16 Actors With Movie Makeup So Good, It Made Us Double Check If It Was Actually Them

Once introduced into movies, animatronics were considered to be the industry’s future. Everything changed dramatically with this technology that created fantastical visual effects, and we had never seen anything like it. But, believe it or not, nothing of that level changed with makeup, an art that is still broadly used in TV and film to this day. And with it, artists can sometimes create a completely different character from scratch using only “old-fashioned” equipment and techniques.

We at Impresionante have found some magical transformations that many of us only realized after the fact, or even many years after we saw the productions for the first time.

1. Colin Farrell, The Batman

2. Jared Leto, The House of Gucci

3. Tilda Swinton, Suspiria

4. Cate Blanchett, Manifesto

5. Mariah Carey, Precious

6. Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

7. Christian Bale, Vice

8. Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder

9. Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love

10. Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

11. Bradley Cooper, Maestro

12. Jacob Tremblay, Wonder

13. Naomi Grossman, American Horror Story

14. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

15. Eddie Murphy, Coming to America

16. Emma Thompson, Harry Potter

What other outstanding changes or roles impressed you the most? Will modern technology replace makeup and make it all even more spectacular one day? What do you think?

Preview photo credit East News, The Batman / Warner Bros. and co-producers