As we sit down with TooFab to discuss the makeup process behind the highly anticipated film adaptation of Bad, lead makeup designer Frances Hannon said her process started with finding the “perfect color for Cynthia.”

“And of course to find something that worked in every other light, because the stage is a set piece,” Hannon told TooFab exclusively.

“We were going to go from the inside out, to complete darkness. So we didn’t want to lose Cynthia in all that, that’s how my process started, how to find the reflective quality that is needed,” she said.

Elphaba’s striking green skin is its prominent visual feature Bad — where the central theme revolves around the ultimate journey of self-acceptance of the Wicked Witch of the West, so finding the right shade was paramount.

On the big screen, Elphaba’s tears are falling down her cheeks, her mouth is wide as she belts out powerful songs like “Defying Gravity,” and not a single makeup move the entire time.

“It also looks like it’s real skin, and I think that’s a wonderful achievement, because if you paint something on the surface, and you don’t work on top of that either, and you have the right base in it, then you can never getting rid of the fact that it looks fake, but it just works brilliantly,” said Hannon, proud of her team.

She also added that if the perfect color wasn’t found, there was a chance they would do so by post.

“But it was never what Cynthia wanted,” she revealed. “Luckily we found it and never had to take it to that spot.”

On the other hand, the makeup for Glinda — played by Ariana Grande — was kept relatively soft and natural.

“(I wanted to) actually keep it very classic and timeless. My inspiration in the early days with Paul (Tazewell’s) amazing costumes, Princess Kelly was very popular when I was younger, and she was much older. But she had a quality that was so timeless,” Hannon recalls. “But also on Ari we used opulence and iridescence to keep it reflective when they were together. The lights still work very well on both. But also to stay in line with the beautiful costumes that Paul designed. So, you know, that quality came out in her face and arms, because they were always naked, well, 90% of the time.

In preparing to bring the characters from the Broadway show to the big screen, Bad costume designer Paul Tazewell brought his attention back to where it all started: The Wizard of Oz.

“It affected our visual culture and entertainment culture,” Tazewell told TooFab. “I went back and examined the original Wizard of Oz book and the 1930s film to hopefully embrace those icons and weave them through all the ideas I had for Bad.”

Ultimately, it was director Jon M. Chu’s vision that aided Tazewell’s creativity, which he balanced with tributes to the original story and show.

‘This is led by Jon to create an original point of view on how we want the story. I think that’s difficult. Bad fan base that exists and what their expectations are. Everyone who comes to watch Bad both have a relationship with it Wizard of Oz or with the original Broadway show. Hopefully they will still be invited into some of the work we have created, feel at home and experience the story in a new way.”

Grande and Erivo were already household names before they landed roles they had been eyeing for years. However, it was important to Hannon to help audiences distinguish between the stars they knew and the characters they would play on screen.

“I always research everything those artists – in every film, not just this one – have done before,” Hannon explains.

“So hopefully what you bring is not just what you read on the page, or what the director wants, or what inspires Paul, but it’s also that you don’t overlap with anything that they’ve done before and what’s been done before,” continued them.

“You always want to bring something original. So that was quite easy for me to do with Ari, because she was so iconic in her ponytail. So I could kill that quite easily,” she added. “But both Cynthia and her shaved head. It was just finding something new for both artists.”

Tazewell’s mood boards for the intrinsically detailed costumes, meanwhile, started with “icons from the original film” and then led to images of vast landscapes.

“There was the Glinda dress, there was a tornado that was part of it. There was a vast meadow, and then it went into a spiral. Then those spirals became a kaleidoscope that expanded into architectural spaces,” he said. “I think of this whole world. You have Emerald City, which is mostly green and has elements of gold. Then you have Munchkinland, where the tulip growers are. It’s a very modest, but picturesque and fairytale story. Good.”

The masterpiece that the Bad team ultimately created, ultimately ended up further than his mood board had initially expected.

“It was an exciting process to look back on that and think, ‘Oh my God, we put all that into our movie.’ It went beyond that. That was definitely the inspiration for what we ultimately achieved,” he told TooFab.

Bad: Part One can be seen in cinemas from November 22.