Meet the Makeup Artist Behind the Witchy Glam of 'Forbidden Fruits'
We spoke with Joan Chell about dreaming up makeup looks for the new film.
Starring Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti and Alexandra Shipp, Forbidden Fruits is a witchy, satirical take on the cult of sisterhood. In the film, mall employees become witches and female friendships are solidified with nightly rituals. Given its fantastical nature, every small detail was intentionally thought out and carefully curated — rendering makeup looks an essential ingredient of the potion.
For makeup artist Joan Chell, conceptualizing glam that felt on par with the film’s distinct characters required multiple mood boards and tons of collaboration with director Meredith Alloway and the entire wardrobe and hair department. Having worked on Heated Rivalry as head of makeup, Chell finds that the two exist in completely separate worlds — while the hockey romance meant sweaty bodies and SFX details, Forbidden Fruits sought out smokey eyeshadow and blood-soaked skin.
Fueled by power and performance, the film’s characters Apple, Pumpkin, Cherry and Fig become a vehicle for the overarching theme of womanhood. Where styling shapes Forbidden Fruit‘s sense of heightened reality, Chell acknowledges that makeup also plays a role in molding the characters into living, breathing people — rendering moments as absurd as mall basement rituals into pivotal points of development.
Ahead, we speak to Joan Chell about working on Forbidden Fruits and what initially drew her to the project in the first place.
On Dreaming Up the Makeup in Forbidden Fruits
My main inspiration originally came from my many chats with Meredith [Alloway], three months prior to shooting. She had been developing the concept for two years with the girls before we started, so I drew a lot from our chats. I translated those ideas into mood boards for the main characters, and after a lot of back-and-forth and tweaking to get everything just right, we finally arrived at the looks you see on screen.
On What Ties All of the Glam Together
The witchy energy really came alive during the store’s night time rituals. Each ritual had its own distinct soul, so we treated them as standalone creative challenges. I worked with our amazing costume designer to ensure the makeup palettes didn’t just match the wardrobe — but heightened it. For instance, with the winter solstice theme, we leaned into a specific type of ritual glam that felt both icy blue and high-fashion. It wasn’t just about looking witchy — it was about using color and texture to make those midnight ceremonies feel uniquely spectacular so the goal was to have the makeup feel like part of the ritual itself — intentional, and deeply tied to the character’s transformation in those moments.
On Her Favorite Look
It has to be Pumpkin played by Lola Tung, she was such a chameleon. We started her off very stripped-back and natural — just a young unassuming girl in a food court — and then dialed up the intensity as the story progressed and she becomes a fruit. My favorite personal touch was designing her freckles, they added this layer of character that made her looks feel real, not just applied. It was a blast seeing how those small details helped define her many looks.
On How Makeup Allows a Character to Come Alive
I’m a firm believer that the best work happens in the trenches of collaboration. The magic of Forbidden Fruits came from the bridge between my station, the costume racks and the director’s monitor. We’re all building one world. By syncing the makeup with the hair and the actor’s energy, we create an environment where the performance can thrive. It’s a collective grind that pushes the final look to a place I couldn’t reach alone.
On What Draws Her to a Project
It’s a mix of three things: a unique storyline, characters with depth and a team that’s ready to collaborate. I’m looking for projects that offer a wide creative palette — the kind of work where I can really create something authentic. At the end of the day, filmmaking is a team effort, and I’m drawn to that shared energy of creating something beautiful together.
On the Difference Between Forbidden Fruits and Heated Rivalry
The shift between these two projects was like moving between two completely different psychological landscapes. I’d describe Forbidden Fruits as “mystical glam horror” — a world where high-fashion ritual looks collided with the brutality of blood effects, torn fingernails, and visceral gore. Heated Rivalry was a high-stakes hockey love story that demanded a totally different kind of technical endurance. The grit there wasn’t blood — it was the invisible artistry of managing body sheen, sweat and bruising SFX.
Interestingly, the one bridge between these two worlds was the character choice of freckles. I visualized them for Pumpkin as a creative character choice in Forbidden Fruits, for Shane Hollander in Heated Rivalry, they were an essential nod to the original book series.
