"Four hours of makeup, and then an hour to take it off. It's tiring. I go in, I get picked up at two-thirty in the morning, I get there at three. I wait four hours, go through it, ready to work at seven, work all day long for twelve hours, and get it taken off for an hours, go home and go to sleep, and do the same thing again"
About this Quote
The intent is bluntly corrective: to remind you that the movie image is manufactured at industrial scale, and that the labor is often invisible by design. Makeup is both literal and symbolic. It s prosthetics and powder, but it s also the job s core contradiction: you spend the bulk of your day becoming someone else so the world can pretend it happened effortlessly. Even the phrasing "go through it" treats transformation like a procedure, not an art. Craft is present, but so is the numbing logistics that swallow it.
Subtextually, he s also talking about control. Call times dictate sleep, transport, meals, even skin. You are the product, and other people handle the packaging. By ending with "do the same thing again", he frames acting not as inspiration but as endurance a cultural reality check that lands harder now, in an era obsessed with behind-the-scenes authenticity but still addicted to the polished lie.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Sarsgaard, Peter. (2026, January 16). Four hours of makeup, and then an hour to take it off. It's tiring. I go in, I get picked up at two-thirty in the morning, I get there at three. I wait four hours, go through it, ready to work at seven, work all day long for twelve hours, and get it taken off for an hours, go home and go to sleep, and do the same thing again. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/four-hours-of-makeup-and-then-an-hour-to-take-it-128320/
Chicago Style
Sarsgaard, Peter. "Four hours of makeup, and then an hour to take it off. It's tiring. I go in, I get picked up at two-thirty in the morning, I get there at three. I wait four hours, go through it, ready to work at seven, work all day long for twelve hours, and get it taken off for an hours, go home and go to sleep, and do the same thing again." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/four-hours-of-makeup-and-then-an-hour-to-take-it-128320/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Four hours of makeup, and then an hour to take it off. It's tiring. I go in, I get picked up at two-thirty in the morning, I get there at three. I wait four hours, go through it, ready to work at seven, work all day long for twelve hours, and get it taken off for an hours, go home and go to sleep, and do the same thing again." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/four-hours-of-makeup-and-then-an-hour-to-take-it-128320/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
