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BARBARA LORENZ Lifetime Achievement Award: Hair Styling by Daniel Curet With more than 124 IMDb credits, Barbara Lorenz is not one to rest on her laurels, but she does have "some good stories." How does it feel getting a Lifetime Achievement Award? Well … I just think it's wonderful … I'm a nervous wreck about the whole thing. You know you're going to have to write an acceptance speech? Who do you want to thank? Kathy Blondell, Susan Germaine, Gail Ryan, Renate Leuschner and Jacklin Masteran. Gail Ryan, Kathy Blondell and I would pass jobs and actors off to each other. Our working styles are so close. Susan Germaine and I had that product line 'Hollywood Backstage.' We traveled the world and we had some really good times promoting our products for about 18 years. What was your fi rst gig out of the salon? I was working in a prestigious salon in Beverly Hills when I got a call from someone named Joyce whose brother in-law, Ben Lane, was head of Columbia Studios Makeup Department. She told me they were looking for good hair stylists and asked if I would be interested. I worked a couple of days and the owner of the salon told me I couldn't just take time off, so when I got another call, I thought well, the money is pretty good working on pro- ductions in this fi lm business—not knowing then what it would turn into … my life! The fi rst thing I did as a personal was The Wild Party with Raquel Welch. It was a 1920s period fi lm. I had never done a '20s hairdo on a movie before and I really practiced. Raquel is a great singer and dancer and I did her variety shows and Tommy Cole did her make-up. In those days, I ended up doing a lot of award shows and live-television variety shows. What is your "go-to" hair style? It'd got to be that curly look I did for Bette Midler on Beaches and Meg Ryan on When Harry Met Sally that has now given way to loose waves like the ones I did on Kate Hudson for some scenes in Bride Wars … that's always an easy style to go to. On being a personal: Being a personal has given me the ability to work more closely with actors creating their characters. On being a department head: I've noticed recently, the prep days on a lot of fi lms have been cut down to three or four days and sometimes you meet the actors for the fi rst time the day they work and the director asks you to change the hair color. I never rushed on set. Walk me through your process in taking on a project? You mean, like La La Land? Medusah, a fellow hair stylist, had recommended me for the job knowing that I had done a lot of musicals. I went in and met the director and we talked for an hour and a half, mostly about jazz. After interviewing, I thought I had the job but didn't hear anything for quite a while. A few weeks later, we go to do the movie. The director wanted the hairdos to be timeless so I tried to do the hairdos as timeless as possible. The costume designer wanted us to do more period- specifi c hair styles and I had to remind her that the director had requested 'timeless,' so that when he would see the movie in 20 years, it doesn't look dated. What technical changes have you experienced in our industry? HD and digital cinematography seem to be the biggest changes. In the beginning, they caused such a fuss over backlit fl yaway hairs … they'd make you go in and pat them down! Too much backlight and the hair wouldn't look so great. Too brightly lit and you can see the lace edge on a wig. Years ago, the actors didn't have highlights. The hair color didn't pop. When they started highlighting, they would use a bleach cap, which was a disaster. It would bleed through and cause a ring on the roots. I would have to use a colored mousse to correct. If you go talk to the cinematographer, they can help you out with lighting adjustments. What products do you like to use? Basically, I like to use a setting spray. I hardly use hot rollers or blow dryers, I mostly use curling irons. I don't really like using hairspray anymore. If you do a good set, the hair stays. On La La Land, as much as those girls danced and danced over a few weekends, the hair moved. Share your industry experience, strength and hope? I guess my strength has been the ability to do hair and being able to do a variety of different hair styles and wigs and everything that I was ever called on to do. My hope is that I can continue working as long as I want to. Any last words? My hope for all these new kids coming in is that they keep trying and eventually, all their dreams will come true! I know that I had to work really hard when I got in. It was much more diffi cult then, than it is today. Read the full interview at www.local706.org Barbara Lorenz (right) with Jamie Lee Curtis