted into Joe Blasco's Make-up Center - the premier academy responsible for training many of the film and television industry's elite Make-up Artists. "From the very beginning, Matthew showed exceptional talent!" claims Blasco, whose own career as a top make-up artist turned educator, has been instrumental in graduating Academy Award winners. "I instinctively knew that Matthew had what it takes to become a success in this business. His dedication to the art form and rapid ability to master the craft led me to hire him as an instructor following his graduation from my school in 1978. He stayed on-staff as a teacher until his own popularity as a working make-up artist became too demanding."

Matthew credits Joe Blasco with his professional start & as mentor in the industry. "I was a sponge, absorbing every ounce of knowledge I could. Whether learning the techniques of beauty make-up or casting molds and working with prosthetics, I wanted to be as versatile as I could". Today, Matthew is a veteran voice to up-and-coming artists hoping to find their own niche in the industry. "If you want to be a working make-up artist, then you should learn and perfect all areas of the craft".

Matthew's professional career began on low-budget projects such as The Dorm That Dripped Blood, The Kindred, War Party, The Guardian & Navy Seals which taught him to think quickly on his feet and how to be a great department head Make-up Artist. Matthew joined I.A. Local 706 in the summer of 1989 and passed his test to become a Journeyman Make-up Artist in early 1990. His first major film was working with Ve Neil on Edward Scissorhands in 1990. Matthew has accumulated an impressive list of credits and an equally impressive genre of box office successes including: Bram Stoker's Dracula, earning him an Oscar in 1992 with Michelle Burke & Greg Cannom; Schindler's List, giving him another nomination in 1993 with Christina Smith & Judy Cory; creating Arnold's pregnancy stomach in the comedy spoof Junior; tackling special make-up effects for Outbreak, Congo, Primal Fear, and aging James Woods to 72 in Ghosts of Mississippi, which earned Deborah Lamia Denaver & him his 3rd Oscar nomination in 1996. His transformation of Glenn Close and Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs earned Lynn Johnson, Martial Corneville & him his fourth Oscar nomination in 2011.

Matthew's expertise in prosthetic aging & character make-up created a vast field of job opportunities in both film and TV --- HBO's Citizen Cohn, starring James Woods and earning him his first Emmy in 1993 along with Deborah Lamia Denaver, Lynne Eagan & John Jackson. Another nomination followed in 1997 for Miss Evers' Boys. Two more nominations were earned in 1998 --- TNT's Wallace and ABC's Oliver Twist and in 1999 for his work on TNT's Houdini. In 2000, Matthew was one of the first recipient of Local 706's first annual Guild Make-up and Hair Award for his work on ABC's The Beat Goes On.

In 2000, Matthew was hired on X-Files for special make-up and prosthetic designs. A coup to his already long list of credits, Matthew entered the show's 8th season and promptly won an Emmy in 2001 for the episode, Dead Alive. Shortly after the X-Files series ended Matthew was hired to work on CBS's C.S.I. Miami and Presidio Med. Even with a demanding schedule, Matthew found time to work on TNT's Door-to-Door, which earned him an Emmy in 2003. In 2006, Matthew took home his fourth Emmy for his work in HBO's final episode of Six Feet Under and in 2008, Matthew earned his fifth & sixth Emmy for Tracey Ullman's State of the Union and John Adams. To date Matthew has been honored with 26 Emmy nominations. Matthew finished his 11-year run creating graphic make-up effects for C.S.I. Las Vegas (CBS) in July 2015. With a full film and TV schedule, Matthew continued his work on NCIS (CBS) & Salem (WGN).

His impressive list of film credits include such box office hits as creating Brendan Fraser's many character looks in Bedazzled, Pay it Forward with Kevin Spacey, Red Dragon, Daredevil, Anchorman, The Punisher, House of D with Robin Williams, Skeleton Key, Polar Express, The Omen, X-Men:The Last Stand, Midnight Meat Train, The Bucket List, Inception, The Tempest, The Change-Up, What to Expect When You're Expecting and Lee Daniel's THE Butler aging Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey along with creating historical Presidents on well-known Actors with the talent assistants of Douglas Noe.

One of Matthew's many creative challenges started in 2003 with the hit Broadway show Wicked, producing the prosthetic face masks and prosthetics for the production's various characters. Balancing his film and TV projects, Matthew continued his work for the show's Broadway production & U.S. tours.

In 1999, Matthew conducted a 3-day seminar on advanced prosthetics for Screen Training Ireland in Dublin and in June 2000 was a featured guest lecturer aboard the Q.E.II during a cross-Atlantic vacation from South Hampton, England to New York.

He's appeared on a wide variety of TV shows including Discovery Channel's Mega Movie Magic where he aged a 12-year-old girl into an 80-year-old woman! BBC's Talk of the Town, a highly rated and popular London-based magazine shows. He has been interviewed for Turner Entertainment Report, E! Entertainment News, The Morning Show, FX Dailies, CNN, Good Day L.A. and Japan's CH. 5 News Networks. His interviews can also be seen on the behind-the-scenes trailer for the 8th and 9th season episodes of X-Files for video and DVD release, CSI behind-the-scenes on DVD release and, Inside Edition, Entertainment Tonight & CBS Sunday Morning. Matthew and his Husband of 41 years, John Jackson, closed their North Hollywood studio/lab in May of 2017 in and moved to Lago Vista, Texas outside Austin to retire. Matthew has set up a smaller studio in an old police station and after 40 years as a Professional Make-up Artist, continues to create prosthetic designs for Glenn Close, Robert De Niro & Tracey Ullman. He conducts educational seminars at Brick in the Yard in Dallas, Texas and contributed to the 3rd addition of Todd Debreceni's Special Make-up Effects book. He also contributed to the newest, 11th edition, Richard Corson's Stage Make-up Book (Matthew learned from when he was young) and shared over 20 different step by step procedures to the 470 page book with Jim Glavan. The book won the USITT 2021 Oscar G Brockett Golden Pen Award for significant publications in the field of design, technology and management.

In the spring of 2019, Glenn Close called Matthew to design and create the prosthetics for her character as Mamaw on the critically acclaimed Ron Howard film Hillbilly Elegy (2020). The prosthetics were applied on set by Eryn Mekash Kruger and Jamie Hess."

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