Makeup magic turns Streep to Thatcher.

Whether playing a Holocaust survivor, a hesitant Catholic nun, the self-absorbed editor of a fashion silky or a famous person chef, Meryl Streep is best known as an actress whose characters occupies and consumes her.

She has no small help in these roles from teams of crafts workers who are present at to the costumes, hair and makeup that are an intrinsic part of people she portrays. This is perhaps clearest in her newest film, "The Iron woman," in which Streep channels Margaret Thatcher, Britain's prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

"I pored over scads of archival photos and news update footage, cautiously examining each photograph (of Thatcher). I required to have it all in my head," says hair and makeup fashionable Marese Langan. "We filmed first hair and makeup tests with Meryl. We did other tests with Alexandra Roach (the actress who portrays the younger Thatcher) to see how they matched up." Langan adds: "Meryl was involved in each step of the process … and did her own research as fine. From the first instant on the set, Meryl had (the Thatcher character) down. It was astonishing."

Langan also did the makeup, hair, and forehead pieces for all 30 actors portraying members of assembly.

Mark Coulier, head prosthetic makeup designer, had accountability for Streep's aging and also fashioned makeup for Roach and Jim Broadbent, who played Thatcher's husband.