Ana De Armas Recreates Marilyn Monroes Scenes For Blonde: The picture shoot for the Marilyn Monroe stills used in Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde,” which is now streaming on Netflix, was crucial for the hair and cosmetics crew in transforming Ana de Armas into the iconic star.
For 2.5 hours every morning, de Armas was worked on by hair department head Jaime Leigh McIntosh and makeup department head Tina Roesler Kerwin. That still shot allowed us to experiment with various color palettes to find the best one.
Black-and-white allowed us to see what elements were most effective, as Kerwin says. It was ordered that we “define our Marilyn as best we could” by “finding our Marilyn in Ana” and “not putting Marilyn’s hair and makeup on Ana.”
Unlike a conventional bald cap, a silicone cap was the starting point. Due to its black and thick texture, De Armas’ hair needed to be entirely concealed, and a traditional cap wouldn’t do the trick given the number of costume changes the actress would endure in a single day.
Since they needed to reproduce several of Monroe’s most memorable moments, completing this photo session before principal filming began was exceptionally helpful. In addition, Kerwin remarked, “Once we realized what the day and itinerary was going to look like, we knew a bald cap would not survive.”
To survive the arduous nine-week filming schedule, de Armas needed three custom-made silicone pieces: one for each side and a top. The actress wore a stocking cap over her head at all times and had three fresh silicone pieces attached to her head every day.
Kerwin explains that they required a durable material due to the constant gluing and ungluing of wigs. The two made over a hundred styles, but only about fifty or sixty were used. For the movie, De Armas wore blue contact lenses, and Kerwin added fake eyelashes to the actress’s outer corner eyelashes to enhance the eyes’ natural shape.
Kerwin explains, “It altered the form of the eye.” McIntosh did her usual preparations on de Armas’ hair to imitate the scene from “The Seven Year Itch” from 1955 in which Marilyn Monroe’s character passes over a subway grate, and her dress blows up in the wind.
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McIntosh says she would come in after Kerwin had finished matching the skin tone to the silicone equipment and applied the lashes and that they would finish by putting the wig on.
McIntosh explains that she had to fudge the shape of the wig she was using since “her hair is shorter in that film,” and the wig she had on hand wasn’t short enough. She says, “It does not match, but it is as close as I could come with what I had to work with and still have some flexibility.”
Kerwin adds, “I tried every red, orange, and pink in my kit; I think everything was sampled at some time to see what would work in black and white and what would work in color.” Dominik shoots in both black and white and color.
“I had an arsenal where some were exclusively black and white, and some were only color and a few in the center where we could translate to both,” she continues. When asked about the significance of contouring, Kerwin cites its relevance.
She has a classic look when she’s older but a more youthful, round face when she’s younger. Kerwin used a pink and red combination to recreate the iconic “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” lip color from the “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” movie.
To make it more potent, it was combined. In person, she seemed overwhelming, but she looked just right on the screen. But we had to coordinate with the dancers as well. McIntosh came to the rescue at that point. It was difficult for her because she lacked the money to buy wigs.
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As the saying goes, “The grey is painted into their hair to make them more distinguished.” She continues, “When you compare the reproduction to the original, you wonder why on earth they put in those silvery streaks.” So naturally, we mimicked it.
McIntosh reveals that she adjusted Armas’ wig to make it stand erect for this particular scene. There’s no “curl and bounce” to it. In addition, she says, “If there’s a tale to tell on that one, her widow’s peak was being lost in the lighting, which kept blowing it out, so Andrew made me paint it a bit darker.”
McIntosh elaborates, “It was just another in the long line of adaptations we had to crank out as fast as we could.” If you find this interesting, please forward it to your friends. Visit Lighthousejournal.org for the most up-to-date and recent celebrity news.
Emma is a Master of Science candidate at the California Institute of Technology. Since approximately four years ago, she has been a freelance writer, producing content for newspapers, magazines, blogs, and the internet