Photo essay: how make-up and visual effects brought Max Headroom to life

Max Headroom was ostensibly a computer-generated character, but Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel knew early on that the technology wasn't there to make that happen. The solution was to place actor Matt Frewer in prosthetic make-up with special contact lenses and a fiberglass suit, light him with a single light source that mimicked the primitive computer graphics of the time, and then shoot him against a blue screen so backgrounds could be added later.

Below we see how make-up and visual effects artists John Humphreys and Peter Litten created Max, from the early exploratory designs until Matt Frewer walked onto the stage. You can read our complete oral history of Max Headroom right here.

Grid View

• An early concept for the Max Headroom make-up. Image courtesy of Peter Litten.
• The refined design hews closely to Matt Frewer's features, but sports a slightly different hairstyle. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• John Humphreys sculpts the mouth and jaw section of the Max make-up. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• John Humphreys with the baked and painted prosthetics. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Make-up artist Fiona Kemp applies the Max prosthetics to Matt Frewer. Image courtesy of Peter Litten.
• Max's "hair" is glued into place. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Fiona Kemp and Matt Frewer. Image courtesy of Peter Litten.
• Max's "suit" was a two-part fiberglass case that screwed into place. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Putting Max's contacts into place. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Ready for camera. Image courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.
• Matt Frewer on set as Max Headroom. Photo courtesy of John Humphreys / JohnHumphreysSculpture.com.