12 Awful Movie Make-Up Fails That Were Horribly Distracting

10. Idris Elba - Nelson Mandela (Long Walk To Freedom)

The Desired Effect: Elderly Nelson Mandela, poised and full of grace. The Actual Effect: Plastercine headed man. Casting Idris Elba as the dearly departed leader was a good idea, since the hulking actor has skills, but he's not exactly the best physical fit for the role, given that Nelson Mandela probably wasn't anyone's first choice to play the kind of rippling action heroes Elba typically plays. That didn't stop the casting powers, which isn't really a problem when Mandela is a young man, because the invitation to suspend belief isn't unprecedented when actors don't wholly resemble their subjects. But then when Mandela emerges from his prison, the make-up department seems to have ignored the fact that Elba doesn't look like Mandela, and have aged him not just to look like an aged Elba, which would have worked, but an approximation at the elder Mandela, which creates the unnerving feeling that Elba is playing two different people entirely, and that a good portion of his face is made of play-dough.