Jaime Leigh McIntosh, hair department head and makeup department head Tina Roesler Kerwin spent two and a half hours each morning applying hair and makeup to De Armas to transform into the celebrated icon. “That photo shoot for stills gave us a chance to try out a lot of different colors and figure out what worked. It gave us a chance to figure out what worked better in black and white as opposed to color,” explains Kerwin.
It all began with a silicone cap, as opposed to a regular bald cap. De Armas’ hair was dark and thick, so it needed to be completely hidden, and a regular cap would not work due to the number of changes the actress would sit through in a day. The shoot session was done before principal filming began, and it helped immensely since they would have to recreate many of Monroe’s most iconic moments. Adds Kerwin, “Once we knew what the day and schedule was going to look like, we knew a bald cap would not survive.”
First, a stocking cap was placed over the actress’ head and three new silicone pieces were applied daily. Says Kerwin, “We needed something sturdy that could hold up with the gluing and ungluing of wigs.”While the duo created over 100 looks, only 50 or 60 made it into the final cut. De Armas sported blue contact lenses for the film, and for perfecting the eye shape, Kerwin used false eyelashes on the corner of the actress’ eyelids. “It changed the eye shape,” Kerwin explains.
