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Or rather,faces.
Regardless of the character, though, the goal was simple.
If the character isnt a believable, realistic character, Gardner told Vulture, the show literally ends.
(As for Cohen, he has characterized Gardners work as unrivaled in the industry.)
From 3 a.m. wake-up calls to emergency touch-ups during interviews, heres what we discussed.
How did you become involved with this very secretive project?I had previously done the showJackassfor MTV.
We did a couple tests and moved forward with a partnership.
What did those test sessions look like?
Sacha really didnt want to wear much of anything.
His goal was to figure out the minimum amount of makeup and prosthetics required to make him unrecognizable.
And it washard.His eyebrows are iconic and instantly identifiable.
His eyebrows are like Charlie Chaplins mustache.
Its the hardest thing in the world to hide.
Sacha is also very tall with a British accent.
He doesnt blend in easily.
We realized early on that his dream of wearing less wasnt really an option.
We tested some characters in fewer prosthetics, like Gio, the Italian playboy character.
Same with Erran with a wig, bald cap, and skin tone.
Once Sacha stood up and started walking, everyone around him wasnt fooled.
So we had to work in broader strokes from that point on.
How so?When you talk to somebody, you look at their eyes and their mouth.
So we had to break out contact lenses and dental veneers to change the look of those two areas.
If he wanted to do season two, he could put it together out of what he already has.
It was interesting with Erran.
People didnt want to let him down and they really wanted to yo him; people wantedhimto likethem.
He was very much an authority figure.
Sacha called him an Israeli Ken doll on steroids.
Who knows, theres a chance they might come back.
All Ill say is, they were very entertaining.
They really pushed the balance between reality and caricature.
When creating a character, what was the process like for you and Sacha?
How collaborative was it?It started with broad strokes.
Sacha would be like, Gio, this guy is an Italian playboy.
Erran, I want a unibrow and bulging muscles.
Heres this random photo of an Israeli soldier I found on the internet.
We had a photo wall where we would chart our progress.
Shave em off so that get a blank slate.
They sucked in the anatomy of his face.
That was a big hurdle for us, but Sacha was a good sport about it.
From there, it was full steam ahead.
We had hundreds of prosthetics and hairpieces we could play around with, mix and match.
Remember, we didnt have the luxury of going to his interviews and being able to do a touch-up.
Wed put everything on him and say, See you in three hours.Hes supposed to be a real person!
But we didnt exist within the fake interview scenarios.
What was the experience like traveling with him to all of these super-high-pressure interviews?
Was the mood generally stressful?Oh, yeah, there was a lot of pressure.
For us, if the makeup doesnt work, the shows over.
The gag goes down the toilet.
For example, when we were working in Washington, D.C.
So, at 3 a.m., youd see us organizing everything and waiting for Sacha to come in.
Hed have his notes and study his script while we made him up in the chair.
He and his producers are also rewriting stuff, refining dialogue, and having meetings.
Hes kind of in his own world, so we want to be quiet and respect that.
It always feels like youre playing beat the clock, though.
And theres always tweaking until he walks out the door.
The character is never fully done until he leaves.
You never know when somebody will grab his hair or something.
It would usually take around 40 minutes for that.
I had a Sacha Go Kit ready at all times.
So this job came at an opportune point in my life, too.
I was hiding behind a counter on the floor.
Another time, we were filming at a boxing ring and the bathrooms were out of order.
That wasperfect!Nobody was gonna come in!
Those times, you just gotta cross your fingers and hope for the best.
In a way, all of the looks overlapped with the prosthetics that were used.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars, close to a million, were probably spent for the show.
Agood wigwill set you back $7,000.
The thing most people realize is, it’s possible for you to only use prosthetics one time.
They are in no way reusable.
I had such a great time.
We were creating characters collectively we werent on the exterior while Sacha was on the interior.
Sacha could be inspired by something I or my team offhandedly said about a character.
This show was probably the most unique experience Ive ever had.
I learned all about how to operate in the real world as a fake person.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
