What's the Story Behind the Tinsel and Nuance in Anora's Hair?

NFS Interviews 'Anora' Hair Stylist Justine Sierakowski

No Film School: How were you approached for Anora?

Justine Sierakowski: I was approached by Olivia, one of our producers, about the film. Annie Johnson, our makeup department head, had been looking for a hairstylist and Callie Filion, our swing, referred me to her.

NFS: What were the initial conversations with you and director Sean Baker like?

Sierakowski: I did one or two interviews with Sean Baker and Samantha Quan before I was hired on, just making sure this was the right fit. The first real conversations we had in regards to the film were between us and Annie. He gave us the details of our characters and what he was looking for. I felt immediately, through our conversations, that he was very trusting of us as the professionals he hired. I think that it leaves so much space to feel creative and have very collaborative conversations where you’re able to voice opinions and ideas.

NFS: Can you talk about the preparation in advance of shooting?

Sierakowski: Annie and I had never worked together or had met before. We learned quickly that we would be friends. I think it was great to have the chance to get to know the person you will be working so closely with before you start a new project, and you don’t always get that. There were a couple months before we started shooting, so we decided to do a couple one day jobs together to see how we worked with one another. It took a bit of the edge off of the beginning of shoot.

When it comes to the movie itself, I always start with just reading the script—no note taking. Then I go back and reread while breaking the script down, finding the details of characters that have already been written in, questions I had and any other thoughts around it. There was a meeting Annie and I had with Sean after we had become familiar with the script. The meeting consisted of getting an understanding of who our characters are and what physical characteristics they needed to have.

Sean is very collaborative, and I feel like there were only a few things that he was more adamant on with what he was looking for. He’s open to opinions and ideas so it leaves room for creativity. I had made mood boards for each character as did Annie and Jocelyn - we all shared them with one another. I was able to speak to Mikey a bit before we started to just get familiar with one another and to talk about Ani. We spent time hanging around Brighton Beach to get a feel for that community as well as spending time at Headquarters during business hours.

NFS: What did your day-to-day shooting schedule look like?

Sierakowski: Our shoot days would start around 3 AM for a three-hour pre-call with Mikey. We had a lot of body makeup that needed to be done, along with the hair tinsel. Annie and I lived super close, so she would drive me. I think we were in the car together at like 2 to 2:30 AM most days. Once call time would come, we would have our Swing Callie Filion come in to help get our other cast members ready until it was time for her to go onto set. At the beginning of shooting we had a lot of meetings with cast members. We would go over ideas for characters or figure out if there was anything we needed to take care of grooming wise before they started. We spent a lot of time everyday with our 2nd Sofia Blanco going through our schedule for the coming day, going over timing and scenes.

There are days you’re staying with the same looks all day, other days you’re moving back and forth between looks, or you have other casts coming later in the day that need to get into character. We would take turns being on set to do last looks and sometimes we would all be out there together depending on cast and background. Annie and I, along with Jodi from costumes, would sleep at a hotel and get Mikey ready there on the days that we filmed at Headquarters. With our pre-calls being so early, the location wasn’t available to us at that time, so having a hotel was the best solution. It was nice because I think those were the mornings I got to sleep in a bit. Once our last shot was up for the day and everything was kind of wrapped up, Annie and I would leave and have Callie Filion stay until wrap. We laughed, drank a lot of Diet Cokes and smoked a lot of cigarettes everyday.

NFS: Can you walk through each of the principal characters and what their hair journey looked like?

Sierakowski: With Ani, we had decided on multiple looks to give life to her story. We needed to have a clear distinction of who Ani was in her different worlds, especially when it came to working in the club and life outside of the club.

The tinsel I wanted to be carried throughout the entire film because it was a good way to blend all her worlds together. It also embodied creativity in her personal style and gave a glimpse of her personality. For Headquarters, her hair is straight. We needed her to look like the club’s top girl. There’s something so striking when hair as long as hers is so straight and sleek. I think it helped emit power and sexuality.

Also the tinsel looks bomb in the lighting with her hair styled that way. We only see it carried over into the first meeting with Ivan at the mansion and one other time when she does a floor routine for him. When we got past their initial mansion hangout, we moved into her “girlfriend/wifey” look where we played with Ani having curled and wavy hair looks. Something that felt might be closer to her personality outside of the club.

The home invasion is when we see the deterioration in her physical characteristics. She doesn’t have the time to put herself together, or maybe it isn’t something she cares about at the moment. She just wants to find Ivan. So throughout this 24 to 48 hour period you watch the curls fall and the tinsel has fallen out from her fight with Toros, Garnick and Yura. After that, more would fall out after her fight with Diamond. In the third act Ani has showered and is back at the mansion with Yura. Having her hair wet and makeup-less was important because it felt the most real. She’s gone through something fairly traumatizing and is back in a place that feels familiar with someone she subconsciously probably feels safe with. I didn’t feel like she would feel bothered with the need to fix herself up. Being wet and makeup-less left space to help show vulnerability that I think would have gotten lost with a more styled look. We are getting a chance to see Anora, not Ani.

With Ivan, when photos of Mark had been sent to me, his hair was very long and big. Sean said that he wanted Ivan to still have long hair but not as much as he had at that moment. He wanted him to feel very carefree, so we stayed with his natural hair pattern. Ivan didn’t feel like someone who really wanted to spend the time grooming himself enough to pass by. Mark had approached me about wanting to wear his hair slicked back for the NYE scene because he would be wearing this very embellished suit and felt like he would take the time to do his hair for his big party he would be throwing. I thought it was a great idea, and it felt real to Ivan’s character and where he’s at in life. Once the home invasion starts we see that Ivan and Ani are just on the couch while he plays video games. It looks like they’ve just gotten up or have been up for a bit and haven’t spent the time getting ready yet. As he leaves, the chase ensues. He’s on a bender doing drugs, drinking, and being chaotic. He’s quickly thrown his clothes on at the mansion and we don’t know if he’s even brushed his teeth for the day, so I wanted to keep his hair big and untamed to just represent the chaos that’s going on around him.

For Toros, Karren’s haircut already was very fitting for his role as Toros. He works for the Zakharov family, who are oligarchs, so they would want their hired help to be well manicured and groomed. Toros has a polished and manicured look but it’s not overly stated like Garnick. His hair doesn’t have a ton of product in it, just a nice cut that leaves it easy for him to quickly style. Toros has a family of his own, and as you find out has also been taking care of Ivan most of his life, so he just has a lot of responsibilities and has had many life experiences. To me it felt like he wouldn’t fuss as much with his hair when he’s getting ready in the morning, and that time could be spent elsewhere.

For Garnick, Vache’s headshots that were given to us had shown him with his hair slicked back. I felt like it was a great hairstyle for a henchman that’s been hired by Toros for the Zakharov family. Garnick is very well manicured and polished. He’s younger, newer to the Zakharov family, and we can maybe assume he’s single. He’s probably looking to spend more time on his grooming making sure he fits his part. I thought the very shellacked shiny gelled hair was perfect for Garnick. I also loved that it was so perfect that it doesn’t really move throughout the home invasion that goes into the chasing of Ivan, I found it to be funny. I feel like Pauli Gualtieri from The Sopranos always pops into mind - he’s there to get the job done but is gonna look good doing it.

For Igor, Yura was much simpler for me, but no less important. He told me he likes his hair at 5mm, so I would just keep continuity of the length by cutting his hair every couple days. When the days got colder I would spend the time giving him head massages with a nice lotion to keep his head moisturized.

NFS: How did you interact with other department heads on this project?

Sierakowski: As hair and makeup department heads, Annie and I worked very closely. We really worked as a team on this. Our collaboration started on day one, and we really shaped the hair and makeup stories for our characters together. Going into this we knew we had a lot of work between ourselves and Callie. We made sure to really support one another. There would be times we would be dipping into each other's work. If I was done and could help with makeup, I’d jump in or vice versa. We just did our best to communicate and make sure we were all on the same page and be sure to check in on each other personally.

We also collaborated a lot with our costume designer Jocelyn Pierce. It’s important for everything to be cohesive for the characters you’re building, so we were always checking in with each other, bouncing ideas off one another, and getting opinions. We also spent time making sure continuity is correct. I think that Jocelyn and I collaborated the most on Lulu’s looks. Luna had so many wigs for us to use, that we all kind of chose together what wigs we wanted to use. From there I would cut and style them.

NFS: What were the biggest challenges from working on Anora and how did you overcome them?

Sierakowski: There were a few challenges on Anora. We had a small hair and makeup team that consisted of the three of us. We quickly learned that Mikey would take up a lot of Annie and I’s time. So doing early pre-calls made the most sense. We also knew that with having a tighter schedule on the days we worked at HQ, we would need all the girls working to come hair and makeup ready. Lyndsey, playing Diamond, had to do her own hair and makeup. We had discussed the looks we were wanting with her. Luna’s hair was quick because her wigs would already be styled and Callie would help with her makeup. Basically, I think we just tried our best to decide what we could realistically take care of between the three of us and stay on top of communication.

Another challenge was waking up at like 1:30 to 2 AM to be on set for a 3 AM pre-call. There’s just no getting used to it. We were lucky though because we were able to get naps in when we could. We missed the mansion after we had to move out because we no longer had beds to lay on. It was quite a luxurious three weeks we had there.

The continuity for the tinsel I think was the biggest challenge for me. There was more attention that I needed to give to it then I had initially planned for. With the top portion of the tinsel being hand tied, it was more temporary. We had to come up with a hair washing schedule. This helped so we could plan for the days that would be longer getting Mikey ready. There we were jumping from post-home invasion scenes to pre-home invasion scenes where Ani would have more tinsel. So it was a team effort with refastening tinsel while I was tying in new tinsel. You kind of learn where you need to add tinsel to brighten her back up when you might not have the time to fully add it all back in.

NFS: Is there a memorable moment that stands out to you from the shoot?

Sierakowski: There were so many memorable moments shooting Anora. When we would be shooting a lot of our car scenes, there would be more down time for everyone. There was one night where Mikey wasn’t needed in the car, so she was in her room that was next to the hair and makeup room. I had been giving haircuts to the crew and it turned into the hair and makeup team doing makeovers on our PAs and other crew members. We were all laughing and having a good time, and Mikey had heard us all. She came in and joined in adding glitter and rhinestone to all the guys. We laughed a lot on our set, and that's what I remember the most. There were stressful days and days that felt like forever, but we all did our best keeping each other alive and having fun.

NFS: What do you take away from working on Anora? What do you hope audiences take away?

Sierakowski: I just really enjoyed being in such a collaborative environment. I don’t think you get that on every set. I enjoyed being able to see the script develop day by day as we shot it. It was a huge labor of love that everyone put so much of themselves into and I think you see that watching the film.