Brian Badie: Hairstyling Sofia Falcone and Victor Aguilar in The Penguin
Hair department head Brian Badie dove into The Penguin’s storytelling through hairstyles–from Sofia Falcone’s many moods to Victor Aguilar’s urban, grounded look.
When it comes to storytelling, The Batman’s spinoff series, The Penguin is the perfect example of bringing every facet of filmmaking to outstanding heights. Hairstyles can accentuate or subtly inform the audience of a character’s state of mind, social standing, and overall personality; if not done with care and deep consideration of the complexities of their stories, the result could be distracting to say the least. The Penguin’s hair department head Brian Badie had the exciting and daunting task of bringing Matt Reeve’s Gotham City on TV–and while the style was already established in The Batman, he had some creative freedom to set tones for new, compelling characters.
“I wanted to incorporate fashion, of course, but I also wanted to be innovative with texture. That was very important because to me, Gotham City is sort of an underground world. I didn’t want it over-stylized as though they went to salons weekly … Some type of edge in a lot of characters was my main focus while staying true to the film.”
In the aftermath of the film, Gotham was left in disarray after the attack of the Riddler. The Penguin resumes a week from the flood disaster that rendered an incredible amount of casualties and countless families without a home. Badie explained that this event would dramatically impact and evolve the style for the show compared to The Batman: “I wanted to incorporate fashion, of course, but I also wanted to be innovative with texture. That was very important because to me, Gotham City is sort of an underground world. I didn’t want it over-stylized as though they went to salons weekly … they could have done their hair themselves and still achieve this look. Some type of edge in a lot of characters was my main focus while staying true to the film.”
For Brian Badie, the actors are the main source of inspiration when it comes to telling a story through hair–and it pays off when there is an immediate chemistry in the chair. The many moods of Sofia Falcone, from the long hairstyle to the rebellious mullet, is a testament to the close collaboration between the hairstylist and Cristin Milioti–the two creating an evolving iconic look that truly elevated her character. “I quickly found out that she had the same taste and fashion as I do. We both love the same types of hair as far as texture, not overly stylized, not too pretty, a little rough. We collaborated equally … I just brought the look we both agreed on and made it into hair. When designing all of Sofia’s looks, that quality of that edge was supposed to be evident in everything … it was the one thing they all had in common. From the beginning, I didn’t want her to be too debutante and overstyled because then it would be too much of a change when we moved into the other looks,” he said.
Chronologically, Brian Badie began Sofia Falcone’s hair evolution with an innocent look, a sort of “under the father’s thumb” long hairstyle, which then smoothly transferred straight into her Arkham imprisonment. Ten years later, after returning home, she’s very poised and contained just to bring everyone’s guards down–but underneath that layer she is preparing for war, which is evident not only in her wardrobe change but also her new hairstyle. Badie revealed, “We wanted it to look like she chopped it herself in the bathroom. We actually filmed that scene but didn’t make the final cut. The shag cut was the first indication that she is not who she portrayed since she came home from Arkham, and that was only the beginning because then she’s full throttle. We take her into the mullet, which is a wonderful hairstyle in my opinion, to show all the elements of Sofia. She’s a fashionable chick. She’s dangerous. She’s a badass. She has this manicness in her hair, almost like tentacles. I was trying to make it look that way when she was really riled up … her hair sort of had a little more life to it.”
On the other side of the spectrum is Victor Aguilar, Oz Cobb’s right hand man and survivor of the flood disaster. His character, played by the incredibly talented Rhenzy Feliz, is arguably the most relatable one of the show–so his hairstyle had to be simple and grounded, which Badie admitted was even a greater challenge than Sofia’s many looks: “Victor was endearing, so we wanted him to have a certain innocence about him. He started off sort of on the poor side. He’s not supposed to be hyper stylized, but he is an urban guy, a Latino who would care about his hair no matter what his socio-economic situation is. We didn’t want him to look like he got an uptown fade like he’s in Washington Heights, getting a Dominican barber fade every day [chuckles]. Therefore, I didn’t go crazy with fading. I kept it a little textured, just to give a little bit of a shape up without sharp lines because then it wouldn’t have been natural. I wanted to play with the angles with his hair, to bring some geometry into it and sort of work with his innocence. It wasn’t easy because his look didn’t have a lot of layers like Cristin’s hair. How can I tell as much of a story in a haircut without making him look like every other dude in Gotham City? That was the challenge.”
The highs and lows of Gotham were meticulously represented by Brian Badie’s hair artistry. Both Sofia and Victor’s styles were the highlights of the show, but in between there is so much more storytelling told through hair in The Penguin. Make sure to follow his Instagram page to learn more about his process and future projects.
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