by Torsten Witte | Hair and Make-Up Designer
Photos courtesy of Focus Features
Like anyone else would be, I was thrilled to get the call to design hair and make-up for Bugonia, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and shot in England. From the start, thanks to an introduction by Emma Stone, my first meeting felt incredibly warm and relaxed—a great beginning when stepping into a new collaboration with a director of Yorgos’s caliber.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Emma on La La Land, Battle of the Sexes, and the U.S. reshoots for Cruella. Knowing your leading actor in advance is a huge advantage—it gives you insight into what they’re comfortable with and what direction you might explore visually for the character.
I’d also heard nothing but great things about Jesse Plemons, and I was genuinely excited to be part of the creative team bringing these unique characters to life. Working on a film with a message is always meaningful, and Bugonia instantly sparked something in me. The script was not only bold but also deeply rooted in themes of environmental awareness. It reminded me how vital it is that we treat our planet with the utmost care and respect—and how storytelling can help inspire that awareness.
Having a long-standing friendship with costume designer Jennifer Johnson made our creative collaboration seamless from the start. There was also a wonderful openness in our dialogue with production designer James Price and cinematographer Robbie Ryan. From the very beginning, we were all building a shared vision with Yorgos for what Bugonia would become.
We were especially excited to explore Yorgos’s take on creating an extraterrestrial world—one that felt grounded, surreal, and slightly uncanny. What he created is unmistakably his own world, full of nuance, originality, and surreal edge.
Jesse and Aidan’s characters are conspiracy theorists and beekeepers, and Aidan had the kind of hair you dream about as a hair designer. I immediately wanted to visually connect them. Jesse and Yorgos embraced the idea, and we decided to add micro-extensions to Jesse’s hair since a wig wouldn’t give us the realism we needed. Zoe Hoskin, a long-trusted friend and collaborator, was the perfect person to take on the challenge of helping me transform Jesse into Teddy. Her work blending the finest glue-in extensions into Jesse’s very short crew cut was meticulous and kind of magical. We really couldn’t have done it without her.
Jesse’s hair—Teddy’s hair—were incredibly important to me, to Jesse, and to Yorgos. We all wanted Jesse to fully become Teddy. He came in with a clean, preppy crew cut, but it was immediately clear we needed something else. Teddy felt like the kind of guy who hadn’t had a real haircut in a few years and probably only washed his hair once a week, if that—yet still had a certain coolness about him. Something believable for a conspiracy theorist, a midwestern beekeeper, someone who might’ve once surfed or gone off-grid. We pulled references from ’90s grunge and added a touch of bohemian surfer. That layered, lived-in length ended up tying Teddy and Don together perfectly—two characters with strong visual identities, grounded in their hair. Bugonia really is a film where hair and storytelling are inseparable.
The idea that aliens communicate through their hair became an unexpected but striking visual thread. This also became the reason Emma’s character gets her head shaved immediately after being abducted—one of the most challenging scenes to plan, as we had to make the head shave real.
Teddy’s paranoia builds throughout the film, and by the time he kidnaps Michelle, he believes he’s uncovered something critical about the aliens: that they not only communicate through their hair, but that their powers can be weakened by covering them in a medical-grade cream. For Michelle, that meant her entire face and body had to appear coated in product. Finding the right consistency was surprisingly difficult—we needed something that read visually on camera, didn’t dry or crack under lights, and wouldn’t irritate Emma’s skin. We experimented with countless blends of lotions, serums, highlighters, creams, and make-up bases. The texture and effect also had to evolve with Michelle’s deteriorating condition. We used everything from Kryolan watercolors in one scene to La Roche-Posay lotion in another, always adjusting for tone, wear, and performance.
An additional layer of depth in our experience came through working with Aidan, who plays Don in the film. Aidan is autistic, although Yorgos made it clear from the beginning that this should never become the focal point of his character. What mattered was who Don was as a person—and Aidan brought him to life with charm, charisma, and humor that won over the entire crew from the first day of filming.
Elaine Hall, Aidan’s access and creative coach, was instrumental in helping the cast and crew understand how to create a comfortable and respectful working environment. Her guidance on how to work with someone on the spectrum was incredibly insightful, and it made the project even more meaningful for many of us.
My key make-up & hair artist, Albert Elizondo, was a natural fit to work closely with Aidan. Albert has a brother with autism, and his sensitivity, patience, and understanding made him the perfect person to be assigned to Aidan. The synergy between Aidan, his mom Katy Delbis, Elaine, and Albert was something truly special—and having that strong support system in place made a huge difference for everyone. It was one of those behind-the-scenes dynamics that really shaped the heart of this project.
In the UK and EU, it’s a requirement to have a hair and make-up supervisor on any production—and we had the honor and privilege of working with Liz Phillips. Her experience working in England was invaluable. She knew all the ins and outs: local production protocols, crew contracts, holiday pay logistics (which still make me laugh), where to source the best materials, and how to navigate the industry with ease. We truly couldn’t imagine our make-up and hair world without her. She brought clarity and calm to what could have been chaos, and we’re so grateful she was part of the team.
Meanwhile, we began developing the alien look with Yorgos. James Price’s production design really set the tone. It’s always a unique challenge to find wigs and extensions more than 36 inches long, but seeing the look slowly come together in fittings was such a rewarding process. I loved the idea that the aliens appeared in a natural, unpretentious human form—one that reminds us to accept and love ourselves just as we are.
Since the aliens in the Bugonia universe communicate through their hair, we knew the hair and hair styles had to be really special. Yorgos and I decided that their hair should be long, unisex, and unified—but still show individuality among the aliens. It was quite the challenge to source human hair at that length, in all shapes, colors, and textures. Matching each look to each individual alien and bringing them to life with this majestic hair was incredibly satisfying—as challenging as it was. And I love a good challenge.
As any hair stylist would understand, sometimes you need to see and feel hair in person—online purchases can be such a gamble. So, it became a bit of a ritual: every weekend leading up to our big alien shoot, my key, Albert, and I would visit various hair shops around London and beyond. It was a treat to be on that mission together, hunting for the perfect textures and tones that would help make Yorgos’s vision real.
During the development process of how the aliens would look, we briefly explored more traditional “alien” aesthetics—colored contact lenses, purple or translucent skin, even iridescent effects. But Yorgos and I ultimately agreed that having the aliens look just like us would serve the story more powerfully. It reinforced the idea that they could be among us, that they are us in many ways. One of the final scenes in the film takes place aboard Michelle’s mothership, and the design was breathtaking. James Price and his team created something that felt organic and otherworldly—like the inside of a living, breathing body. The ship was surreal and anatomical and somehow deeply familiar. That moment was emotional because we finally meet Michelle’s people. And they look like us—different races, body types, expressions—but unified in purpose, working together to protect their Queen. Their hair was a vital part of that final image.
Creating the flashbacks was another highlight. It was fun designing what Jesse and Emma’s characters would have looked like 10 years earlier. Flashback styles are always exciting to build—they give you room to invent small histories through hair and make-up.
Alicia Silverstone, who plays Teddy’s mother, gave us two very different kinds of creative opportunities. In the literal flashbacks, we got to explore her character’s strange parenting methods—like wrapping Teddy entirely in tinfoil and covering his childhood bedroom wall-to-wall in foil. Visually, those moments were darkly comedic and eerie but still grounded in emotional truth.
Then there was the dream sequence, where she levitates with more than 30 needles piercing her body. That scene was surreal, symbolic, and technically one of the most demanding we faced. We worked closely with the special effects, visual effects, and stunt teams to ensure everything was executed safely. None of us had ever worked with that many large needles on a body—it was intense but incredibly rewarding when it came together.
Our prosthetic FX team—Millennium FX, led by the brilliant Kate Walshe—deserve a special mention. They created unbelievably lifelike full-body dummies of our actors and hyper-realistic prosthetic heads that were genuinely unsettling to see in person. We also had to fabricate multiple prosthetic heads of Jesse, each crafted with different materials and levels of realism, because Emma’s character ends up getting hit with them. It was an intense blend of artistry, design, and coordination between departments—but the result on screen was unforgettable.
We shot on location in remote, natural settings during springtime, which was such a gift. The bees were real, the flowers were blooming, and it felt like more than just a movie—it was an experience. Even though the story had intense basement scenes, moments of captivity, and emotional darkness, our surroundings kept us grounded.
Yorgos’s directing style was unlike anything I’d experienced before. It brought a unique kind of challenge—and reward. He likes the set to operate in a full 360° space. That meant the crew had to be close enough to jump in when needed but completely invisible to him, the actors, and the camera lens. He didn’t want it to feel like we were making a movie. He wanted it to feel like we were witnessing a living, breathing play—with all its independent moving parts. Once it started, it didn’t stop. I loved it. It required all of us to adapt, to trust, and to be fully present every second.
Working on Bugonia with such a passionate team was a rare opportunity. It’s not every day you get to be in a space that’s both creatively challenging and personally fulfilling. As always, one of the biggest challenges in our department is staying close—but invisible.
When you know, you know. Bugonia challenged all of us—not just creatively, but personally. It made us look inward, outward, and somewhere in between.For me, it was a reminder that beauty, like meaning, can come from the strangest places: a glued-in extension, a tinfoil-wrapped bedroom, a basement lit with paranoia, or a silent alien with hair and makeup.
What Yorgos created is unmistakably his own world, full of nuance, originality, and surreal edge. At the core, Yorgos has a passionate belief in storytelling with a message—urgent, emotional, and darkly entertaining.
For me, it was a reminder that beauty, like meaning, can come from the strangest places: a glued-in extension, a tinfoil-wrapped bedroom, a basement lit with paranoia, or a silent alien with glorious hair. •
