Walton Goggins Reveals His Fallout Make Up Process

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Published November 25, 2025 by Travis Johnson

Speaking at the Sydney premiere of Fallout season 2, the star of The White Lotus revealed his process for enduring hours in the make up chair.

It is a credit to sheer talent of Fallout star Walton Goggins that his performance as former cowboy star Cooper Howard, AKA The Ghoul, shines through the all-encompassing prosthetic make up wrapped around his noggin. And as the most unlikely leading man since Walter Matthau revealed at the premiere of season 2 in Sydney on Monday night, smearing all that stuff on his distinctive skull is a hell of a slog.

Goggins, appearing alongside co-stars Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten for a Q&A hosted by David Campbell, spoke about the make up process before the audience were treated to a very early (and heavily embargoed, believe me) look at the first two episodes of the upcoming second season.

Asked how long the process took, Goggins quipped “Eighteen hours” before quickly walking it back when the crowd gasped.

“I couldn’t help myself,” he chuckled. “but no, we’ve got it down to about two hours, fifteen minutes.

“I’m normally there three hours before other people get there and it’s just a process of becoming this guy, but I have a routine down. It starts with talking to my buddy Jake Garber [that would be make up legend Jake Garber] who applies it, for about 20 minutes. And then I watch a movie. And then I listen to music the rest of the time.”

But the catch is you have to be careful about the kind of movie you’re watching – that can have a direct impact on the job at hand.

“It was one morning when I was very early and I put on Kramer Vs. Kramer and I started crying!” Goggins laughed. “No, you can’t apply the makeup if you’re crying, man! No, no, just stay in the middle lane. Just stay with Westerns. Watch Stagecoach again. Shane is safe!”

All else aside, it’s never a bad time to watch Stagecoach again. I might push back on Shane being safe, though – as Professor X observed in Logan, that final scene is a heartbreaker.