'This Is Us' star Mandy Moore recalls the 'terrifying' alternate options for how Older Rebecca may have looked: 'They put fake eyebrows on me'
- Mandy Moore said that some of the first makeup looks considered for Old Rebecca were "terrifying."
- They made her look like she was in her late 90s," the "This Is Us" actor said.
The final season of "This Is Us" is approaching, and Mandy Moore is starting to look back on her character's progression throughout every decade. In addition to playing a younger Rebecca, Moore plays older Rebecca in the present day, with the help of an extensive makeup process.
The aged look used on Moore is authentic and understated, but Moore told E! that some of the early ideas for how to age her on-screen using makeup and prosthetics were "terrifying."
"I remember the first hair and makeup test," she said. "I had this really long gray wig. They made her look like she was in her late 90s." She said she had to wear a mask over her eyebrows and lips and also wear "fake eyebrows."
"We have so many crazy funny photos I will have to put out — maybe once the show is done," Moore added, noting that there were many fittings to determine whether aging Moore authentically on-screen was even possible.
The "Walk To Remember" star remembered that when "This Is Us" creator Dan Fogelman first approached her with the idea of playing Old Rebecca, about a month out from filming, she "was terrified."
Clearly, she warmed up to the process. These days, Moore regularly lets her Instagram followers follow along with her transformation into Old Rebecca on her Instagram stories and Variety reported on the logistics of the process in 2018.
According to Variety, aging Moore for present-day scenes takes about three hours every time. It involves wearing a wig that's so tight Moore takes medicine for the inevitable headache she's going to get, elaborate makeup application to add wrinkles, freckles, and crows feet to Moore's normally clear skin, and 10 different facial prosthetics.
Moore is happy to do it for the sake of the work but did tell Variety in 2018: "If I'm in age makeup, something dramatic has happened. I'm being confronted by my son about the fact that I've been lying to him, meeting his biological father and pretending I don't know him, talking about the anniversary of my husband's death."
The sixth and final season of "This Is Us" premieres January 4 on NBC.