by Jaime Leigh McIntosh | Department Head Hair
Photos by Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures
A Complete Unknown is a true story set in New York in the early 1960s. Anyone familiar with Bob Dylan is also familiar with his iconic silhouette, due to his incredible head of hair.
Historical figures portrayed in the film also include Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie and many others.
I am incredibly grateful that costume designer Arianne Phillips, whom I had previously worked with on Don’t Worry Darling, recommended me to director James Mangold to head the hair department. What a wonderful opportunity to explore such an amazing moment in history.
Stacey Panepinto, Department Head Make-up, and I set out to help tell the visual journey of a young Bob Dylan who first arrived in New York City having not yet found his iconic style. We charted his journey from a slightly fuller youthful boy with unkempt hair to the iconic music legend with his signature sound and style that we think of today.
While small for a film of this magnitude, the hair & make-up teams had many talented artists who helped achieve these looks daily. Shout-outs to the hair department’s Rebecca Woodfork-Ziegler, Allison Imoto-Suh, Kelly Reed and Christen Edwards, and the make-up department’s Dave Presto, Alex Rutkay, Nicole Frascogna and Rich Krusell.
Like his sound, his hair grew into an iconic-changing personality of its own. We had a long testing process with actor Timothée Chalamet and director James Mangold. We talked through the pros and cons of how we could technically achieve the different looks on Bob Dylan, following his evolution in a way that worked best for the shooting schedule. In the nick of time, the day before we started shooting, it was actually decided that we would use Timothée’s own hair through the earlier stages, changing his texture to create more frizz and adjusting the shape often in true Bob Dylan fashion (you never see any two images of Bob Dylan’s hair looking the same). For the later style, a wig would be used and styled to help create the famed hair silhouette.
For the different historical figures we recreated in this film, we took the “Let’s throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach. James Mangold was very supportive of letting the actors explore all the different possibilities. This was especially true for Stacey and her make-up team. She knew they didn’t necessarily want to recreate a spitting image of the person being portrayed but a likeness, or better, Stacey wanted to mask a little bit of the actors’ features and find the parts of the historical figures that could be merged into their own look. The make-up team tested four noses for Bob, three noses for Johnny Cash, and tested different noses and earlobes and other character traits on Pete Seeger, before landing on the final choices you see in the film. Dave Presto was Stacey’s Co-department Head and helped oversee the special character make-up. Vincent Van Dyke Effects supplied the beautifully crafted appliances and pieces for the project and Art Sakamoto supplied the dental appliances for the character Joan Baez.
Mangold wanted authenticity to be our throughline. He encouraged us to do whatever would feel as true to the period as possible. This meant giving them the “vibe” of the person they were portraying, keeping changes subtle and leaning into realism and grit rather than covering them up with unnecessary make-up and wigs that may match the historical figure but doesn’t really help Mangold tell the story of his film.
last looks on Monica Barbaro
The hair department kept true to hair colours and textures of the period, working to make sure the hair looked real and not overly styled or manipulated and avoiding glamourising the styles. We thoroughly researched the locations and people of the time to truly represent what people looked like then. Stacey approached the make-up with a “less is more” method. She wanted to let both natural beauty and imperfections come through with these characters. Whether it was Bob having a blemish or missed hairs when shaving, to the women wearing only what was reflected in the time and by the images of the person they portrayed.
When it came to Edward Norton’s hair, his longtime hair stylist Fríða Aradóttir was asked by Edward to implement his style and colour in Los Angeles before he travelled to shoot with us on the East Coast. Frida adjusted Edward’s hairline by shaving it back and had his hair coloured closer to Pete Seeger’s shade and tone. Once shooting began, I continued to upkeep the work Frida had put in place and would make any adjustments Edward wanted from day-to-day.
Joan Baez was masterfully portrayed by Monica Barbaro. Monica’s hair needed to be coloured to match her own natural colouring by her colourist Eddie Cook. We also needed to add length. I wanted to avoid using weft or extensions that could possibly be seen if the wind blew the wrong way. I also didn’t want bulk added to her hair, so I opted for a three-fourths horseshoe wig piece, so we could use Monica’s own top and front, tightly wrap the rest of her hair under the hairpiece which gave her the length needed. Keeping the styling very natural with a little frizz and fly aways to keep her grounded.
Johnny Cash was played by the very fair-headed Boyd Holbrook. We cut Boyd’s hair into shape and coloured it dark, as well as the prosthetic appliance make-up tinted his brows and lashes, adjusted his skin tone to give more of a tanned look and used brown contacts to change eye colour. Boyd’s hair texture is very different to Cash’s, but by using a mix of products and styling techniques, we managed to get it closer to the real deal.
Sylvie Russo, played by Elle Fanning, is a character based on the historical figure Suze Rotolo. We had two wigs made for Elle, keeping the colour close to the reference images we had of Suze and choosing a couple of styles that were prominent throughout the research. In her journey, we start Sylvie off with long hair, with a casual half-up bump. As she matures and her story shifts, we bring the length up, add layers but continue with the less-is-more natural style.
Being able to work on a period film that explores a large music aspect was fascinating and incredible to be a part of. If given the opportunity, I would recommend the experience to anyone that has a love for music. •
