Interview: Nadia Stacey, Cruella's Hair and Makeup Designer

by Nathaniel R

Nadia Stacey talks "Cruella"

When I sat down with Cruella's Hair and Makeup designer Nadia Stacey over Zoom we just had a few minutes to talk. To break the ice quickly, a true story. When I first saw the image of Emma Stone as Cruella, my mind immediately lept to Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in The Favourite and her disgruntled "I look like a badger" quip. I had no idea why. Only when prepping for our Cruella interview did I realize the films had the same makeup designer. Stacey laughs, fondly remembering her BAFTA-winning film. "I feel like there’s a theme going on with me doing mask-kind of faces!"

And with The Favourite (a beloved favourite) duly cited, we jump right in to our conversation about her impressive filmography and her biggest assignment yet, designing Disney's live-action Cruella. [This interview is edited/condensed for clarity]

NATHANIEL: You've done a few movies with Olivia Colman and two with Emma Stone. Are you just going to keep The Favourite-ing from now on?  

NADIA STACEY: I hope so. I’ve been friends with Olivia for years, before the world knew who she was. And having this relationship with Emma from The Favourite. It just makes it easier when you find people you really love working with who boost you creatively. It’s lovely.

How much creative leeway did you have on Cruella? She's an iconic character so I assume there were constraints. The black and white hair obviously. In the cartoon she has almost grey skin and very green eyeshadow. 

NADIA STACEY: Honestly the black and white hair was probably it in terms of rules which I’m amazed about. Coming in to do a huge studio project like this I assumed I would have notes and notes and notes all the time. And I thought we'd be checking boxes for the original.  I was kind of blown away by the freedom. 

That's great to hear. 

NADIA STACEY: We were lucky but I think there’s a lot of elements involved in that. Craig Gillespie is known for these offbeat films and plus we were doing an origin story. And the fact that we’re set at a time when London was exploding with the  punk movement. Those elements meant that creatively for hair, makeup, and costume we were kind of able to go crazy. 

Cruella as a young girlCruella goes a little mad sometimes

You're the Hair and Makeup designer but you must have had a big team on a job like this. I can't imagine how many wigs there were.

NADIA STACEY: Hundreds! I watched the film again and I had forgotten. There are scenes where everyone has a wig on. And that’s not even looking at the background players; I think there were 120 black and white wigs for the ballroom scene. There was also a huge amount of work in the early part of the movie [for Cruella as a child]. But for Emma I think I only had two black and white wigs. It was so busy when we were making the film and it’s hard to source the white hair so we couldn’t get them made. 

I had to keep changing thing. When she has bangs, for example, that's a separate piece. I kept adding things on and switching it and messing things up. Craig was really up for that. "That’s what she does with her costumes."

A DIY icon!

Absolutely that’s exactly what she is.

M•A•C just realized a Cruella line. On massive movies where there’s going to be merchandise, did you have to plan ahead for that?  

I don’t… i can’t take that in to consideration when I’m designing. I just design for the characters. I was a very unlikely hair and makeup artist. It was not something I thought I was going to do. But I am a massive film fan and when it merged and that’s what I started to do, I kept that focus. I think about character all the time. I dont think about merchandise. I knew roughly that [the Mac collection] was going to happen but you don’t  really get the scale, how big the machine is and what’s going to come from it -- I've never done a Disney movie before. 

M•A•C came to see me in the design concept stage and were looking at what I was doing and colors I was thinking about. 

So they are riffing on your work rather than some sort of retro-fitting.

Absolutely. I was never involved in their process.

One of the most joyful things about the movie is that you dont have one diva villainess, but two. Emma Thompson also has amazing wigs. Did you have to relegate a lot? 

I designed the whole hair and makeup obviously but I also looked solely after Emma Stone and did her makeup. I had an assistant makeup artist help me with Emma to get those looks ready all the time. Luckily Emma Thompson brought in Naomi Donne who is a fantastic hair and makeup designer. She has an existing relationship with her. To have a short hand with those two lead women was fantastic. And Naomi was so  collaborative. 'I was thinking this shape this silhouette' ...and then she was adding her things.

Thank goodness because those two women need the attention. I don’t mean personally!!!

[Laughter]

I mean for the looks! [Laughs]

As far as I can tell you have five movies coming out this year? How tightly are you scheduled right now.

Do you know what? It just went crazy after The Favourite. I have always been lucky and busy but after The Favourite It went completely nuts. There were so many good projects I couldn’t say no. In one year I did Everybody’s Talking about Jamie, The Father, and Cruella. By December I was on my knees.

The Favourite changed your career. But from before that was films would you point to as having made a big difference?

I did Tyrannossaur which is the first thing I met Olivia Colman on. That changed things for me. That got me my agent. I was doing lots of indies and really learning my craft. Then Pride came along and that was a step up in terms of budget and scale. I was unlikely to get it...  so the moment I got the phone call!

Pride (2014)Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)

I love hearing that because that movie is so special! And then next you have Everybody’s Talking about Jamie is next. So maybe you feel you're coming full circle from Pride.

I’ve been super lucky to get those real impactful stories. To be entrusted to tell Pride was just beautiful. They played the trailer at Pride in Trafalgar Square and I was holding hands with the original people we made the film about. It was just incredible. It was the same kind of feeling on Jamie and being thrown headfirst into the world of drag hair and makeup!

And now Cruella. Which will inspire many drag queens [Laughter]

Absolutely! And they inspired me.  There’s a total drag queen about Cruella. I think I probably took some from Jamie on to Cruella.

Cruella is now playing in theaters and on DisneyPlus with premiere access. 

Comments

[thevoid99]

Just give Nadia Stacy and Jenny Beavan their Oscars now.

[Ryan T.]

I was in awe of the hair/makeup (and costumes) in this movie. It was certainly a feast for the eyes. I love that she worked on PRIDE and has worked on JAMIE which I'm really looking forward to. The CRUELLA character of Artie is played by the actor who originated JAMIE on the West End I think.

[Peggy Sue]

It is impossible to forget Olvia's bruised face in Tyrannosaur.