There’s Something About the Hair Gag
by Joyce Gilliard | Department Head Hair
Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The hair gag that was most challenging yet fun to design was when Liam Neeson separated Pam Anderson’s bang hair and it stayed straight up in the air. It reminded me of the scene from the movie There’s Something About Mary. I needed to design a hairpiece to stand straight up on top of Pamela Anderson’s head after Liam separated it and it needed to stay in place. I also needed to be mindful of the resets when we were shooting it, so it didn’t take too much time to get it back in its first state.
I went to the special effects coordinator and asked if he had any wires I could use to do a test with the hair gag. He gave me different wire sizes to test. I tried. The larger wire seemed to work better as far as bending it to make it stay in the shape I desired. I had to make sure I had blonde hair extensions that looked exactly like Pamela’s hair for it to look real and as natural as possible. I used a strong adhesive to shape the extensions around but making sure it bent or folded upward for the gag. I did several prototypes with different hairpieces to see which one worked best. I had a canvas wig head with six different pieces and did the actual test on a mannequin head before trying it on Pam. The process was fun and nerve-racking for me because I wanted it to work so bad! Once it looked good to me, I did a test with Pamela. She loved the results! We both played with the hairpiece and did the resets to see the durability of the piece. I sewed toupee clips on the wired extensions and clipped it in the bang of Pamela’s hair, and used her natural blonde tresses to cover the weft. It looked realistic on Pam!
I scheduled a meeting with the director to see if he was satisfied with it. I showed him how I made it, and how to use it. He tried the gag in every position possible, going upward and downward, and even to the extreme. The gag handled it from every angle and was a success!! I showed Liam how to use it and on the day of. The funny thing was that Liam was actually very nervous trying to bend the gag! His poor hands were shaking like crazy!! It was actually kinda cool teaching him how to use the gag. The director said we would do the gag in one take but of course, that’s not what happened! We had to reset the gag at least 10 times! The director really got a kick out of bending the hair to the extreme, over and over again! I am grateful my creation withstood the resets, and it blended with Pamela’s hair!
No one knew the gag was actually a hairpiece added to her hair, and not her actual hair we were using! This gag was fun to create, and I loved the challenge. It made me think outside the box and let my creative juices flow! The first major promo for the show was the hair standing gag!!
The second hair gag was the gun scene when a shotgun was pulled out of Pamela’s hair. This gag was first practiced with the property department with a prop wig to show the director how it would work and was approved by the director. The only thing is the wig used for the test. It was nothing similar to the wig that would be used for the gag on Pamela Anderson. No one thought to include the hair department in on the gag gun test. All conversations happened with the property department and director. The director was satisfied with how the gag was presented and thought everything would be fine. The wig the property department used was a cheap wig where there were gaps all through the wig where all the tracks were seen. Of course, the hole was huge enough where you can pull a gun through it. When I found out this was happening, I told everyone it would not work at all because the wig they used is not a replica of the wig Pamela will wear. The wig she was wearing was a custom wig with no holes. No one wanted to listen to me. They thought they had it all figured out. When I gave props the replica wig to use, the gag didn’t work. So now everyone is leaning on the hair department to make it work, even after we weren’t included in the conversations.
On the fly, under pressure and microscope, I grabbed the replica wig, and I cut a slit or a huge hole in the back, which was identical to the wig Pam would be wearing, and showed the best way for the gun to come through the wig. We had several attempts at making the gun come out the wig seamlessly. Me and Tomica Sarver from my team worked closely with the property department to make sure the angles were right, and the gun was placed safely in the wig at an angle, on the actors’ heads without it hurting anyone. I taught the actor while in the scene how to pull the gun out the wig, the angle it needed to be pulled out so it can work effectively and the speed it needed to be done at. We did it a few times until the actor was comfortable. The actual gag was done on a stunt person and not Pamela. It was seamless! I was very proud of how we all finally worked together to make sure it was a seamless transition.
Every day I would create looks by designing and customizing wigs to fit the actor’s head. I would prep each look the night before and have them ready for the next day. I would add extensions to wigs, do haircuts and color them. One of the scenes we had was the BARTENDER scene when I needed four wigs to match. The director had a vision, so I had to make sure his vision was executed. Key hair stylist Nadia Sobh, who is an amazing hair colorist, did a great job coloring all four of the hair wigs to match perfectly for the scene. She spent weeks doing color and corrective color on each wig. We both worked together on Pamela Anderson’s hair, and Nadia styled and maintained Pamela’s natural blonde hair every day beautifully.
For Pamela’s gag look, the director wasn’t sure if he wanted a brunette wig or blonde one for her MIA look. To help figure out the desired color, I purchased 17 wigs in different shades of brown and blonde for him to choose from. Once he decided on a color, I had a custom wig made. I added extensions, cut, styled and applied it on Pamela for her MIA look!
The Naked Gun was the most challenging and rewarding experience I have ever had. It showed me that I can do anything creatively as long as I see the vision and have the right team to help execute it! My core team of hair stylists, Nadia Sobh, Tomica Sarver and Eric Matthews, rocked and I couldn’t have done it without them! •
