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Tilda Swinton's costume in the upcoming Netflix original film Okja isn't so out of the ordinary. Aside from having a light pink sheen to her bob, Swinton's character, Lucy Mirando, looks like she hails from the planet Earth.
The same can't be said for many of Swinton's other roles, which push the limits of recognisability. So fully does Swinton inhabit her elaborate costumes that her familiar "celebrity" facial features are completely subsumed in the role. We wouldn't blame you if you watched the entirety of Snowpiercer and never realised Mason, the Thatcher-esque villain in charge of the apocalyptic train orbiting the earth's circumference, was actually Tilda Swinton.
In an interview for Snowpiercer, Swinton was asked how she's able to embody such wildly different costumes. Swinton said, "For me, it is all about dressing up. That is the fun of it, which does not mean that it is not interesting to work with a finer tooth comb on something more delicate, like I Am Love or even Orlando, where I am using a face that looks more like my own. But, I do love making shapes."
Over her decades-long career, Swinton has proven she's the shape-shifter of our times. She's never typecast, because she never plays the same character twice. She's played angels. She's played men. She's played white witches. And she's played tricks on her mind.
Here's how far Tilda Swinton has been willing to go for her roles.
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