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Barrie Gower is a five-time Emmy-winning prosthetics designer. Gower grew up in the north of England, where his father managed a cinema. As he became a teenager, he became heavily involved in art—mostly drawings and sculpture. Still, in those early days, his mission felt like more “of a pipe dream.” With the support of his mom, Gower applied for art programmes, stumbling upon one promising option at the London College of Fashion. He didn't get into the university in the first year, as he didn't have any evidence of doing any hairstyling or makeup (although he had a portfolio). His mother enrolled him in a hairdressing course, and the following year he was accepted at LCF, where he “managed to meet quite a lot of industry professionals.” Barrie began his career in the film industry in 1996 after graduating from the London College of Fashion with a HND in Specialist Make-up. His first role was at the BBC Visual Effects Department on projects including ‘Red Dwarf’ and ‘Silent Witness’. The following year, Barrie was employed on his first major feature film, Steven Spielberg's 'Saving Private Ryan'. Barrie has since worked for industry-leading companies and individuals such as Weta Workshop and multi-award winner Rick Baker. Barrie contributed to the Academy Award-winning prosthetics for 'The Wolfman' (2011) and 'The Iron Lady' (2012). After 10 years working in the Harry Potter film world and then freelancing on other large-scale projects, Gower decided to start his own company, BGFX, with his wife, Sarah, also a prosthetics designer. They’d met working on a film in Budapest. At that time, she was part of the CGI visual effects department. BGFX began as an at-home studio but quickly launched into the big leagues when it received its first major opportunity: designing prosthetics for season four of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Thrones was the beginning of a fruitful relationship with HBO, one that has seen the couple spearheading designs for many more of the network’s biggest hits, among them House of the Dragon and The Last of Us. For the former, the job primarily centred around the ageing and decay of Paddy Considine’s character, the doomed king Viserys Targaryen. Simultaneously, BGFX was handling The Last of Us, which Gower is quick to describe as “the biggest thing we’ve ever done.” For that series, the company was tasked with designing and executing a whole world consumed by a fungus, plus the resulting zombie-like creatures that are born out of those spores. They didn’t have to start from scratch, however, relying on the catalogue of work created for the original 2013 video game by developer Naughty Dog.
Barrie Gower
Prosthetic Makeup Designer and Special Makeup Effects Artist
for Prosthetic Makeup Designer and Special Makeup Effects Artist in HBO‘s Arkham Asylum
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In HBO’s Arkham Asylum, the eerie corridors of Gotham’s psychiatric hospital hold more than just the city’s most dangerous criminals—they house the fractured minds and tormented souls of Gotham’s rogues. When a new psychiatrist arrives, eager to reform the asylum, she quickly realizes the immense psychological toll it takes. With each session, she delves deeper into the twisted psyches of patients like Joker, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy, slowly unraveling not only their dark pasts but her own vulnerabilities as well. As sinister events escalate within Arkham’s shadowed halls, it becomes clear that a hidden force is manipulating both staff and inmates. The lines between sanity and madness blur, and the asylum itself seems to take on a life of its own, twisting reality. Struggling to retain her grip on reality, the doctor must confront Arkham’s true nature and her own inner demons before they consume her. Arkham Asylum explores the terrifying allure of madness, the fragility of the mind, and the thin line separating hero from villain in Gotham’s darkest depths.
