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THE ARTISAN FALL 2018 • 35 enough water so you can catch the drops of water shake off his hair in the lighting on stage. I loved seeing this character come to life! I have worked with Bradley for years and each film we work through a process of finding a new character using my hands as a tool. That's one of the best things about working on films to me—telling a story, bringing the character to life. Who could ask for anything more? Lady Gaga who plays "Ally" had quite a different storyline. We wanted to show how the rise of fame of a talented singer/ songwriter could change someone. When we first meet Ally, she has brown hair. Frederic Aspiras kept her hair on the natu- ral side by keeping her hair in a soft-textured shag or youthful updo's and knots. As she was discovered and started on the music scene, Frederic added a more stylized finish by adding volume and waves that added movement to her character's hair. This allows the character to transition into a more commercial entertainer. Then we took it even further—we changed the hair color as well. We went full circle with her and eventually, she went back to her natural brown color by the end of the film. I don't want to spoil anything. This is a must-see film. We all had a great time making assorted wigs for our drag queens' bar and scenes. We did a lot of internet research and attended "Drag-Con" for inspiration. But we weren't the only ones having fun. Our actors had some fun trying them on as well. I would get a text from time to time when I was on set with photos of them trying different wigs. All-in-all, we made more than 30 assorted drag wigs for these scenes for choices on the day. The trailer was loaded with BIG hair. We had full lace wigs, hard front wigs and we even made some with a "rooted" wig line. To make the rooted hairline, we took one-half inch around the hairline and teased it tightly at the root. We then split that in half and pulled half down onto the forehead area and the other half, back into the hair style. We would then use heat and aerosol hairspray with the blow dryer, aiming the air down rather than back into the hairline. This locks in the hairline before we would cut what was placed down on the forehead to half-inch around the hairline. This technique is a common way to make drag wigs if you have a synthetic hard front wig and want it to blend better as though it was a lace front. Using all the choices, our five main-cast drag queens, Willam Belli "Emerald" ended up with three wigs alone on her head. We stacked one on top of another for volume. We blended all the wigs into one piece. D.J. "Shangela" Pierce, who played the emcee, wore a sassy but classy short synthetic wig done by Joy. For Dennis Tong "Donte," we designed a Betty Page-inspired hard front human hair wig with added hair decorations done by Dawn. For Josh Wells "Sookie," we designed a classic big volume style done by Dawn as well. Derek Kevin Jones "Etta" (Etta James) inspired a blonde synthetic wig. We put color on the roots to add dimension and texture. We also had 10-20 background talent that Bruce Samia assigned wigs to after we made the choices for our Maine cast. I haven't run across this much fun in my 25 years' experience in the film business. You never know what you have to pull out of you hat! I love every minute of it! As for the rest of our other cast, I have to say it was the best mix of talent. Joy styled Sam Elliott, who played "Bobby" (Jack's brother), and Andrew Dice Clay "Lorenzo," who played Ally's father. Dawn Dudley worked on Anthony Ramos "Ramon," who played Ally's best friend. We pulled his hair back in braids or "man buns." I thought it would be interesting to not see him in the same exact style. So each new day, his hair had a different look. If you see this film, it's probably something you wouldn't notice, however, when thinking about his character, I thought it would be an inter- esting thing to do. Rafi Gavron "Rez," we styled with Crew Clay. Jack Maine's band members—Luke Nelson, Anthony LoGerfo, Corey McCormick, Tato Melgar and Merlyn Kelly were some of the wig try-on culprits. I thank them for all their patience when we had to sweat them up on stage. For all the other cast, you are amazing! This film has been a great experience for all of us and I wish more were like this! • Clockwise from top left: Lady Gaga as Ally with Anthony Ramos as Ramon; Sam Elliott as Bobby; Bradley Cooper as Jackson with the successful Ally.