Makeup Artist Jeff Goodwin Shares ‘Blue Velvet’ Memories Ahead of Book Release

Before I found Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet was the film that pulled me into David Lynch’s world. From the moment the red roses and picket fences dissolved into squirming bugs beneath the dirt, I was hooked. These themes would be honed by Lynch and company a few years later in Twin Peaks, but Lynch’s original boy detective story will always hold a special place in my heart.

On a recent trip to visit family on the East Coast, I was thrilled to find that Blue Velvet’s makeup supervisor Jeff Goodwin would be appearing at the Darkside Art & Oddities Expo in New Jersey while I was in town.

The convention was held on Saturday October 18, 2025 at the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison. Jeff gave a special presentation at 12:45 called “Skin as Canvas” during which he spoke about his 45 year career in the film industry working on movies like Manhunter (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), and Scream (2022).

While this article will focus primarily on Blue Velvet, you can view the entire presentation on the Twin Peaks Blog YouTube channel.

JEFF GOODWIN’S EARLY CAREER & MEETING DINO DE LAURENTIIS

Jeff spoke of his early interest in effects makeup, with 1968’s Planet of the Apes planting the seed for his future career path. “Boom! I was firmly bitten, and that was it. That’s all I wanted to do,” he said. He learned his craft working on local theater productions in his home state of North Carolina where he eventually met and began working with frequent David Lynch collaborator Dino De Laurentiis.

Being new to the business, Jeff didn’t immediately understand why the seasoned producer assigned him to certain projects. “He had me on Stephen King’s Silver Bullet, and he took me off of Silver Bullet at a certain point and gave me another film called Marie with Sissy Spacek, Jeff Daniels, and Morgan Freeman…Good script, great cast, but it had no effects in it.”

Eventually, Jeff came to understand that Dino was grooming him to become a well-rounded makeup artist who would be equipped to work on any kind of film.

“The effects is the stuff that people get interested in. That’s what catches your attention. But your bread and butter is the regular makeup,” he said. “You can’t do good effects if you don’t know that side of it, because you can’t blend stuff in…If you want to make a career out of it, you got to know it all…My knowing it all gave me a much better choice of projects that were coming my way.”

BECOMING BLUE VELVET’S MAKEUP SUPERVISOR, AND MAKING “MR. EAR”

Jeff’s collaboration with Dino De Laurentiis led to his working on Blue Velvet, which he described as “such a great experience all the way around.” As the film’s makeup supervisor, Jeff’s work included gore effects, character makeup, and of course the legendary severed ear.

He spoke about the ear occupying a grey area between makeup and props. “Tantar [LeViseur] was the prop master – an old buddy of mine, he’s passed away now too – he was happy that I took that off his plate.”

While Jeff wasn’t intimidated by a little prop work, he did occasionally have to talk his director down. “David wanted to use real blood and real ears,” he said.

“I went into David’s office…He’s sitting at his desk, he’s on the phone, and I put down a little tray with two sides on it. One side is real blood, the other side is the fake blood. He’s on the phone, he’s putting his fingers in both of them and he’s playing. He’s on the phone, he’s talking, and he’s just letting it dribble around. He gets off the phone and he says, ‘This is great, this is great, what is it?’ And I said, ‘Well, the one on the left is pig’s blood and you can get these diseases from that, and the one on the right is the fake blood I matched up.’ And he goes, ‘That’s great, that’s great. We’ll use the fake blood. Let’s go wash our hands now.'”

As for the ear, Jeff said the real thing might sound good on paper, but it actually wouldn’t have looked as believable. “You have to know what the real thing looks like forensically and then you have to know how to bend it for the camera to make it work for us to perceive it.”

Jeff proceeded to make a pair of silicone ears made from a mold of his own and brought them to David for approval.

“He goes, ‘These are great, these are great, but let’s make them adult ears.’ And I go, ‘David, that’s my ear!’ And he goes, ‘You’ve got the smallest ears in the world!'”

Producer Fred Caruso’s ears ended up being more to David’s liking, and a set of left and right were made (both of which Jeff still owns). But whose hair was used on the infamous prop?

“David came into the trailer one day to get a haircut from Barbara [Page], our hair stylist, and I swept up all of the hair from David and I punched that. All the hair that’s in the ear, that’s David Lynch’s hair.”

Jeff regretfully shared that the “Mr. Ear” prop is starting to show its age, so he didn’t bring it with him. “He’s now 40 years old, guys. He’s been around. He’s starting to show a little wear and tear.”

He did bring another recognizable piece, however.

“I didn’t bring Mr. Ear, but I did bring a piece of Yellow Man. Here’s the Yellow Man’s brain right there.”

Housed in a small plastic case, Jeff showed the audience the small prosthetic brain chunk worn by Fred Pickler as the Yellow Man in the film’s climactic standoff.

It was a thrill to see this piece up close and take in the details of Jeff’s handiwork.

MORE BLUE VELVET MEMORIES

Jeff also shared fond memories of working with actors Dean Stockwell and Dennis Hopper, who played the pale faced Ben and maniacally profane Frank Booth.

“I loved Dennis…we did two films together [Blue Velvet and Super Mario Bros.], but we worked together a lot,” he said. “He would always call me to come in for him to do photo sessions. Oh god, we did so many Cigar Afficionado covers and stuff. I loved Dennis. He was a good guy.”

However, Jeff revealed that the role of Frank Booth briefly belonged to someone else. “Bob Hoskins was originally cast as Frank Booth,” he said.

One day, before Bob Hoskins had flown in from England, Jeff was eating lunch with David Lynch, Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, and Laura Dern. David stepped out to take a phone call and came back as pale as a ghost.

“As he came back, it was Kyle that saw him first…Kyle went, ‘David are you okay?’ because he was white. And he goes, ‘I just got off the phone with Dennis Hopper who says I HAVE TO PLAY FRANK BOOTH, I AM FRANK BOOTH!’ And he goes, ‘It scared me so much, I said yes! But I don’t know what to do now because, for one, if he’s Frank, how are we ever gonna have lunch with him?’”

JEFF GOODWIN’S UPCOMING BOOK RELEASE – “BLUE VELVET: A POLAROID DIARY”

Back at Jeff’s booth, he had a prototype of an intriguing book. Inside was an incredible collection of never before published Polaroids from the set of Blue Velvet along with Jeff’s personal memories from the shoot. My jaw was on the floor as I flipped through the pages.

Just in time for the film’s 40th anniversary in 2026, Jeff has partnered with independent UK publishing company Reel Art Press to release “Blue Velvet: A Polaroid Diary.” The company specializes in high-end art books, and Jeff shared his excitement about how it’s coming together.

As of April 15, 2026, Reel Art Press has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the publication and give readers an opportunity to preorder the book. The hardcover version will be appropriately bound in blue velvet, with alternate covers and signed editions also available. You can back the campaign and reserve your book here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ivy-az/blue-velvet-a-polaroid-diary-by-jeff-goodwin

Talking to Jeff was such a joy. I thank him for sharing stories from his career and speaking so candidly about the film industry. I can’t wait to read more about his craft – which he describes as “a combination of makeup and magic tricks” – and look at one of my favorite film’s makeup and effects work under a microscope in his book.