Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433300
THE ARTISAN WINTER 2022 • 39 because I was able to learn more about their lives, parents and sisters—I didn't know about those aspects as much. So, it was about getting into who they were at that time and why they were that way. CARLA FARMER: And for myself, being of African American descent, Serena and Venus were very important, iconic figures for our community and the world. So, of course, I knew about them and how important they were. And being a hair stylist, I really appreciated them being their true, authentic selves, when they showed up to the scene wearing braids and beads. And that was also very important to the culture. I also loved their parents for being unapologetically authentic, as well. So, it was a pleasure to work on such a film, and yes, like Jacenda, we still had to do our research. We didn't know the backstory—the personal stories about the siblings—but there were also the coaches, the other players, the time period. Jacenda and I were both around during that time, so we could draw from our own experiences—but also research, real footage and, of course, Google! (LAUGHS) Mr. Google. Always there. How did you go about bringing together your teams? JACENDA BURKETT: When we first started prep and filming on this, it was pre-pandemic. I had this amazing team—my key, Martha Callender, and I had Ken Diaz and John Blake. Then things happened and some people weren't available, and it was a completely different team, with Joanetta Stowers and Jennifer Zide. From the beginning, I tried to be mindful of whose story I am telling, women, African American, everything. I wanted everybody to feel and love this movie, because I love the story so much. With the downtime, I became more thoughtful of things and not just about doing the film work. It's about the story. I was so blessed to have every person there, from beginning to end. With the new protocols, it really became a labor of love, because we were wearing masks, capes and gloves. It was intense. We were one of the first films to start post-shutdown. CARLA FARMER: Absolutely. And going in, I had to be specific to the hair texture and things like that. My team was assembled with people who were familiar with African American texture, as well as Anglo, white and Asian hair, because we had huge scenes with background… I had a well-rounded team, with Lillie Frierson and six stylists (Shian Banks, Marcos Santos Diaz, Maaliq Elliott, Jamie Rogan, Linda Villalobos, Nichelle Young). I also wanted to mention, on behalf of Jacenda, that we had some skin tones to match among the tennis players who were doubling. The team that she put together to do that was amazing. They came in and did it in such a sensitive way. It was so valuable and very important. JACENDA BURKETT: Akiko Matsumoto, who did airbrushing— literally one of the best artists I've ever had on my team. How do you go from historical record to workable movie looks? JACENDA BURKETT: I've done a lot of films based on true stories, and sometimes, you have to alter things. But on this one, Venus and Serena and their family were just so beautiful and strong that I just tried to keep it to who they were, who their parents and sisters were. Because we were all in separate trailers, I was giving images to everybody. "Let's stick to the accuracy of who they are. We don't need to change it." In the make-up world, we didn't need to change their perfection, in my eyes. We just tried to stick with the reality. At their ages, they wore very little make-up. I remember seeing Venus in a game, her skin just looked beautiful and glowy—she looked so strong. So, I did that with my actress. There were minor adjustments because they're still young, but I just tried to keep it authentic to them. CARLA FARMER: For me, it was slightly different, because of production and time, and so I had to alter some of the looks a little. Like, for instance, with Aunjanue Ellis as Oracene, I did what worked with her hair, tried to work with her natural texture. I found a picture of Oracene with a natural hairstyle, so I grabbed onto that and adjusted it to Aunjanue in the first half. Then, I found a style for her later on, which was a wig. Her hair was lightened, but we adapted a style that looked like the same hairstyle, but it looked good on the actress. So, that's how I made that transition. And, for the girls, we had to alter some of the styles. Instead of doing 12 braids, we did