Why Are TV and Movie Wigs Still So Bad?!

Budget.

The wigs on Broadway are much worse and have been so for the past 20 to 30 years. Actresses routinely walk onto a Broadway stage with a hair style that plays to the balcony, even when they don't. Their hair styles are twice the size and thickness of that which any mere human could produce. Awful.

R1, I'm sure you're right, but it still doesn't make sense! When studios are willing to throw tens of millions of dollars toward a project, how much would it really cost to ensure featured talent (not extras) have decent wigs?

Hair and make up is tricky. Along with budget, actors can be very troublesome in terms of what they'll consent to wear.

You would think so but it has been my experience that the money doesn't trickle down to the departments that need it to actually make the movie look good. I was an extra (I know you are talking about leads) on a massive budget movie and had to stand in a trailer in my boxers while 2 wardrobe ladies got on their walkie talkies to ask permission to put in pants for rack A. The answer was no and I was put in cheap scratchy pants that were probably found in a Goodwill. One of the ladies told me they had budget issues and the main actors were being put in clothes from GAP for a wedding scene. On the other hand the catering budget must have been huge because extras are usually fed slop and offered a different menu if lunch is in a restaurant, this time we were served a 4 course meal with steak and salmon, 6 choices of dessert, the breakfast looked like a buffet from a 5 star resort and we had caked brought in throughout the day from a fancy bakery.

How it happens that the money is distributed unevenly or for that matter where these 100 million budgets go I have no idea.

How much does a high-quality human hair wig cost? And how many are generally needed for filming?

It just seems like such a weird place to skimp on money, considering that the audience is going to be staring at the actor’s head.

The star’ salaries r5

Remember in The Comeback when Valerie Cherish was wearing a wig in 'Seeing Red' that was identical to her own hair? Funny bit but anyway the production manager said he was paying 7,000 for the wig. So I would imagine you're looking at 10K?

Tell the truth, OP: you’re thinking about Nicole Kidman, aren’t you?

And Ana Taylor Joy, and Tobias Menzies, and Margot Robbie, and Gillian Anderson, and Elizabeth Olson...

KKKKHHHHHAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!

I think because wigs just suck in general and are tough even with the best quality materials. They'd be better off with extentions or clip on ponytails/ buns. Think about it -- it's not attached to the scalp like hair is, wth hairs coming from the scalp, so 99% of the time it'll never look quite right.

wig making is an art, at least good ones.

I wore a wig made for Ian McKellan in a stage production. It was good quality. You get what you pay for is true.

R6, a good wig for an actor is hand made to the exact measurements of the head it is intended to fit on.

Paul Huntley knows a LOT about wigs and hair styles. But he is chiefly responsible for the giant hair styles seen on Broadway.

Hair From a Box is never going to look real.

My partner and I are constantly distracted by Nichole Kidman's wig in The Undoing.

I still have nightmares about Amber Heard's 'Little Mermaid' wig in 'Aquaman'. A few times I've shit the bed over just how bad it is.

One of the Jennifer Aniston movies--it might be 'Management'--it was rumoured her custom made, human hair wig cost $50K. And I think part of the deal was that she got to keep it.

I've never really understood where all the hair for the real hair wigs comes from - are there women who specifically grow really long hair in order to sell it for wigs? I should Google that shit

R18 I saw a documentary before and they cut it off of women in third world countries! I mean the women agree, they don't capture them and cut off their ponytails, but long haired women in third world countries will chop off their long hair for $20. It's the unspoken side of that industry.

You also have women in the West who will donate their hair for cancer patient's wigs which is a nice gesture.

India supplies a lot of hair for wig making.

Some orthodox rabbis will not approve the use of Indian hair. This caused an uproar in NYC about 20 years ago when rabbis started issuing edicts against very expensive wigs owned by women in the community.

R20 Why? Ethical issue around whether women in India can really provide free consent when they are desperately poor or racism?

[quote] Ethical issue around whether women in India can really provide free consent when they are desperately poor or racism?

Oh, hell no! You may be woke, but not about religion.