This Body Horror Film Kept Making People Puke. Now, the Hair and Makeup Team Behind It Is Heading to the Oscars (Exclusive)

Bailey RichardsSat, March 7, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC

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A still from Norwegian body horror film 'The Ugly Stepsister'Credit: Lukasz Bak -

The Ugly Stepsister is nominated at the 2026 Academy Awards for Best Makeup and Hairstyling

The Norwegian body horror film has been making audiences vomit since its debut at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival

The Ugly Stepsister's hair and makeup team Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg, plus writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt, chat with PEOPLE about the movie and Oscar nod

The Ugly Stepsister has received the ultimate seal of horror approval and no, I’m not talking about an Oscar nod — though it’s got that too. The film can’t seem to stop making people vomit.

It all started with the world premiere of the body horror-black comedy at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2025 and has not relented, according to writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt. “I think one of the most common feedbacks is that we really play with people's gag reflexes,” the Norwegian filmmaker, 34, tells PEOPLE with a sly smile.

Blichfeldt’s directorial debut catapults Cinderella (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) from the spotlight in favor of stepsister Elvira (Lea Myren), whose quest to bag a prince leads her to some gruesome 19th-century cosmetic techniques. Some, like a hammer-and-chisel rhinoplasty, are historically accurate, while others, like sewing eyelashes directly onto the lower eyelid, were “rumored Parisian fashion,” the director explains.

But they all have a stomach-turning effect thanks to Blichfeldt’s unique “beauty horror” approach and the masterful execution of Danish prosthetic makeup effects artist Thomas Foldberg.

Lea Myren in 'The Ugly Stepsister'Credit: Lukasz Bak

Foldberg’s work, along with Danish hair and makeup designer Anne Cathrine Sauerberg's '60s- and '70s-inspired glams, nabbed the film an Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling — and on an “extremely low budget,” Sauerberg underscores.

Later this month, the duo is headed to the 2026 Oscars, where they will be joined by stars Myren and Loch Næss. But before packing their bags, Foldberg and Sauerberg, as well as Blichfeldt, sat down with PEOPLE to chat about their contributions to The Ugly Stepsister — and what it means to be recognized for them.

Warning: Some spoilers ahead.

Thomas Foldberg and Lea Myren behind the scenes of 'The Ugly Stepsister'Credit: courtesy shudder

PEOPLE: It’s hard to describe this film to people. I’ve been coming back to Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, and the phrase Barker used to shape its characters: “grotesque glamour.” How do you describe it, and what were the conversations about the vision of the film that you had early on?

EMILIE BLICHFELDT: It's fun that you say that it's like the grotesque glamour because we actually had our own term for it. We called it beauty horror, which is both the subgenre of the body horror we did but also this idea that it should always be this narrow place between beauty and horror and how they correlate or how they contrast.

So although Thomas and Anne Catherine didn't know me, I, of course, researched their work a lot. I was really looking for people who would share my sensibility of taste, which is so important, especially when you build a world from scratch. I'd seen some period work that Anne Catherine had done from a TV series set in the ‘60s that was just amazing. And of course Thomas' insane work on characters and faces.

With Thomas, it was these two things: It was the character work of Elvira that should feel very natural — people shouldn't think about it, that this is someone with prosthetics in their face and that character design — and then there were the gore parts. It's funny you say Hellraiser, because that was one of the references we had a little bit when it comes to what was the feel of the texture of the body horror and the gore.

And I really wanted it to not be so naturalistic, that you could almost feel that it's an effect. And have a campness around the effects in itself.

With both Anne Catherine and Thomas around Elvira's look, it was really interesting to design Elvira in the beginning as a realistic, believable teenager, but at the same time not be afraid to make her a little bit cartoonish. So you still feel like she's this fairytale character and we're referencing a little bit of what people would think of her in the Disney movie maybe, but never fall in the ditch of just making a cartoon character. So she's in this in-between space, between a very relatable teenage girl with braces and then this cartoon.

PEOPLE: I read ages ago that someone threw up watching the film?

BLICHFELDT: Yeah.

PEOPLE: I would love to know what your reactions were to that.

BLICHFELDT: That was actually at the premiere in Sundance. Unfortunately, Thomas and Anne Catherine weren't there, but we couldn't believe it. We thought it was food poisoning. We were like, "That was not our movie." But then it has kept happening. People were puking at the Norwegian premiere. I've been showing it in senior highs in Norway, and there's also been some puking. So it's a thing. I think one of the most common feedbacks is that we really play with people's gag reflexes.

The Ugly StepsisterCredit: courtesy shudder

PEOPLE: Thomas, what was the higher honor, learning about all of these people throwing up or learning that you were nominated for an Oscar?

THOMAS FOLDBERG: I think the Oscar nomination goes a long way. But it's interesting to hear that people have felt that by watching it. I have heard some comments as well. But it's funny because it's not that gory or anything. It just has something. I think it's due to, especially, Emilie's way of editing these long sequences that’s unbearable to watch. And to me, that makes it like, "Ah!" I could imagine what could happen because there's no jump scare. It's the total opposite.

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ANNE CATHRINE SAUERBERG: And it's also very relatable. You know what it feels like when a [tapeworm] comes up. I mean, you can understand what it's like to have a needle in your … I think smaller things are much more effective.

BLICHFELDT: I would say it also has a lot to do with Lea Myren's amazing acting as Elvira. You really can relate to her physical acting. She's incredible in that sense. And we really tried to not tell too much with sound. If the sound was telling you someone is puking a lot now, somehow the actor doesn't have to lean in, so we tried to kind of pull back.

The Ugly StepsisterCredit: Lukasz Bak

PEOPLE: I would also love to know what your reaction was to the Oscar nomination as well.

BLICHFELDT: Oh, it's insane. Of course, I think that this is incredible work. As a director, I was mostly insecure about Anne Catherine and Thomas' work. People told me I was crazy to try to make a movie where the character [Elvira] would change so much. And it's my debut feature. And for us as a team to pull it off in both creating characters in the world where people can emerge themselves and relate, and then on top of that be acknowledged by the leading peers in this craft. It's a big moment.

PEOPLE: Thomas and Anne Catherine, what was your initial reaction to the news? Who did you call?

SAUERBERG: I was on a different set with Thomas' assistant on The Ugly Stepsister. She was streaming it on an iPad, and I was like, "Oh, I don't want to see it. No, no, no." And I sent Thomas a text with just three hearts in it. And I can see now that I should have been a little bit clearer … I saw it as a comfort that, "Okay, we got shortlisted and we should be proud of it." But we actually got nominated! So I was on set with a lot of the people, with the Polish production company, who was involved in this film, and it was amazing to share the moment with them. They were really excited.

The Ugly StepsisterCredit: Marcel Zyskind

FOLDBERG: I was in a meeting, so I didn't really share it, I just felt the phone going crazy in my pocket. And then the first message I saw was the three hearts, and then I was like, "Ah, okay." But then this craziness started and then I got out and found out what had happened.

PEOPLE: You’re in such good company in the category, and with majority horror films [fellow Best Makeup and Hairstyling nominees are Frankenstein, Sinners, Kokuho and The Smashing Machine]. What are your thoughts on horror films getting more flowers at award shows and in the film world in general?

FOLDBERG: I can say that I think it's super interesting that the horror genre finally seems to be acknowledged much more. And when you think about it, it's really interesting because since the first Frankenstein or Dracula, a lot of films have been referring to the genre, but it hasn't really been acknowledged. It's so strange. And up through the history, The Exorcist, Don't Look Now … the horror genre is a reference point and seems like an endless source of inspiration for a lot of other genres. So maybe I might be wrong, but it feels nice that it's being viewed in the same way as all other genres. I think that's really nice.

The Ugly StepsisterCredit: Marcel Zyskind

PEOPLE: The tapeworm, the eyelash scene …. Emilie, what came first? How did you conjure these out-there ideas?

BLICHFELDT: [Laughs] It's a great question. No, so the first idea came in a creative nap. Actually I was napping while I was working. A great place to be. And I was imagining this character I was working on imagining herself as Cinderella — but she was 2 meters tall, this character, so it was a bit weird. And then the prince comes and she fits the shoe magically and rides away. And then on the way to the castle, they both look down and see that a lot of blood is coming out of the shoe. And I woke up and I was in shock because I had related to the stepsister for the first time in my life. And I was like, “But that's the relatable character.”

So the chopping of the toes, that was where I started because that's the core metaphor of that there's so many women — especially women, but also men — that chop off their toes to try to fit this shoe, which is the ideal, this unattainable idea. And then I knew I wanted her to do other stuff. So I did some research on different historical or rumored historical stuff, and that's where I found the eyelashes. It's a rumored Parisian fashion. And the tapeworm.

The Ugly StepsisterCredit: Marcel Zyskind

But the tapeworm was one of the first things that I really put in when it comes to a dramatic arc in the movie, because I really wanted there to be an element of losing weight because it's such a big thing for so many people when it comes to trying to fit the ideal. But it was too easy for her to just take this egg and then become skinny and then nothing happened. What comes in must come out. It's like putting in a loaded gun in the script. It has to blow off at some point. And then when I understood that, “Okay, this is actually the ending."

That was a big, big moment for the film because that's also one of the biggest metaphors for her starting to self-objectify. And then at the end, being free of that, getting rid of this monster that she hasn't seen herself, but we can now see how big it's become on the inside and how horrible it is.

PEOPLE: What were you guys most proud of?

SAUERBERG: I'm going to be really boring and say it's the whole film … all the different looks of Elvira and the way they really fit together. Everything fits very well together in the movie and the story is amazing to be part of.

The Ugly StepsisterCredit: courtesy shudder

FOLDBERG: I must also say that I'm extremely proud of the whole character of Elvira, that we actually managed to pull off a character like that from start to finish. Especially the first part, I'm very proud of that look. And then I'm just really proud that I actually made the effects of the gore look as camp and fake — as long as it also looked a bit good to Emilie's vision, I mean. It's really the full package that's so fulfilling and great to be part of.

PEOPLE: Did you have anything that you want to add, Emilie? A favorite part?

BLICHFELDT: No, I also think it's the character and the tone of the whole thing. It's put together by so many pieces and we were such a big team on such a low budget and so little time, and for all of us to be able to pull that into one cohesive thing … I think that really, I'm just so proud and moved by finding so many amazing craftspeople and these two, that they would share and understand that vision.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”