Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1331269
THE ARTISAN WINTER 2021 • 39 The Times We Had Life with William Randolph Hearst, The Making of Citizen Kane, giving us glimpses of who these people were, what they were about, and what they had gone through. Finding the similarities, we soon had our trailer wallpapered in inspiration. We were to film in black and white. Our talented DP Erik Messerschmidt was using a Monstrochrome black-and-white 8K camera, meaning a sharper, more precise resolution and enhanced light sensitivity, different from shooting in color and then eliminating the saturation in post. We tested nearly every hair color shade in the spectrum for depth and transparency, proving invaluable to our hair color choices and the close to one hundred wigs that we were to prep. Principal actors would need custom wigs and hairpieces made. Having had the pleasure of working with some of the finest wigmakers around the globe, we orchestrated fittings. Alex Rouse in London constructing William Randolph Hearst. Paul Huntley in New York constructing Louis B. Mayer and Rob Pickens in Los Angeles constructing two wigs for Marion Davies. Gary Oldman as Mank Collaborating with David Fincher, Gary, and Gigi about his hair and make-up process, we discussed many options, wigs, hairpieces, hair shaving, coloring, aging and prosthetics. Gary is known for his character transformations and he was all in, whatever it takes. Excited for the opportunity to create his transformation, I was soon to discover David's vision was more naked and vulnerable. We were not going to replicate Mank with prosthetics. I felt a strong responsibility to give both of them what they wanted. Taking into account Gary's ruggedly handsome rocker looks, I needed to reevaluate and take another approach without the use of the obvious tools. Gary had put on about 25 lb for the role, which helped in giving a fuller canvas. Using his own hair, after cutting, I thinned out his top hairline, tweezed out his part, then using Truhair Revive & Style temporary color mousse, an amazing product—their colors have great true to color depth. It gave me the ability to create various degrees of hair color. We often had different looks scheduled within a day, changing back-and-forth between years. I was able to color and age his hair with various degrees of graying, as the character aged. For his younger years, I was able to color him darker and fill in his hairline, and style his hair to appear thicker. In true team fashion, Gigi would then skillfully and magically apply his various make-ups. Collectively, the process gave Gary the tools he needed to create the character. The Women For Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies, Colleen did a beautiful job cutting, wet setting and dressing, meticulously applying her wigs and creating her various looks through the years. For Tuppence Middleton as Sara Mankiewicz, Colleen constructed two, 3/4 hairpieces which were cut, colored and wet set, to be integrated with her own hair. For Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst, Colleen cut, styled and applied the hairpiece. For Arliss Howard as Louis B. Mayer, Colleen cut, styled, and applied his hairpiece. To create Lily Collins' Rita Alexander, Colleen set and styled Lily's own waist-long hair into a period- HAIR Continued from page 36