Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1189512
38 • THE ARTISAN WINTER 2020 It goes without saying of course, that among the film's many "wow factors" was the opportunity to be directed by Martin Scorsese. I shook off the inevitable self-doubt that every artist feels when they take their first steps toward a massive project. Nicki (and a few other artists I trust and respect) convinced me that I was the right person to take on this huge challenge. And a challenge it was. This job presented the conditions that allowed all of the skills I had picked up and tucked away in the back of my mind over the years to come to the surface all at once and play on the screen. Like drawing water from a fountain, every trick of the trade I learned from my formative years as a young hair stylist in Local 706 poured out of me as I worked alongside the superb period hair stylists of Local 798. Being new to New York, I was very dependent on Nicki and Jerry Popolis to help me find my crew. Thankfully, the three main characters all had their own personals. Robert De Niro had my dear friend Jerry Popolis. Al Pacino had my longtime colleague from 706, Tricia Almeida. Joe Pesci was taken care of by James Sarzotti. The rest of the cast of hundreds was taken care of by myself and my team. Jerry had an inventory of wigs that he used on De Niro. Meanwhile, Pesci and Pacino were wigged to visually move the plot along by showing their ages in various decades. This classic theatrical technique was used alongside the innovative digital de-aging process, which was used only on these three men. All of the aging for later years was done practically for Bob and Joe. Pulling all of the different decades together was easier than I thought it would be. Fortunately for me and for my team, I was able to compound the thorough research I'd already put together, alongside amazing photographs given to us by production's own brilliant research team. They supplied us with actual images of most of the characters. I can't deny our satisfaction as artists when we were able to match actors' looks with actual Sheeran family photos, or gleefully pulling actual mug shots of the mobsters. Prior to the start of filming, Marty brought together the design team to look at footage of union rallies held by Hoffa and Tony Pro. The differences were noticeable and those little details were implemented in our design. I learned so much about the fine details that visually come into play and how it added to the story of the characters. However, there were many hurdles we needed to clear. One of the biggest was how to age and de-age characters that were carried through the film in multiple periods. Many wigs had to be utilized to accomplish the looks for the men. We had to remove grey on some, while adding grey to others. Shooting schedules being what they are, this placed a heightened importance on continuity as we would shoot 1950s on a given morning and 1970s that evening. There were wigs for certain decades to get the correct hair length for the period we were shooting for the day. I also utilized skin wefts on some of the gentlemen to get the longer hair needed for the '70s and of course, keep their haircuts maintained for the '50s and '60s. And as the design team loves to say ... we all felt like we were doing six movies in one! Bobby Cannavale was amazing as Felix 'Skinny Razor' DiTullio. For his look, Sunday Englis, co-key make-up, applied the bald pate and I followed her work with one