Face of Zero Moustafa Painting the Grand Budapest Hotel Art

Actor Tony Revolori, who plays Zero Moustafa in The 1000 Budapest Hotel, paints on a mustache. The movie was full of faux mustaches — but most were made of human hair and silk, rather than paint. Courtesy of Fob Searchlight hide explanation

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Actor Tony Revolori, who plays Zilch Moustafa in The Grand Budapest Hotel, paints on a mustache. The movie was full of fake mustaches — simply near were made of human hair and silk, rather than paint.

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Director Wes Anderson is known for his especially exacting visual style — an attention to detail that goes correct down to the individual hairs on his actors' faces.

Have The K Budapest Hotel, Anderson's historical fairy tale well-nigh a luxury key European hotel on the edge of state of war in the 1930s. Nearly every male character in the film has some kind of painstakingly designed facial hair.

Oscar-nominated pilus and makeup designer Frances Hannon styles actress Tilda Swinton on the set of The Grand Budapest Hotel. Martin Scali/Courtesy of Play a trick on Searchlight hide caption

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Oscar-nominated pilus and makeup designer Frances Hannon styles actress Tilda Swinton on the ready of The K Budapest Hotel.

Martin Scali/Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

And in charge of the trimming, styling and coloring of each follicle — existent or fake — was hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon. She's been nominated for an Oscar for her work on the moving picture, which has been nominated for ix Academy Awards in total — including in other behind-the-scenes categories like costumes and production design.

Hannon says once she received the assignment from Anderson, she "did a huge amount of research" on bristles and mustache styles, stretching from the 16th century to the present day.

"I covered the spectrum completely," Hannon tells NPR'due south Arun Rath, "so that with all the mustaches, non only would I find something that suited that thespian's confront, but I could give something different to everybody."

Some characters' mustaches were more classical and precisely clipped, similar Thousand. Gustave, played by Ralph Fiennes. (His mustache, Hannon says, was based on Austrian-born actor Anton Walbrook.)

Player Adrien Brody portrays the villainous Dmitri in the pic. To design the mustaches in the flick, Frances Hannon studied facial hair styles throughout centuries of history. Courtesy of Flim-flam Searchlight hibernate caption

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Actor Adrien Brody portrays the villainous Dmitri in the film. To blueprint the mustaches in the motion picture, Frances Hannon studied facial hair styles throughout centuries of history.

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Others featured a slight twirl, like the mustache worn by the villainous Dmitri, played by Adrien Brody.

And then at that place's Bill Murray's vast confront-spanning mustache, which Hannon says was not the work of CGI.

"I have to tell you that was real," Hannon says. "Bill grew a total beard and mustache. He turned upwardly the hairiest I'd ever seen him."

(Hannon has some expertise in that location. She'south worked with Murray since 1997's The Man Who Knew Also Picayune.)

Simply non every player was able to naturally grow a mustache or beard for the film.

"The majority were fake," says Hannon. "I would say probably about 60 or seventy percent were stuck-on."

In role, that's because several actors had commitments to other films, and couldn't show up to another set wearing a mustache better suited to central Europe in the 1930s.

Nearly every male graphic symbol in The Grand Budapest Hotel has some kind of beard or mustache. Some were existent, merely hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon says "almost threescore or 70 percent" were artificial. Martin Scali/Courtesy of Play a joke on Searchlight hide caption

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Nearly every male person graphic symbol in The Grand Budapest Hotel has some kind of beard or mustache. Some were real, but hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon says "about 60 or 70 percent" were bogus.

Martin Scali/Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Merely Hannon says those false mustaches are themselves works of art.

"They're made of real human hair, which you buy in all unlike textures and colors," says Hannon. "In that location'south usually five minimum colors in each mustache."

The hairs are sewn individually into tiny holes — less than a half-millimeter in bore — of what Hannon calls "the finest silk lace you tin find. ... Then you tin imagine the fourth dimension that goes into the perfection of each."

Simply of all the actors' beards, Frances Hannon reserves special praise for Jeff Goldblum'due south very real, somewhat Freudian goatee. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Hannon said Goldblum had "the almost boggling bristles I've ever run into," and praised how carefully he took care of it.

"I think the difference with Jeff was firstly the style the natural color came through on his beard," Hannon tells NPR. "I had never seen such distinctive black and white areas that weren't peppered throughout. ... That was completely natural. And nosotros just enhanced the strength of the black [with coloring]."

Hannon told the Los Angeles Times that player Jeff Goldblum, who plays Deputy Kovacs, had "the nearly boggling beard I've ever come across." Martin Scali/Courtesy of Trick Searchlight hibernate caption

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Hannon told the Los Angeles Times that actor Jeff Goldblum, who plays Deputy Kovacs, had "the most extraordinary beard I've ever come across."

Martin Scali/Courtesy of Fox Searchlight

Goldblum says he institute out during pre-production that Wes Anderson was looking for a "feast of beards" from the actors.

"And I wasn't otherwise obligated facially," Goldblum says, "and then I allowed my hair to grow out for a couple of months."

Hannon then took Goldblum'south salt-and-pepper palette to shape the final production.

"She would use her very talented hands and exercise some little pruning and shrubbery work," Goldblum says. "Nosotros would come up with something and and then nosotros'd show Wes [Anderson], and he'd say, 'I similar that. What if we took off a few more than hairs here and at that place? And I'1000 thinking this and that.' And nosotros had a few sessions similar that, and so we wound up with that thing."

Goldblum, who was thrilled the "conflicting creature" that wound up on his face up, calls Hannon a "genius" — and he'due south not alone in his praise. Hannon, forth with makeup artist Mark Coulier, received a BAFTA honour earlier this month for her work on the film.

As for the Oscars, Hannon says she was "very excited and a piddling suprised" to receive the nomination.

"Just I couldn't exist more than pleased," she says, "because I practice remember that Wes created an boggling look in the end product of that flick that I have never seen in another moving-picture show before. So I'm actually delighted for him and extremely delighted to have been a part of it."

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