In The Scenario, reporter Kirbie Johnson takes readers behind the scenes of the buzziest movies and TV shows to reveal how the best wigs, special effects makeup, and more are created. For this edition, Johnson spoke with Wicked’s hair and makeup designer, Frances Hannon, who explained the nuances of bringing two beloved characters—as well as over 3,000 background actors—to life.
Frances Hannon had big ruby slippers to fill. Hannon, who has won both an Oscar and BAFTA for her work, was tasked with creating the hair, makeup, and prosthetic designs for both Wicked films (that’s right, the first installment is out now; the second will premiere in 2025) based on the very beloved, very pop-u-ler intellectual property.
But translating these characters from the long-running Broadway musical to the big screen wasn’t as simple as copying and pasting their looks. For example, actors who are cast as Glinda in the stage presentation have light features to match those of the character’s—but Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda in the film adaptation, is a natural brunette with dark eyes and eyebrows. Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, who is notoriously green, needed to look like her skin was actually green rather than painted on to make viewers feel they were stepping into another world versus watching a play.
Ahead, Hannon describes the person who inspired Ariana Grande’s look, the reason Erivo needed prosthetic ears, plus the one hairstyle you won’t see Grande wear (we bet you can guess).
Transforming Cynthia Erivo into Elphaba
Hannon aimed not to deviate too far from Elphaba’s stage look but needed to ensure the hair and makeup wasn’t distracting, either (a tall order for a character with green skin). Unlike a stage show, where makeup and hair need to be more drastic to be visible from the back of a theater, films are shot up close, for the most part. Erivo was usually shot from the shoulders-up, meaning Elaphaba’s makeup and hair had to look as realistic as a fictional witch in a fantastical universe possibly could. A wash of bespoke green paint was buffed into the skin, highlight and contour were added to provide dimension, while freckles were stenciled on using an airbrush.
They also had to ensure those makeup and hair choices wouldn’t compete with Elphaba’s intricate costuming. “Cynthia’s costumes were always going to be big,” Hannon tells Allure of Erivo’s all-black wardrobe. “That black hat and that cloak were a given—it is part of the iconic [Wicked Witch] look—so we had to make sure that her black hair didn’t swamp her face.”
Keeping Erivo’s face unobstructed also helped to keep the film’s emotional tone. Elphaba evolves throughout the events of the film from uptight to uninhibited, and the way her hair is styled is a direct reflection of that. “[Elphaba] starts with the tight braid at the opening of Shiz, which was a very iconic moment from the play, then she starts to let her hair down a little looser and more casual,” Hannon says. “It was very important to leave her face free, leave all her emotions free, leave her eyes free, but let her use her hair as she would choose.”
Hannon had a total of 10 Elphaba wigs made, most of which were worn by Erivo’s stand-ins and doubles. Erivo herself wore four of them, which were the most expensive to produce in the whole film, and not just because they were custom-made by Samuel James. “It wasn’t the making of the wig that was so expensive, that was very normally priced,” Hannon says. James’s hand-made wigs didn’t arrive on set braided—a team of four braiders spent over a week putting in all of the microbraids with three shades of hair, a laborious endeavor that came at a high price. “It’s a really long, slow process, so hugely expensive, but more than worth the end result.”
Erivo shaved her eyebrows and head for the role, which allowed for the makeup team to paint her scalp green—a clever design element that let it peek through the wigs to make them look more realistic. She also wore green contact lenses, which Hannon says you’d typically get custom-made for a project like this, but the team wound up preferring a color from an over-the-counter consumer brand.
One aesthetic choice that’s more modern is Elphaba’s nail art, which wouldn’t exist without Erivo’s insistence. “One thing that was important about this film was to make it timeless,” Hannon says. “We have no tattoos showing anywhere, we had no piercing showing anywhere on anybody, but when Cynthia arrived on the scene she said, straight away, ‘I want to keep my nails.’”
Elphaba wears two nail looks in the film that demonstrate her growing confidence. The first nail look, shown during the earlier scenes, is shorter and is meant to appear as an extension of her green skin. Erivo’s nail artist, Shea Osei, describes them as a “natural ombre” with a short stiletto shape. The second look we see toward the end of the film is more flamboyant: they’re longer and marbled with varying shades of green.
Osei custom-made over 35 sets of press-on nails in these two designs because Erivo needed to quick-change her nails multiple times per day on set depending on what scene was being filmed.
Glinda receives a warm welcome at Shiz. Courtesy Universal Pictures
Hannon says the inspiration for Glinda’s look stemmed from Grace Kelly: timeless, beautiful, and feminine. “[Kelly] always kept it very simple, she was never that ornate,” she says.
That element of timelessness was also important to director Jon M. Chu, who has said several times during the promotion for the film that he asked Grande to audition for Glinda without her signature look—no ponytail, no overlined lips, no winged liner—unsure if she would commit. Of course, if you’ve been glued to Wicked interviews (like yours truly), you’re aware that Grande would have done anything for this role, as it was her dream to play the character; that clearly includes bleaching her hair and eyebrows.
Although she did dye her hair, Grande still had to wear several wigs; Hannon said 12 were made for the Glinda character in total, most of which were for doubles and stand-ins, similar to Elphaba. (In fact, everyone on set—principal cast and background—wore a wig or hair piece, accounting for more than 3,500 wigs in total for the film.) To match the hair color, Grande had her brows dyed every 10 days, which Hannon said held up well despite the consistent coloring.
Glinda’s whimsical look as The Good Witch. Courtesy Universal Pictures
The film has a time jump, so hair and makeup also played a role in distinguishing between the two periods for both characters. While studying at Shiz, Glinda’s cheeks are rosier, and her hair is shorter with a warmer tone of blonde. In the later scenes, when she’s serving as Glinda the Good, her hair is longer and her makeup becomes more iridescent, opalescent, and shimmery, including tiny rhinestones on her shoulders.
One look we were never going to see Glinda in was, of course, a ponytail. “Ari’s main iconic look for herself is her very tight, high-up ponytail, and that was very important to stay away from,” Hannon says. “I never even considered her having hairdos that were up or princess-like.”
Because of this, Glinda’s hair is never slicked back to her head, even when she’s wearing half-up hairstyles. “The whimsical freedom of her hair makes her far more accessible to her audience as well.”
The Prosthetic Hiding in Plain Sight
Glinda is shocked by Elphaba’s appearance at Shiz.
Courtesy Universal Pictures
As noted, there were no piercings in the film—and not because Erivo or Grande are lacking in that department. To help disguise the holes in their ears, the makeup team used two approaches. For Grande’s minimally pierced ears, the solution was simple: put a little makeup on them.
Erivo’s more elaborate piercings across her lobes and cartilage, however, required adhering prosthetic ears to her each day. They could have used a type of makeup called filler, which usually consists of medical-grade silicone that fills piercing holes. But given the risk that Erivo could become susceptible to infection during the long filming period, the makeup department opted for “sleepers,” which are flexible, skin-colored body jewelry designed to conceal piercing holes. Erivo wore those to prevent her piercings from closing up, and the makeup team applied a prosthetic on the front of her ear to make them appear piercing-free. Hannon estimates they used more than 155 prosthetic ears during filming.
A closer look at Elphaba’s prosthetic ear.
Courtesy Universal Pictures
These types of blink-and-miss-them hair and makeup details help tell the story, even if they aren’t screaming at you from the screen. “It does make a big difference,” Hannon says. “It draws you in a little bit more—it’s a subconscious acceptance. People don’t register for it. They don’t necessarily recognize it as a change within.”
Cre: Allure
