'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'

Achievement in Makeup Oscar nominee

By CAROLINE RYDER

Preventing her pirates' mascara from running during rain-soaked battles on the high seas was the biggest challenge for "Pirates of the Caribbean" makeup artist Ve Neill, who had to ensure that shaggy beards, tattoos and scars remained intact despite intensely soggy conditions.

Neill, a three-time Oscar winner (for "Ed Wood," "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Beetlejuice") has handled makeup for each installment in the "Pirates" trilogy. This latest one, "At World's End," stretched her waterproofing skills to the limit, particularly during shooting of the maelstrom sequence. In it, the main cast plus hundreds of extras and a new contingent of Asian pirates (complete with glued-on Fu Manchus) were continually doused with water while being rocked around a faux pirate ship in an aircraft hangar.

Neill used super-strong adhesive to keep all the facial hair intact plus plenty of spray-on makeup sealant to protect against the "sea." Even so, it was a case of "constant upkeep," Neill says.

Giving her pirates, including Geoffrey Rush (aka Captain Barbossa), that nice leathery, weather-worn complexion was achieved by stretching the skin and applying a rubber compound, which was then blow-dried and powdered to achieve "a great wrinkled effect," she says. "It's the opposite of what the beauty companies are selling, basically."