There’s More to the ‘Longlegs’ Hair and Makeup Than Just Nicholas Cage’s Creepy Title Character

Osgood Perkins‘ “Longlegs” walks a tricky line between realism and theatricality, balancing a heightened visual style — characterized by extreme wide-angle lensing and off-kilter compositions that keep the audience on edge — with meticulous recreations of 1970s and 1990s clothes, cars, and environments. Add to that the wild tonal swings between mortifying horror, sly comedy, and somber poignancy — plus a go-for-broke performance by Nicholas Cage in the title role that’s extreme even for the guy who brought us Castor Troy and Sailor Ripley — and you’ve got a filmmaking tightrope act dependent on a perfect calibration of every craft.

That was particularly true of the hair and makeup departments, which were tasked with bringing a number of challenging characters to life, not just the gruesome lead. IndieWire previously spoke with Perkins and special effects makeup artist Felix Fox about the conception and execution of Cage’s uniquely horrifying serial killer, whose stylized look is deftly balanced by the more realistic approach to other characters like Alicia Witt’s Ruth and Kiernan Shipka’s Carrie Anne, women who in different ways hold the keys to the mystery FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is attempting to solve.

When we meet Carrie Anne, she is in a mental institution where she has spent most of her life as Longlegs‘ only survivor. That backstory gave key makeup artist Madelaine Hermans a clue to Carrie Anne’s appearance. “What would somebody look like if they’d been basically in solitary in a psych ward for the last 20 years?” Hermans said at a recent guild Q&A at the Crescent Theater in Beverly Hills. “So we did pale foundation and a few scars on her face — it wasn’t stated in the movie, but the idea was that she had been injuring herself.”

Hermans also had to account for the fact that the actress who played the young Carrie Anne — and whose material had already been shot when Shipka came on board — had different colored eyes than Shipka. “We had a lens tech on set and got [Shipka] some custom contacts,” Herman said. Shipka, in fact, was only hired a few days before she had to shoot, which put extra pressure on the hair and makeup departments. Key hair stylist Kristin Chaar looked to a character from “Stranger Things” for inspiration.

“I wanted a wig that was short, like Eleven,” Chaar said at the Q&A. She had limited time and couldn’t create a custom wig, but her alterations to the one she found perfectly embodied Carrie Anne’s jagged mental state. “The wig was a little bit tiny on her, so I had to cut it right behind her ear and then place it — and then just cut it to a point to make it look like she’s crazy.” The odd cut combined with Hermans’ pale makeup worked to make Carrie Anne look not only crazy but a bit drained and lifeless — characteristics that were guiding principles for another key supporting character in the film.

Harker’s mother, Ruth, who ends up having a dark connection to Longlegs’ spree of terror, required a couple of different looks: one for the 1990s when she is — similarly to Carrie Anne — a desiccated shell of her former self and one for the 1970s when she is younger and more vibrant. For the flashback scenes, Chaar gave Ruth a short, feathered look inspired by Jenny Maguire’s Kate on “That ’70s Show,” which was designed to evoke the era instantaneously. “I feel like hair played a really big part in the 1970s,” Chaar said. “Even if you couldn’t tell from the picture cars or other things in the scene, you can almost pick up what the period is just from looking at the hair.”

For Hermans, the key was to make Witt look younger without being too exaggerated. “We used a lot of moisturizers and gave Alicia skin masks to take care of her skin over the weekends,” she said. “We added some lashes and filled the brows in more, and pulled a lot more pink tones to give her a youthful look.” When it came time to age Witt for the present-day scenes, Hermans wanted to make her as dull and lifeless as possible. “So it was a paler foundation, not adding any blush or color to it. And then a lot of powder to give the skin a dry look.” Hermans also added some latex wrinkles, and Chaar airbrushed some green and textured powder spray into the wig to complete the aging effect.

If Ruth and Carrie Anne’s looks aren’t quite as striking as that of the grotesque Longlegs, Hermans says that’s all according to plan. While Cage wanted to be utterly transformed — something Fox did brilliantly — the idea with the other characters was to keep the makeup subtle. “The theatricality is in the performances,” Hermans said. “I want that to be what people see. Personally, I think the best makeups are the ones that people don’t even notice.”

“Longlegs” is now available to stream on VOD.