Midwestern Values: Behind the Hair Designs in 'Song Sung Blue'
Beauty
TSS Talent
Alicia Zavarella
Beauty
TSS Talent
Alicia Zavarella
Hair department head Alicia Zavarella shares how she stayed true to the time and place of the film, set in mid-90s Milwaukee.
Everything about Mike Sardina and Claire Sardina—the Neil Diamond tribute band from Wisconsin known as Lightning & Thunder, who inspired director Craig Brewer’s “Song Sung Blue”—is larger than life. Their sequined outfits, their heavily-layered hairstyles, their choice of opening song (an esoteric rendition of Diamond’s “Soolaimón”). But while the on-screen looks of Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, who play the dynamic double act, had to be over the top, the supporting cast and hundreds of extras had to feel like everyday people, each one like someone you might have strolled past with your shopping cart at Piggly Wiggly circa 1994. “They’re down-to-earth Midwesterners,” the film’s hair department head, Alicia Zavarella, opens in new tab, tells The Set Set. “And even though it’s set in the 1990s, it had to feel slightly dated, a little ’80s, because trends moved slower at that time.”
To capture the confluence of styles happening in Milwaukee at that time, Zavarella watched the documentary on which “Song Sung Blue” was based. She also texted her mom. “I was like, I need inspiration; can you send me my yearbook pictures, prom photos, and family photos from the mid-90s? I want to know what your hair looked like, because I’m also from the Midwest, from Ohio.” Zavarella’s family photo albums, as well as old yearbooks from around Milwaukee, proved hugely helpful, many of the images ending up on her moodboards for the film’s supporting cast of characters and background actors. “I pulled the styles and elements that I thought would really come across on screen,” she says.
Bangs were one of those elements. “We asked ourselves, what’s going to come across to the audience and help them instantly recognize the period, and we knew that was bangs,” says Zavarella, who spent long nights with her team prepping fringe pieces that they could then dye with spray-on hair color the next day. On set, they’d use L’Oréal Magic Root Cover-Up Spray, while in the trailer, they used the Temptu Airbrush Gun. “It’s amazing; there's different modes; you can use a light spray, or you can really go heavy with it, making it easier to control,” she explains.
One person who didn’t need spray-on hair color was Ella Anderson, who plays Mike’s daughter Rachel in the film. “Ella came to us with her hair having a little strawberry blonde hint to it, and I was like, ‘I really love this,’” says Zavarella. “So we went with what she had; we didn't color it the whole movie.” They also kept Anderson’s natural curly hair texture, something the actor doesn’t often wear naturally (although, wearing it this way for the film inspired her to try it out for every day, says Zavarella). “We didn’t want to do anything too glam for Rachel, because she’s still from the Midwest from very humble roots. So we were like, let's diffuse it.”
To tease out her natural texture, Zavarella used products from the Bumble & Bumble Curl range and the Dyson blow-dryer with a diffuser attachment. “We were going for a Kate Hudson, “Almost Famous” vibe,” Zavarella says—a nod to Anderson’s on-screen stepmother’s iconic role. “We just really leaned into it and had so much fun designing all her updos and half-up styles with scrunchies.” Many of those looks are directly inspired by the yearbooks and family photos Zavarella sorted through. “We thought about what a girl would do for prom or homecoming, and that’s how we picked out her style.” It’s also how they picked out the dozens of hairstyles they had to create for Mike and Claire’s wedding in the movie. “Our entire moodboard for that scene was prom and wedding hairstyles from that time. We really leaned into it—It’s not every movie you get to do this type of stuff.”
Ella’s hair (and makeup, and music preferences) also signify a societal shift occurring at the time “Song Sung Blue” is set, and something that Zavarella had to capture with her designs for the film. Amidst the sequins and shoulder pads, the grunge movement was gaining momentum across America, and it was Ella’s generation that helped to usher it in. One of the funniest moments of the film is when Mike, on the phone with Eddie Vedder, asks a mortified Ella, “what’s a pearl jam?” No offence taken, Vedder asks Mike and Claire to open up for Pearl Jam. During the concert, the rocker joins them on stage for a rousing rendition of Diamond’s “Forever in Blue Jeans,” a crowd of lanky-haired, flannel-shirted young adults enthusiastically singing along.
Creating Eddie Vedder’s look was a highlight for Zavarella. Using screenshots from the “Song Sung Blue” documentary, which Vedder is featured in, she enlisted New York-based wig designer Jennifer Mullins to create the perfect long, grungy, rock ‘n roll wig. “It was one of my favorite things I did for the whole movie,” she explains. To achieve that perfect, I-haven’t-washed-my-hair-in-three-days effect, Zavarella used different hair oils and a shiny hair pomade in the roots. “With a wig, it’s not like you’re getting the natural oils from your scalp, so you have to add your own for the hair to look a bit unwashed, and you have to overdo it so it will read on screen.”
For many of the extras in the background, and especially for the musical impersonators who feature throughout the film (we first meet Mike and Claire backstage at an impersonator concert, Clarie as Patsy Cline, Mike feeling rightfully indignant at being asked to perform as Hawaiian crooner Don Ho), Zavarella relied heavily on Got2B’s Glue Blasting Freeze Spray to ensure the hairstyles stayed locked in place while filming.
The musical impersonators included every icon from Buddy Holly to Barbra Streisand. For these over-the-top performers, Zavarella’s task was exactly the opposite of what she needed to achieve when designing looks for the crowds. They needed to look purposely fake. “I wanted to make sure that they looked like impersonation wigs, so we heightened them a bit more. Elvis had to look like an extreme version of Elvis; for Barbra Streisand in that beginning scene, we copied the exact look she had when she won the Oscar for “Funny Girl,” but we made it more in your face,” explains Zavarella. Overdoing it meant making the wigs bigger by lots of teasing, lots of hairspray, and by adding extra pieces, sometimes even putting two wigs together.
From real people’s yearbook photos to real-life music legends, Zavarella spent a lot of her time researching for “Song Sung Blue,” a film that is full of nostalgia for both the audience watching it and the characters inside of it. Zavarella’s detailed designs helped the actors transform and get into character, whether they were impersonating real-life personalities like Eddie Vedder or Mike and Claire Sardina, or impersonating an impersonator. “It's nice that we get to be part of that, but it’s also a lot of pressure to make sure you get it right,” Zavarella muses. “But pulling the images from that period, designing the looks, and making the actors look completely different is why I got into this business in the first place.”
