Interview with Donald Mowat Makeup Artist “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant”

Donald Mowat, a renowned makeup artist, is from Canada; I recently conducted a Zoom interview with him for “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant” film. He has a long list of credits on many successful films, The Fighter, 8 Mile, Sicario, Nightcrawler, Prisoners, Nocturnal Animals, Stronger, Blade Runner 2049, and served as a personal make-up artist to Daniel Craig on Skyfall and Spectre. Recent work includes First Man (directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy), The Darkest Minds (directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, staring Amandla Stenberg), Velvet Buzzsaw (directed by Dan Gilroy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal), and most recently Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant.

His career spans over 30 years, and he is a longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and The British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Internationally, in 2012, he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his service to the film industry. Donald continues to display his skill as an exemplary leader through speaking engagements with aspiring entertainment professionals at Pixar Studios University, the London College of Fashion, IMATS, London, BAFTA Scotland, and BAFTA London, to name but a few.

It was a pleasure to speak with him and learn first-hand about his craft and the telling of an important true story.  The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Hi Donald, it’s so great to meet you; what a resume of films; I’ve seen many of them you’ve worked on. I’ve also seen all of Guy Ritchie’s films; this one is my favorite!

Sarah Knight Adamson:

Going into the film set in 2018 during the War in Afghanistan, what look are you going for in terms of Makeup and Hair?

Donald Mowat:

Well, my such a great question because we had a very short prep period, and, you know, it was during Covid. We researched with Loulou (Bontemps), the costume designer, who did a great job. We wanted to ensure our background looked right because we shot in Spain. Guy (Ritchie) did want that to look appropriate, as did all of our actors, so we did a lot of research. We studied video footage, documentaries, and news footage to ensure we were authentic yet, respectful.

SKA:

Thank you for that. I noticed in a photo still that all US soldiers are wearing helmets, and the Interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim), wears a wool beanie hat. Can you talk about that?

DM:

Because he’s not a soldier, he’s working for the military. I also think it’s distinguishable, right? His baldness was very interesting as a character because he’s so different from the outside. He’s an outsider himself, even within that environment. He’s an outsider.

SKA:

Exactly, two things. When I looked at the photo, I thought he was not protected. With the shelling and I just felt bad for him. And you mentioned the baldness. I’m not giving anything away in the movie, but when they meet up, he says,” I like your outfit.” And Jake Gyllenhaal says, “I like what you’ve done with your hair.” I thought it’s like he had never seen him bald, you know, without his beanie cap. Could you speak to that?

DM:

The sense of humor between them was very good. They’re very clever. They had a great chemistry that only people who really like one another can have. And two people who really get along, other people couldn’t talk to each other that way.

SKA:

Can you talk about Alicante, Spain, where you filmed, and the similarities to Afghanistan?

DM:

They found it was a genius location. I was really impressed with the whole Guy Richie team. There’s something about the dryness and the look of it and the mountains. Although finding the background, the extras were a little challenging because we had to really push the men together.

People forget that various European ethnicities also start to assimilate. They don’t want to look that way in a new country. Same in the United States. So we had to encourage people to grow these beards.  And grow their hair out. Typically, in places like Afghanistan, you’ll have men with shorter hair and a beard. That’s quite typical. So observations like that. And then, making sure women weren’t coming with painted nails, which is very typical now of Iraqi and Afghani women living in Europe. Making sure nobody had long lashes, eyebrows painted on.

SKA:

I’d think it’d be much harder to take away than put on, honestly. (Laughing)

DM:

That’s what we do a lot of the time.

SKA:

Did you stay in the old town of Alicante, or were any scenes filmed there?

DM:

Yes, we stayed there, and we were 45 minutes away. We all stayed in town, and then we did the Air Force base in Zaragoza, which was a few hours away, and we stayed there. And that was the end where we filmed the last latter portion of the film.

SKA:

Was the weather a problem for you in your work?

DM:

No, actually, it was quite cool. People also forget that the desert can be cool. They think it’s always hot. They think of Afghanistan as hot. It’s not; it gets very cold. We had a couple of rainy days. But no, work-wise, we did very well. We were very lucky with the weather.

Great. I imagine that transition would be a constant battle in your work.  Can you tell me any stories about that from this film.

Chris Raphael unit stills photographer, Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant, (Donald Mowat, instagram)

DM:

There are times when you can’t control it. Sometimes you have a harder time matching things. They’ll do the same action in different ways, or the editor will change something or pick a better take where the makeup might not be quite what you wanted, or there’s something changed, and you can’t fix it. Sometimes you have to let it go because it’s a better take.

It’s a better take because it serves a better purpose, or it’s technically better. In a movie like this, you do have to let certain things go because you’re in a timeframe of 10 hours a day. No one’s going back to base camp; you’re staying on the set and will keep shooting. We’re not breaking for lunch; we’re 45 minutes back to the town, and that’s it. It’s very much like a docudrama, kind of rough and ready kind of world. And I sort of loved it. It brought me back to the way it used to be.

SKA:

Oh, fantastic. I know you’ve worked with Jake Gyllenhaal before. What’s he like to work with?

Donald Mowat’s Instagram

DM:

He’s fantastic, he is a very watchable actor, and he’s very collaborative, and he’s a nice person, but he’s a very good actor and that matters to me. He’s solid. We’ve, we’ve made seven or eight movies together now. I tend to like working with people I know. He’s one of the better actors working. And it’s important, it’s really important; he’s a good guy. I’ve known him for a long time. I know his mother, I know his father, I know his sister. I know the girlfriend. I just feel like after a while, you go, you know what, he’s good. He’s solid, he chooses interesting things, and he’s a brave actor.

SKA:

Oh, I think so. I would agree with you and Guy Richie because this is so different for Guy Richie. I was wondering about what it’s like to work with him.

DM:

What a charming person. You only get a little time with him. He’s not a guy that wants to have a lot of meetings. I’ve been on films and TV projects where you’re having meetings to have meetings to have meetings. It’s not that. It was kind of refreshing; he sort of leaves you to yourself. You are respected in a way that you’re not micromanaged, which I have to say, in the last few years, I’ve been feeling that a little bit. And it is kind of annoying. The guy left me to figure it out. Once in a while, I get a message from him, do we want this? Do we want that? We got all the guys to grow their hair and their facial hair because that’s what these guys do. We talked about Jake having a beard or no beard, and he said, beard but don’t make them too perfect. We didn’t want the beard to be too clean, too perfect. Guy’s charming and has a great team around him.

SKA:

What’s your favorite part about being in this business?

DM:

I love working. I love helping the director and the actors tell the story.

SKA:

Do you have a favorite scene in the movie?

DM:

Oh my God, yes, well, the ending, of course, because there’s very little that has to be said. And I like less is more. I would say probably that’s it.

SKA:

Do you have anything else you’d like to say about “Guy Richie’s The Covenant?” Thank you so much for speaking with me today, and best of luck with the film.

DM:

I just think it’s a really important story. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Have a great weekend.

Sarah Knight Adamson©May 5, 2023