To rework brunette actress Ana de Armas into flaxen vixen Marilyn Monroe for “Blonde,” the movie’s glam workforce needed to fastidiously examine “The Bible.”
It was a 800-page anthology of images, journal clippings and film stills of the late Monroe, née Norma Jeane Mortenson, collated by the movie’s director Andrew Dominik. He’d spent the previous decade accumulating the reference pictures for his fictionalized tackle the unglamorous life of popular culture’s most archetypal glamor lady.
Now, after 10 years of improvement, Dominik’s cinematic brainchild, based mostly on the 2000 best seller of the same title by Joyce Carol Oates, is being rolled out on huge and small screens by Brad Pitt’s manufacturing firm Plan B.
“Blonde,” rated NC-17, opened in choose theaters Friday. It’s slated for nationwide launch on Sept. 23, and can stream globally by way of Netflix on Sept. 28.
The screenwriter’s image binder was given its hallowed nickname by the workforce charged with making over de Armas — hair stylist Jaime Leigh McIntosh, make-up artist Tina Roesler Kerwin and costume designer Jennifer Johnson — whereas capturing in Los Angeles in 2019.
“[The Bible] was extremely large, however useful as a result of it narrowed down the appears to be like he wished us to re-create,” McIntosh advised The Put up. “The extra I checked out these pictures of Marilyn, the extra I noticed I wanted a number of totally different shades of blonde to [re-create her hair].”
For the trio of consultants, turning the Cuba-born de Armas, 34 — star of 2019’s “Knives Out” and 2021 James Bond flick “No Time to Die,” each reverse Daniel Craig — into the Nineteen Fifties bombshell was a every day, three-hour activity. (De Armas’ casting initially sparked backlash owing to her ethnicity and accent; nevertheless, Monroe’s property publicly defended her portrayal.)
However McIntosh regarded to the “good guide” for steerage as she styled the 5 custom-made, human-hair wigs used to duplicate Monroe’s lush locks. Two darker blonde wigs had been used to painting a younger Marilyn, whereas three “true blonde wigs” had been used to painting the starlet in her heyday till her demise from a barbiturate overdose on Aug. 4, 1962, at age 36.
The items, every constructed with a lace base and costing round $9,000 apiece, had been all particularly structured to resemble Monroe’s widow’s peaked-hairline and to correctly match de Armas’ head. McIntosh dyed the hairpieces to amplify their tones and add depth on the roots for a extra genuine look.
Nonetheless, hiding de Armas’ naturally chocolate tresses was no small feat.
“Each morning I’d begin by pulling all of her hair again and including a [protective] therapy to it to maintain it nourished all through the day,” stated McIntosh. “Then, I’d put a wig cap over her head earlier than passing her alongside to Tina.”
That’s when Roesler Kerwin would modify de Armas’ pure hairline by utilizing three silicone prosthetics to copy a flesh-like scalp that lined nearly all of her head.
“The prosthetics principally created a bald cap in order that when the wigs went on, they’d regarded like they had been occurring high of pores and skin,” defined Roesler Kerwin. “As soon as they had been in place, we’d airbrush the entire thing [to match the color of her foundation].”
De Armas’ darkish, curved eyebrows had been bleached and reshaped to copycat Monroe’s fair-colored and pointed arches.
The hazel-eyed lead additionally wore blue contact lenses, whereas false lashes had been individually utilized to the outer corners of her eyes to assist alter their form. The time-consuming course of allowed Roesler Kerwin to manage the glitz in numerous scenes — amping them up “to create Monroe’s full glamour appears to be like,” she stated.
To clone Monroe’s heart-shaped pout, the make-up artist used lip pencil to redraw de Armas’ lips into “extra of a rounder form.” Then got here lipstick, and a small dot of brown liquid eyeliner simply above the top-left peak of her higher lip to resemble Monroe’s signature magnificence mark.
And when it got here to re-creating Monroe’s most legendary silhouettes, Johnson spared no expense.
“The clothes had been actually costly,” stated the costume designer with amusing. “The most costly one was most likely [the beaded] costume she wore in ‘Some Prefer it Scorching’ when she’s singing [‘I Wanna Be Loved by You’] with the band.”
The unique robe donned by Monroe within the 1959 rom-com earned designer Orry Kerry an Academy Award that 12 months.
To reimagine the sheer, jewel-embellished ensemble for de Armas, Johnson hand-sewed hundreds of beads and Swarovski crystals onto hip-hugging finery. In complete, the costume value a whopping $15,000 to design.
She additionally recrafted the “attractive” fuchsia quantity the bombshell famously wore in 1953’s “Gents Want Blondes,” initially made by costumer William Travilla.
However probably the most labor-intensive — albeit satisfying — garment to breed was Monroe’s iconic, billowing halter costume additionally designed by Travilla for 1955’s “The Seven Yr Itch.”
When she couldn’t supply the unique material that had been custom-made in Italy, Johnson substituted it with a bolt of polyester jersey.
To attain flawless folds within the skirt, it was positioned right into a mildew and pressed beneath warmth.
Johnson then hand-sewed the pleated piece onto the bodice earlier than dying it ecru. The emulation value over $11,000.
However Johnson says it was price each penny.
“When [de Armas] walked on set within the costume and the followers turned on, the skirt simply flowed [so beautifully],” she gushed.
“At one level within the film, the digicam’s simply luxuriating on it, and you’ll actually recognize the development.”
