It might be difficult at first to imagine what a cosmetology school just outside of Charlotte could have to do with the making of The Hunger Games, but a handful of students and educators from the Paul Mitchell School in Gastonia, North Carolina were called upon to help create many of the hairstyles and hairpieces that brought the hundreds of characters to life in the wildly popular thriller released in theaters last month.
The first Hunger Games movie involves an array of elaborate and colorful outfits and hairstyles, so professionals from all over the world were called upon to bring the incredibly ambitious project to life. For the students that were fortunate enough to work on the movie, the experience was no doubt unforgettable, albeit busy and demanding. It certainly put their hair and makeup skills they’re learning in cosmetology school to the test. The majority of the scenes were filmed on location in North Carolina, so none of the staff or students had to travel far to get a taste of Hollywood.
Evidently, the workload of preparing over 700 hairpieces for The Hunger Games was too much for Academy Award winner Linda Flowers, who called the Paul Mitchell School last summer in hopes of securing some help for the project. Instructors Rex Faile and Bryce Carey jumped at the opportunity to help their esteemed colleague from Los Angeles.Faile, Carey and their pupils were assigned the task of dying, braiding and otherwise prepping hundreds of wigs for the actors and the cameras. Bright and vibrant colors were employed whenever possible, allowing many young cosmetologists to explore the properties of dye colors that they rarely get a chance to use in a typical salon or school environment, such as silver or green. They result of an approach that left no stone unturned is a visually captivating movie that holds the audience on the edge of their seats throughout.
In total, it took over 60 hairstylists and interns the better part of a humid and muggy Southern summer to complete more than 700 hairpieces for The Hunger Games, along with 4,000 eyelashes and 2,000 fingernails. Many of the students and interns were ecstatic to be working alongside a few of the stars that they’ve been admiring on the big screen for years. Naturally, many of them are seeing the film several times in order to be able to properly appreciate their own workSaid one young designer that worked on set to reporters, “I see Katniss walk by with the braids and I’m thinking, ‘That’s my work.’” While a movie of the size and scope of The Hunger Games may not come through North Carolina again for a long time, the skills and resume building that the many students from Paul Mitchell School attained will likely lead them to other interesting jobs in the near future.
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