In taking the helm of the hair and makeup department on “Jay Kelly,” makeup artist and hairstylist Ivana Primorac had to embrace the invisible. Her task was almost janitorial in nature: The kind of job that you only notice if it’s done incorrectly or neglected. But when executed perfectly, the viewer barely perceives a thing. 

It’s the mise-en-scène that must be toiled over in production, and glossed over by the layperson. “If I have done my job really well, you should not know there is anything there,” Primorac explains. “You should not know that there is a wig or that I needed to make her look different than what they normally look like.” 

Primorac’s portfolio includes many “hair- and makeup-heavy” productions, from Greta Gerwig greats like “Barbie” and “Little Women” (as well as her upcoming “Narnia” adaptation), Tim Burton feats like “Sweeney Todd” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” transformative projects like “Darkest Hour” and “The Hours,” blockbusters like “Gladiator” and the “Lord of the Rings” franchise and period pieces like “The Crown” and “Ammonite”. (You’ll often find Primorac as the dedicated hair and makeup artist for Kate Winslet.)

This incredible CV makes Primorac’s work on Netflix’s “Jay Kelly” all the more fascinating. The story is contemporary, the environments are ordinary, the characters are not dolls or monarchs or products of fantasy. On paper, the assignment seems modest. Yet Primorac cites it as one of the densest films she has ever done. “It was very busy, blending it all in,” Primorac laughs, recalling her early assumption that the project might be straightforward. 

Recreating a Young George Clooney—No De-Aging Software Needed

The script, written by Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, follows a world-famous actor named Jay Kelly (George Clooney) who travels from California to London and then through Italy while reflecting on his career choices and personal relationships. The film repeatedly slips into remembered versions of the past, as Kelly watches pivotal moments of his life play out. Those Christmas Carol-esque time capsules are where Primorac’s labor hides most.

Rather than digitally de-age Clooney, Baumbach took the old-school approach and cast younger actors to embody earlier versions of Jay and his friend Timothy (played as an adult by Billy Crudup). He then tasked Primorac with forming a bridge between the actors audiences know and the actors audiences have never met.

The younger Jay is played by Charlie Rowe, and Primorac built recognition through a handful of carefully observed physical markers, including Clooney’s distinctive, dark eyebrows. “We had to make the eyebrows, because we have to make the eyebrows look exactly the same as George’s,” Primorac explained. The work extended beyond color. “I measured the height of the forehead and the distance between his forehead and his temple to the eyebrow.” Then, they applied that to Rowe. Instantly, it helps him look like young Clooney.

Rowe also wears a custom wig that reflects real-life Clooney—not as he actually looked in his twenties, but as millions of viewers first encountered him in the cultural imagination at the height of his “ER” fame during his thirties.“In that era of his life, George had a very particular hairline and a particular movement in his hair,” says Primorac. “We had to put that onto younger Jay, so that audiences perceive it as ‘young George Clooney’ as much as a ‘young Jay Kelly.’” 

Louis Partridge plays the younger version of Billy Crudup’s character, Timothy, with slightly softened edges and a carefully calibrated silhouette that allows viewers to complete the transformation on their own. These choices are to the tune of quiet and effective—that invisible indication that Primorac and her team were here.

Italy Interpreted Through Skin, Hair, and Tableau

In the film, Italy delivers the most visual personality. Primorac oversaw the look across all territories but depended heavily on two Italian department heads to interpret her vision on location. In Rome and Tuscany, the hair department was led by Domingo Santoro and the makeup department by Raffaella Iorio, both veterans of international productions.

Santoro described a goal that required equal parts control and looseness. He and his team were asked to stage Italy as both a real place and a thematic register. Hair was styled to move rather than hold, and silhouettes that would bounce light in outdoor settings were favored over stiff constructions. 

Iorio echoed that restraint with makeup. “We tried to leave them with their natural glowing skin,” she says, noting that she avoided powder almost entirely. Rosy cheeks, softened lips, and lightly smudged textures created the impression of sun and heat without ever appearing cosmetic. 

Alba Rohrwacher’s character (also named Alba) becomes the clearest demonstration of the principle. She begins the film with slightly off-center styling choices and gradually settles into a more grounded presence. Even in recalling her character’s few core scenes, the viewer’s memory is comfort, care, and a centering feeling. Santoro’s most memorable trial came courtesy of Rohrwacher’s loose ponytail, which is meant to look gently undone but not so undone that it telegraphs chaos. Several moments in the story required her to turn, react, and absorb tension, and the hair had to echo that without betraying script timing. Santoro recalled crouching under tables in a cramped restaurant corridor while Iorio hovered by the bathroom door, both ready to dart in between takes to nudge the ponytail back into visual balance. The geography was comical, but it underscores how the Italian unit was determined to protect imperfection as a choice rather than a continuity error.

That visual logic did not stop at the principal cast. Italy is where the background becomes foreground, most memorably on the train that carries Jay and Adam Sandler’s character (Jay’s manager Ron) across the country. Although the ride seems casual and fluid on screen, Primorac says the train cars were among the most meticulous hair and makeup environments she has ever supervised. Each carriage was populated with an ensemble who reflect invented or implied histories. Primorac and Baumbach worked out, along with the Italian team, who would be seated where, what their professions were, where they were traveling from, and how their look would reflect it. 

“There were three nuns and four German tourists and a Swiss family with a broken leg and a daughter with braces,” she says. “It was not ‘just a bunch of people on the train’” but an ensemble,” she says. And their cumulative styling needed to tell its own story, even for the ones who never speak.

On Baumbach’s Vision and Planning

Baumbach’s storytelling instincts allow departments like Primorac’s to leave small traces everywhere, and always with intention. His characters—down to their appearance—often come from personal memories, which meant hair and makeup choices carried emotional and comedic relevance. Something as simple as an eyebrow shape might signal insecurity, ego, or a private joke. Primorac was invited into those decisions from the earliest prep, and she describes the work less as decoration and more as shared problem-solving.

Primorac recalls Baumbach sitting in fittings, refining ideas while watching performance, and leaning into collaborative back-and-forth rather than decree. She points to Clooney and Sandler’s personal grooming teams as proof. Instead of treating their personal stylists as separate islands, Baumbach encouraged them to fold into her department, which allowed beard growth, fatigue, bruising, and travel weariness to stay consistent across scenes and across continents. “We all had to figure it out together,” says Primorac. “We prepped the arc of the film and the continuity and the development of the characters together.”

With Clooney in particular, who is playing some alternate-universe version of himself (the montage ode to his career that plays at the film’s end even takes clips from Clooney’s own filmography). “You could have had any of those people look like themselves and walk onto that set,” says Primorac. “Yet there were things that mattered to Noah because of the people he based the characters on.”

When asked how a Baumbach set compares to a Greta Gerwig gig, Primorac notes that the husband and wife filmmaking duo share an almost old-fashioned rigor. The worlds they build may differ, but their commitment to collaboration is identical. They collect references, hold debates on ideas, and question every assumption well ahead of the shoot day. “You never need to second-guess them,” she says. “They know the answer to every question, because they have already relied on everyone’s expertise.”

Hair & Makeup Tips from the Set of "Jay Kelly"

Primorac, Iorio, and Santoro reserve affection for the practical tricks viewers can steal from their on-set kits, the keyword here being ‘practical’, as they reinforce Primorac’s thesis that the most successful work on film should disappear.

Virtue Labs Healing Oil

Ivana Primorac says she used the Virtue Labs Healing Oil to revive hair that has been heat-styled or exposed to long hours outdoors.

Virtue Labs

Buy for $46

Actinica Lotion

The MUA and hairstylist also placed Actinica Sunscreen Lotion under foundation to create a light reflective glow and prevent dryness on long exterior days.

Amazon

Buy for $25

Glossier Cloud Paint

Makeup department head Raffaella Iorio is a fan of Glossier and their less-is-more approach. She used the brand's signature Cloud Paint Cream Blush to give cast members a natural flush in the Italian heat.

Glossier

Buy for $24

Maria Nila Fixating Wax

The Maria Nila Fixating Spray was used by hair department Domingo Santoro to create shape without rigidity

Maria Nila

Buy for $31.50

Maria Nila Shaping Heat Spray

Santoro also used the brand's Shaping Heat Spray for the same purpose.

Maria Nila

Buy for $32.50

Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush

Iorio kept Fenty Beauty's Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush on hand to build warmth and radiance without resorting to powders.

Fenty Beauty

Buy for $19.60

Sharpie Fine Point Marker

As seen in the film, permanent marker was used to block-color Clooney's eyebrows. But both Primorac and Santoro cite using a permanent marker to add a few strands of white hair when aging characters on tight turnarounds, and to spot-color grey hairs when actors need to look younger.

Staples

Buy for $2.39

Got2B Glued Styling Spiking Hair Gel

Primorac shared a bonus men's grooming tip: Layering Got2B's Glued Styling Spiking Hair Gel beneath...

Amazon

Buy for $14.99

Toppik Hair Building Fibers Kit

... Toppik hair-densifying fibers creates long-lasting adhesion on thinning areas.

Toppik

Buy for $24.95