Aliens: Jenette Goldstein plays Vasquez: Physical Transformation for the role

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Aliens: Jenette Goldstein plays Vasquez

 

 

 

 

a) Getting bigger

Jim Cameron asked her how big she could get in four weeks. 

 

She had never tried,  and so she just ate a lot and gained ten pounds of fact over her physique and she kept training, and had two years of groundwork underneath . 

 

1.  Though she wasn't auditioning particularly for the role of Vasquez, the producers- like much of America—liked what they saw. "I was in the shape I am at this moment. 1 had been training for years, going to a gym.  
    
   "Before the role, [director] Jim Cameron asked me how big I could get in four weeks," she laughs. "I had never tried, so I just ate a lot. I gained 10 pounds of, basically, fat, over my physique. But 1 kept training, and I had two years of groundwork underneath."
 (Copied from https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine # 115)
   

 

 

 

 

b) Hiding pale skin and freckles

Her Huckleberry Finn style freckles that didn't fit the job description, thus she would got through an hour of makeup. 

 

The makeup woman said that Jenette had the most ornery freckles that she had ever seen. 

 

It was freezing cold on the set, and the actors were oiled up all the time. 

 

The fake sweat and water made the makeup run a lot, so it was a toss-up between looking sweatier and having her white skin show through. 

 

1. What was underneath was fine. It was Goldstein's outside that needed an overhaul, largely because blue eyes and Huck Finn-style freckles didn't quite fit the job description. "The makeup took an hour," she sighs. "The make up woman said I had the most ornery freckles she had ever seen.
   

   "It was freezing cold on the set, and we were oiled up all the time. The fake sweat and water made the makeup run a lot, so it was a toss-up between looking sweatier and having my white skin show through." (Copied from https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine # 115)

 

 

 

 

c) Dark Contact lenses

They also gave her dark contact lenses to wear normally she had grey eyes that would look blue , that Cameron through were greyish blue.

1. Jim Cameron: She had to wear brown contact lenses because her eyes were greyish blue. (Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron) 
2. Interviewer:  So on the external part of your character, you actually had some extensive makeup right  
   Jenette Goldstein : Oh yeah  
   Interviewer:  You were wearing contacts, I just assumed you, everybody I think assumed you were hispanic in that movie, it's incredible  
   Jenette Goldstein : Well, I have light skin and dark freckles, I kind of look black irish in a way
   Interviewer :  Yuh
   Jenette Goldstein : In a weird way, and erm, I have kind of grey eyes so when apparently, I didn't know this, if you connect all my freckles, I look,  I don't know, and then the eyes seemed incredibly blue
   Interviewer :  That's interesting, somewhere in the spaces  
   Jenette Goldstein : It's all the spaces in between the freckles, I have no idea, so  
   ("I was there too" podcast, 17th March 2015)    

 

 

 

 

d) Haircut

 

They would unceremoniously chop off most of her waist-length hair.  

 

She was ready to let it go to undergo the change but still she was heartbroken about it, and Jim Cameron told her at the time "Your hair will grow back. Vazquez will live forever" 

 

They brought out what she would label as a buzzsaw to hack of her locks, she ddn't want to save it because she thought it would be too gruesome.

 

She was enough of an actor to actually pull off this Hispanic character 

1. Jim Cameron: Plus we had to crop her long curly dark hair shot and dye it black. She was heartbroken, but as I told her at the time "Your hair will grow back. Vazquez will live forever" (Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron)
2. James Cameron: Jenette has very fair skin, freckles and had hair down to her waist and blue eyes.
   So somehow we managed to see that if we cut all her hair off and gave her dark make-up and brown contact lenses, she was actor enough to actually pull off this Hispanic character. (Aliens blu-ray  commentary  (02:01))
3. They also gave her dark contact lenses, and, rather unceremoniously, whacked off most of her waist-length hair. "They just brought out the buzzsaw," she quips. "But I was ready for it, to undergo a change. I didn't want to save it. I thought that was too gruesome." (Viva Vasquez: Starlog Jenette Goldstein Interview 1987 (Copied from https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine #115))