Tropic Thunder (2008)
The Make-Up: Who is the actor playing fat, balding studio exec Les Grossman? Yes, it's Tom Cruise.
Created By: Gerald Quist, who in a past life worked on the make-up for Star Trek: The Next Generation .
Cleverest Detail: Cruise himself decided to wear oversized prosthetic hands for an extra touch of grotesquery.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Make-Up: Sometimes, all you need to convey the moral corruption of dystopian youth is a bit of guy liner, as Kubrick's droogs define themselves through sparse but eye-catching self-decoration.
Created By: Make-up artist Barbara Daly collaborated with costume designer Milena Canonero, who was under instructions from Stanley Kubrick to start with the head when devising the droogs' look.
Cleverest Detail: Applying thick make-up to the lashes of just one eye, breaking up the symmetry of Malcolm McDowell's face to unnerving effect.
The Nutty Professor (1996)
The Make-Up: Eddie Murphy spends what must have been an eternity in the make-up chair as he plays multiple members of the morbidly obese Klump family.
Created By: Rick Baker, who won yet another of his seven Oscars for managing to differentiate the Klumps.
Cleverest Detail: The family dinner scene - the film's iconic showcase for Baker's work - was nearly cut for lack of relevance to the plot.
X-Men (2000)
The Make-Up: A menagerie of mutant creations makes it way to the big screen, none more striking than Rebecca Romijn's blue-skinned, naked Mystique.
Created By: Prosthetic artist Gordon J Smith and make-up supervisor Ann Brodie.
Cleverest Detail: The sheer level of detail - Romijn's make-up comprised 110 separate prosthetics, covering 60% of her body.
The Godfather (1972)
The Make-Up: Marlon Brando's drooping, bulldog-esque jowls were not, as the legend goes, created by the actor stuffing his mouth with cotton wool but using a special mouthpiece.
Created By: This was an early triumph for make-up pioneer Dick Smith.
Cleverest Detail: Smith's make-up was so difficult to light that it led to cinematographer Gordon Willis' decision to use overhead lighting, helping to define the film's distinctive look.
The List Of Adrian Messenger (1963)
The Make-Up: Director John Huston came up with the wheeze of having Hollywood A-listers Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum and Tony Curtis appear in heavily disguised cameos.
Created By: John Chambers, recently immortalised by John Goodman for his part in the real-life events depicted in Argo .
Cleverest Detail: The end of the film, in which the stars wipe off their make-up to reveal their identities.
Hellboy (2004)
The Make-Up: Ron Perlman's imposing physique and granite features are augmented with a lot of red paint, as he plays the reformed Nazi demon with lopped-off horns and a hand made of stone.
Created By: Matt Rose, whose job was easier when he discovered an old mask of Perlman which had been used in the actor's 1980s TV hit, Beauty And The Beast .
Cleverest Detail: Talk about all-encompassing; the only part of Ron Perlman that is still visible under the make-up are his eyelids.
Batman Returns (1992)
The Make-Up: Danny DeVito takes on the classic villain's role of The Penguin, using state-of-the-art prosthetics to reshape his face into a suitably avian shape.
Created By: Monster specialist Stan Winston.
Cleverest Detail: DeVito was banned from discussing his make-up with anyone - including his own family - prior to release.
Hellraiser (1987)
The Make-Up: Clive Barker's Cenobites, a group of sadomasochistic monsters from another dimension, arrive in all shapes and sizes of grotesquery.
Created By: Bob Keen, working from Barker's research into punk fashion and hardcore S&M clubs.
Cleverest Detail: Never mind Pinhead, what about Uncle Frank, who willingly has his facial skin peeled back by hooks?
The Goonies (1985)
The Make-Up: Ex-American football star John Matuszak was transformed beyond recognition to play Sloth, the kind but disfigured son of evil Ma Fratelli.
Created By: Ellis Burman Jr, Thomas R. Burman and Bari Dreiband-Burman. It was a family affair.
Cleverest Detail: To achieve the effect of Sloth's eyes being far apart, one eye was a special effect operated by remote control, to which Matuszak had to blink in time.
