Another benefit of using wigs on set is the unmatched consistency they offer for a character’s appearance. While most movies and tv shows plots take place over the course of a couple of days or weeks, when in reality, these type of productions can sometimes take up to months and even years to wrap up.
Now, what better way to keep a character’s hairstyle consistent between takes that were shot 4 months apart from each other, than a wig or a hairpiece? They don’t get any longer or shorter, and they shouldn’t lose their coloration assuming they’re properly stored and cared for.
Now that we’ve talked about the reasons why wigs are so often used in today’s filmmaking industry, let’s talk about some actual films and tv shows with wigs in them, shall we?
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: We’re starting this off with a heavy hitter. Almost every single actor in the entire trilogy wore a hairpiece to complete their character’s looks. Ranging from hobbits to elves, regardless of the actor’s gender, there’s hardly one scene throughout the entire trilogy that doesn’t feature a wig sporting actor.
Supposedly, the only actors who never wore a wig to portray their iconic characters were David Wenham who played Faramir, and Sean Bean who played the character of Boromir. Or did they? With The Lord of the Rings heavy use of human hair wigs, it’s almost impossible to tell.
The Harry Potter Series: Now here’s one you might not know about. In the late Alan Rickman’s words: “In the first film, if anybody ever wants to look, of course you’ve got the problem of kids who can only work a certain number of hours. Sometimes there were 300 children on set, and at certain points, they all had to go off and do some schoolwork.”
So whenever the members of the movie’s iconic trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione weren’t facing the camera, like the scenes where the great Rickman can be seen giving a lecture in class, what you’re actually seeing “very small adult actors aged 33 with a wig on their heads”.
On the small screen side of things, we have the likes of shows like Game of Thrones, Westworld, Stranger Things, Vikings and The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, just to name a few.
So yeah! It’s pretty safe to say without a doubt that wigs and hairpieces are still widely used in the movie and tv industries. The versatility and flexibility that they bring to the table are too much of an asset for filmmakers to ignore.
