She has worked on some of the biggest local and international productions, including Noughts and Crosses, Brave Ones, and the Resort to Love for Netflix USA.
In her latest international film work, she helped bring the characters and story of The Woman King to life through her makeup and prosthetics, creating the scars and wounds of the women warriors.
Hair and makeup designer Babalwa Mtshiselwa (35) tells Drum about her experience of working on some of the biggest international TV sets and productions.
“I had 15 members and about five to 20 extra people daily depending on how many background actors we had,” Babalwa says.
Her brief was to turn the cast of The Woman King which included Thuso Mbedu, Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim, into the fierce women warriors of the African kingdom of Dahomey.
“I have always dreamed of working on stories that tell positive and true stories about the power and wealth of Africans. I have been craving to be in productions that tell and reveal the true history of Africans and especially African women as we have been cheated of that,” she says.
“I have also dreamed of the world also having the heroes that we resonate and identify with, black and female. That was more than special for me about this project.”
The brief was to keep all the gore pretty minimal as it was PG13.
“This was a bit tricky when I looked at the script as was very intense in terms of how it described the fight and battle scenes with some tests and reviews of the stunt fights, I found a safe middle ground that told the story as best as possible. My treatment of the makeup and prosthetics style was to keep the skin looking natural, dewy, and beautiful,” she says.
The scars needed to be visible as a way of honouring the soldiers and what they perceived as their specific beauty.
“They were extremely proud of their scars and regarded them as beautiful. The wives were highly decorated with makeup that would have been made using natural resources such as bronze dust, bird feathers, flowers, beads, shells, and more,” Babalwa says.
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She believes she got the job on The Woman King through manifestation.
“When I saw the first Deadline article about the film happening, I said to the universe, ‘I am going to be a designer on this shoot. I don’t know how, but it has to be mine.’ A year later, two colleagues of mine while on the shoot of Noughts and Crosses told me that the shoot was coming to Africa,” she says.
“I couldn’t believe it and as someone who knows Thuso, I told her that I hear it was coming. I told her I don’t have an agent and know that I won’t be put forward for it as some producers have often told international companies that there are no capable black creators and technical in South Africa.
"Thuso understood this and as someone who sees and respects my work, she took it upon herself to go beyond what I had asked. Just a mention of my name as someone who exists and who is capable, she sang my praises I got to submit my CV, portfolio, and showreel. I got an interview and a week later, I got the job.”
Working with a star-studded cast was motivation enough to wake up every morning.
“My favourite moments were every time I went to set and watched the monitors and saw what we were creating,” Babalwa says.
“I loved watching the scene with Thuso Mbedu's Nawi during the final test, she did an incredible job. It always felt like the triumphs of black women in the story were being celebrated as real triumphs because we felt them for the people of Dahomey and all Africans as certainly ourselves too.”
She also loved the scene with Izogie and the mama soldier competing with a spear stabbing each other’s shoulders.
“When the woman won, the moment the women started chanting, singing, and dancing was so powerful on set, they had to call cut quite a few times to get the actors and background actors to stop singing, the entire crew was dancing,” she says.
Another spiritual moment for Babalwa was on a very hot day.
“We had over 100 background actors and it started raining, instead of everyone running for cover the musicians on set started beating their drums to the people singing and dancing and celebrating the blessing that the rain was,” she says.
“Unplanned and on cue, it was amazing how everyone started to move in joy, an infections spirit of Ubuntu defying all the hardship being experienced on set.”
Working with award-winning actress Viola Davis was a dream come true for Babalwa.
“Viola is and has for a long time been my favourite actress in the world and I had also said to myself that I would one day work with her,” she says.
“I didn’t expect it so soon in my career but I was blown away that it was actually happening. She was one of my biggest inspirations and guardian angels on that shoot, she heard my story and protected me to the end. When she called me Queen, I knew I had made it in life,” Babalwa chuckles.
“Thuso is a real trooper and an underdog of note. Respected everyone, always on time, so creatively involved and aware of all the elements that brought her character to life, and she was quietly protective of her character and space," she says.
"She experienced a lot of tough moments on the shoot but handled it all with such poise and grace and never forgot to honour and fight for Nawi (her character). On top of that, she’s kind and loving and a beautiful soul and sister.”
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Born in Langa township in Cape Town, Babalwa had a knack for beauty and all things hair from a young age. After high school, she studied Human Resources Management and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her first makeup job was on the set of the film Chronicle, and from then her career skyrocketed.
“The project I did before this was Noughts and Crosses season two for BBC. Before that, it was Netflix The Brave Ones and the Resort to Love for Netflix USA with Christina Millian and produced by Alicia Keys.”
She has also worked on a few exceptional local projects such as Lockdown seasons one and two where she won a SAFTA for both.
“I also worked on Mnet Trackers and also won a SAFTA for this."
Also How to Ruin Christmas season 1, where she got another SAFTA, the film Knuckle City which also won a SAFTA.
“I also worked on the Long Walk to Freedom and Madiba. There were many other productions before and in between and after, some of which I mentioned earlier in the interview.”
Her favourite production to date was Noughts and Crosses.
“I had so much pure uninterrupted fun in that job. I experienced so much respect and freedom to just do my job in peace. It was very creative and hair was a major part of it and I enjoyed honouring ancient African styles in a modern world where Africans were never colonised and full of pride with an untainted sense of identity.”
Despite having worked on international productions, she was still challenged by The Woman King.
“The Woman King was a beautiful job, but shot in a short time for what is required. I enjoyed the creations, and the work was the easy part, but we had script changes almost every day that required constant troubleshooting and fighting for continuity,” she says.
“Julius Tennon, the producer, and Viola Davis, lead actress and producer, both owners of Juvee Productions, gave me all the support I needed to be able to make it to the end,” she says.
With every makeup job, she wants to honour and pay tribute to each character.
“I want to do this in a way that honours the human they are portraying, knowing that I won’t directly repeat it in any other project.
"I always keep my beauty makeup as minimal as possible so that the audience can always see a real human behind the glam, not to hide the character or I’ll alternate with more layers for when I feel the character is hiding and less for when we see them as themselves behind closed doors.”
