Annals of Hollywood – The Man Behind the Nose

How Kazu Hiro transformed Bradley Cooper.

- By Hua Hsu. Photograph by Chris Buck

Kazu Hiro did not have a particularly happy childhood. He grew up in Kyoto, on a small, busy street lined with markets, where his father was a fishmonger and his mother sold clothes. "I was sensitive," he told me. He felt bullied by his parents, so he tried his best to keep to himself. "I hated school," he said. He dreamed of leaving Kyoto and his family behind. In kindergarten, he would sculpt or paint in the corner of the classroom. "That was my obsession: making something."

When he was eight, he saw "Star Wars" and became fascinated with the film's special effects-he was particularly curious about what Chewbacca's hair was made of. "Star Wars" seemed like an evolutionary leap from the "cheesy" feel of such Japanese movies as "Godzilla." As a teen-ager, he took a bus each weekend to a store that carried imported books and magazines, hoping to learn everything he could about filmmaking and special effects. One day, he found an issue of Fangoria, a movie magazine for blood-and-guts enthusiasts. Hiro was squeamish, yet horror films were where a lot of the innovations in makeup and low-budget effects were happening. He read an interview with Dick Smith, one of the most influential makeup artists in Hollywood, renowned for his work on "The Godfather"-notable not just for

Smith's aging of Marlon Brando but for the special blood bladders he devised to make gunshot wounds more realistic and "The Exorcist," whose remarkably visceral scenes of demonic possession remain the benchmark for scary movies.