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Thandie Newton: 'The Truth About Charlie'
By Leslie Mitchell
InStyle
(InStyle) -- In "The Truth About Charlie," Jonathan Demme's remake of the 1963 classic "Charade," Thandie Newton pulls off what few actresses could -- she takes a part first played by Audrey Hepburn and makes it her own.
"Her character was so stylish," says costume designer Catherine Leterrier. "She was high fashion. Thandie's look is different -- it's modern, but inspired by the sixties."
Newton plays Regina, a woman who has returned to Paris after vacationing in Martinique to find that her apartment and bank account are both empty and her husband has been murdered. With nothing more than the clothes in her suitcase, Newton manages to achieve low-key elegance in every scene -- a feat that will make you think twice next time you're packing up your Samsonite.
Eyes
"The focus was not to make Thandie glamorous, but just a natural, beautiful woman," says makeup artist Nathalie Tissier. To achieve this, Tissier played with an innocent, somewhat naive look, keeping Newton's face as bare as possible while giving her eyes a "wide-eyed, Bambi feel."
Tissier lined Newton's upper lash line with a chocolate brown eye shadow from Christian Dior 5-Colour eye shadow in The Browns. She left the lids bare and coated the end of Newton's lashes with Clinique Naturally Glossy mascara in Jet Black. To open up the eyes and make them look brighter, Tissier blended Christian Dior Ombre Plume in Beige Veil, a light, creamy shadow, just under the arch of Newton's brows.
Face
To be believable, Newton's makeup needed to be almost invisible. Tissier blended Ben Nye concealer under her eyes and smoothed Make Up For Ever Face & Body Liquid Makeup over her entire face to even her complexion. "Her cheeks were always a little pinky -- like she's blushing or has just been running outside," says Tissier, who brushed Shu Uemura Glow On in pink on the apples of Newton's cheeks -- "before powder so it looks glowy."
She went easy on the powder with just a light dusting around the nose and under the eyes, then Tissier topped Newton's lips with Clinique Glosswear in Crystal Clear, a sheer gloss.
Clothes
"It would kill Thandie's simple sophistication to add too much," says Leterrier. So she opted for clothes that had clean lines and a minimalist mood, accenting with Prada shoes and Miu Miu accessories. In this scene, Newton looks effortlessly sultry in a custom-made cream skirt and raincoat paired with a cashmere sweater set by Prada that shows off her décolletage just so.
"I didn't want to put complicated fabric on such a beautiful figure -- she's better with simple, fine things," says Leterrier. "And she's running all the time so we didn't want anything bulky or complicated." After all, when you're frantically running around Paris trying to solve the mystery of your husband's murder, isn't an understated look the best option?
