Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/611826
39 As Joy flourishes, some of the peo- ple around her languish. The progres- sion of Carrie, Joy's mother, played by Virginia Madsen, begins with a darker, golden blonde for the early years and transitions to a brighter and ashier blonde as she ages. Carrie is obsessed with soap operas, and she models her hair in that fashion, upswept and glam- orous, but not severe, a bit like a soft- serve ice cream swirl. In opposition to Joy, Carrie declines with age, and her hair style follows, becoming looser and more unkempt. There were two differ- ent wigs used to achieve this look. We used Virginia Madsen's hairline from ear to ear around the back to disguise the wigs' edges, and ultimately, we blended the sides as well. The only front-lace hairline that was left was across her forehead. Up-styles are the trickiest to achieve with wigs because the entire hairline, front and back, is exposed and can be a dead giveaway if not executed properly, both in con- struction and application. We changed the color and texture of her haircut in accordance with Carrie's age. Her style, as with her life, became more and more challenging to maintain. When we meet her in the 1960s, she is a "bottle blonde." When we see her again in the 1970s, she has more streaked hair, from a color cap. For the 1980s, we used foils for highlights and added gray to 20 percent of her roots. Carrie still colors her hair, but we can see the change in texture and the loss of shine. Édgar Ramírez plays Tony, Joy's for- mer husband, a failed nightclub singer. We darkened Édgar's hair using Reel Color Palette, and concealed his gray strand by strand so that we didn't com- promise texture and shine. We slowly changed the percentage of coverage until we were back to his natural hair, and then we laid in gray hair as he aged. We worked with a 10th of an inch of hair at a time, used Pros-Aide and hand-laid human gray hair section by section, then cut and styled his hair accordingly. All of the storyboards, research, tests and preparation could not have prepared me for a Boston winter's impact on our production. Our trailer's water would freeze regularly. Our glue would freeze. Towels that were not even wet would freeze. Snow days kept us in our hotels. Nevertheless, enduring cold tempera- tures was worth the experience of being a part of a story well told. My hope is that women embrace Joy's entrepreneur- ial spirit. So many women and men in our industry will see themselves in Joy's tenacious, powerful title character.•