Millennium (1989)

Note: I would like to thank Nina Laden for having been so kind to send me scans of the polaroids that her father, Bob Laden, took of his work on Millennium. Nina Laden is a talented illustrator and author whose work can be seen on her website ninaladen.com

(So far, I've found little in the way of solid sources on how Millenium was made; a shame, as the film has some striking set design, visual effects and prosthetics!)

Millennium was director Michael Anderson's second foray into science-fiction, adapted from John Varley's short story 'Air Raid'. In contrast to Anderson's earlier Logan's Run, the future depicted in Millennium was a dark and decaying world populated by a dying human race.

This morbid aspect of the story was reflected in the film's production design, which extended to the makeups. Millennium's prosthetic makeup effects were designed by Bob Laden, with Paul Mejias, Kenneth Brilliant and Jay Kushwara credited as 'prosthetic makeup assistants'.

An angular prosthetic with a metallic paintjob was designed for Robert Joy as the robot Sherman. The makeup was complimented with a specialty 'robot' costume for Joy to wear, with a hard piece covering the back of his head. Identical prosthetics and costumes were made for extras playing other robots glimpsed briefly in the film.

(I've tried to find credits for whatever specialty costume-makers could have made the Sherman robot costumes, but to no avail so far. There's no credits as such in the actual film either)

Bob Laden's specialty was in old age makeups, having done the old age makeup for Max Von Sydow's turn in The Exorcist. A sickly-looking prosthetic makeup was designed for Brent Carver to wear as Coventry, one of the humans living in the far future.

The future humanity is ruled by a council of heavily disfigured and mutated humans; an especially grisly prosthetic was made for Chapelle Jaffe as the councillor Stockholm.

A similarly grotesque prosthetic was designed for Chris Britton as the councillor Buffalo, showing his brains growing out his skull.

Aged makeups were made for Gerry Quigley and Leonard Chow as the councillors Khartoum and Beijing, but they do not get close-ups in the film, nor are they in the polaroids.

It also seems that two rudimentary puppets were made to depict the councillors whose bodies had deterioated to nothing but brains and eyes; I don't know who made these particular props, as there is no specialized credit in the film.