The Mother In Barbarian Is Unrecognizable Under The Makeup
"Barbarian" tore up the silver screen in the fall of 2022. With its masterful blend of in-your-face horrors with a darkly comic edge, the film was one of the biggest surprises to come out of the genre in the last few years. The surprises the movie presents are best experienced with no prior knowledge going into the film. With spoilers ahead, proceed with caution if you haven't seen the film yet.
In "Barbarian," the character Tess (Georgina Campbell) books a home rental that has been accidentally double booked with Keith (Bill Skarsgård), and the two characters spend the night in the home. After some strange occurrences throughout the night, the pair explore the basement of the home the next day, which leads to them finding underground tunnels under the house. Keith is pummeled to death by a creature living the world underground.
The creature, known as The Mother, is a product of inbreeding with the film's serial killer character, Frank (Richard Brake), who also resides under the house, which was formerly his own. The Mother captures anyone she can get her hands on and treats them like her children. Tess attempts to escape with AJ (Justin Long), an actor with a sordid past who now owns the home, before The Mother makes them her own.
Despite not wearing much beyond prosthetics, Matthew Patrick Davis looks nothing like The Mother
According to an interview with Variety, actor Matthew Patrick Davis, who plays The Mother in "Barbarian," had no idea what he was getting into when he signed on to play the role in the film. He did not see any renderings of the monster at all when he headed over to Bulgaria to film the movie. Several tests later, after a "too cartoony" first look, the Bulgarian crew and director Zach Cregger landed on the look of The Mother that's in the film.
The role required the actor to be pretty much naked, with the exception of prosthetic appliances. Davis said, "I had a weird plastic fake a** but it looked so bad it was just like, 'We're just going to have it with a thong.'" He continued that per Cregger's request, "I did Veet my entire body, which was a fun experience that I had never had before, but I asked if I could not shave my eyebrows because he was going to cover them with prosthetics."
Matthew Patrick Davis is a versatile actor beyond his creature work
Matthew Patrick Davis ended up wearing a headpiece, face prosthetics, and a wig with just his mouth and nose exposed. Fake teeth were used to push his mouth out. He wore contacts to change his eye color as well as fake breasts and a merkin to complete the way The Mother looked.
Davis said to Variety that he looked the most camera ready when he first stepped out of the makeup trailer each day. He said, "As soon as I start moving or sweating, that's when you'll start to see the seams, so for any close-up work, they would make sure to do that first and all the wide shots at the end of the day."
Matthew Patrick Davis, who looks nothing like The Mother character he plays, is a versatile actor. The 6'8" tall performer has donned makeup effects in the past. While he's played an Alien Xenomorph for "The Late Late Show with James Corden" and a zombie in a recent Sprint commercial, he isn't exclusively a creature performer. He has voiced characters in "American Dad" and in "Animation Domination High-Def." He's even appeared as Ace Ventura, Pet Detective in both "The Sarah Silverman Program." and "Tosh.0" (via IMDb).
"Barbarian" is in theaters now and streaming on HBOMax.