History Main / DyeingForYourArt

* Creator/GeneHackman was tricked into shaving his mustache to play ComicBook/LexLuthor in ''Film/{{Superman}}''. Director Creator/RichardDonner had had a mustache shortly before he went to see Hackman about the part. Hackman didn't know he had shaved it off already, so Donner wore a false mustache that the makeup department made up for him. When he saw Gene, he told him that if he shaved off his mustache then he would shave off his own. So, Gene Hackman shaved off his moustache right in front of Donner and then said "Your turn" whereupon Donner pulled off his fake. Hackman was most displeased but, fortunately for Richard Donner, is quite undisposed to violence. On the other hand, Hackman flat out refused to shave his head to play the [[BaldOfEvil famously bald]] Luthor. Instead, he came up with the RunningGag of Luthor wearing a different wig in every scene (and wearing a bald wig when he's arrested).

** Both ''Film/{{Split}}'' and ''Film/{{Glass}}'' forced him to become seriously ripped as a superstrong man -- for the latter, [=McAvoy=] reportedly gained 16 to 20 pounds of muscle mass.

* Creator/JoanChen had her hair shaved off for the 1993 film ''Temptation of a Monk'' in which her character Violet becomes a Buddhist monk. This resulted in her wearing wigs for ''Golden Gate'', ''Red Rose White Rose'' and ''Film/OnDeadlyGround'' during which she was growing back her hair, thus the chin length bob she sported in ''Film/TheHunted'' and ''Film/JudgeDredd'' was her actual hair.

* Creator/NicolasCage had some of his teeth filed down for ''Film/{{Renfield|2023}}'', so his Dracula fang prosthetics would fit better, and allow him better pronunciation.
* Most of the cast of Film/MajorGromPlagueDoctor drastically altered their looks for the film:

** To play the odious NouveauRiche socialite Kirill Grechkin, Yuri Nasonov bleached his dark brown hair whitish-blonde, had fake tattoos applied, and wore gold veneers. The hair caused some issues: Nasanov was acting in a stage play at the time, and neglected to tell the director he'd changed his hair until after the fact. Fortunately, he was able to wear a wig for the rest of the play's run.

** To play the super fit, athletic Grom Tikhon Zhiznevsky overhauled his diet, lost 10 kilograms (22 lbs), and underwent a heavy training regimen (using both the ''Major Grom'' comics and Brad Pitt from ''Film/FightClub'' and ''Film/{{Snatch}}'' as body references). He also dyed his curly blonde hair dark brown, and cut it short to remove the curls. Zhiznevsky stated that he took the role in part because of the challenge of undergoing a physical transformation.
** For the role of Sergei Razumovsky, Sergei Goroshko lost roughly 33 lbs (also by overhauling his diet) and had his light-brown hair straightened and dyed the character's signature coppery red. (Reportedly, the dye was so strong that his hair remained that color for months afterward.) He also wore contact lenses to turn his eyes blue [[spoiler: and, later, golden yellow]].
** To play the odious NouveauRiche socialite Kirill Grechkin, Yuri Nasonov bleached his dark brown hair whitish-blonde, had fake tattoos applied, and wore gold veneers. The hair caused some issues: Nasanov was acting in a stage play at the time, and neglected to tell the director he'd changed his hair until after the fact. (Fortunately, he was able to wear a wig for the rest of the play's run.)

This entry does not cover those actors and actresses who dye their hair all the time for professional or personal reasons e.g. Creator/BilliePiper, [[Music/NoDoubt Gwen Stefani]] and the late Creator/MarilynMonroe. They're DyeHard. Though the two can overlap sometimes if an actor prefers the hair color they were required to change to and keeps it that way. When Dyeing For Your Art affects the appearance of another character played by the same actor, see RealLifeWritesTheHairstyle.

* Creator/TaylorLautner (Jacob from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''), to avoid being [[TheOtherDarrin re-cast]] in the sequel, worked out religiously and gained 30 pounds of muscle. [[ShirtlessScene Much shirtlessness ensued]].

* To play Lisbeth Salander in Creator/DavidFincher's remake of ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo'', Creator/RooneyMara chopped her long brown hair off and went to a dyed-black pixie cut, bleached her eyebrows, got both ears pierced four times, and got her eyebrow and one nipple pierced as well (lip and nose piercings were fake). Say what you will about her, she doesn't do things in half measures.
** Creator/NoomiRapace (the actress who played Salander in the original Swedish films) deserves mention also. In addition to performing image alteration similar to Mara's [[note]] she trained relentlessly to become thin and wiry, dyed and chopped her hair, got pierced (nostril, septum, eyebrow, and multiple ear piercings), etc.[[/note]], Rapace took up smoking for real during filming [[note]] smoking convincingly is actually quite difficult for non-smokers to emulate, and she wanted to get it perfect[[/note]] and took to dressing and acting "in-character" even when not on camera...to the point where family and friends began to worry as to her sanity. There's a very good reason she refused to do the role again for the American remake.

[[folder:Film]]
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There are limitations to what can be done with wigs and fake beards. When performers make real changes to their hair's appearance for a part, wuth shaving, cutting, straightening, curling, or dying, such that they look different in the mirror in the morning, that's commitment. That's Dyeing for Your Art.

* Creator/TomCruise did it at least twice. He dyed his hair blond for ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' because Creator/AnneRice (who wrote the novel) insisted that Lestat should be played by a blond actor. He also dyed his hair for the film ''Film/{{Collateral}}''.

* Chloe Annett, TheOtherDarrin in the role of Kochanski on ''Series/RedDwarf'', had her long light brown hair cut short and dyed dark brown so that she'd look more like her predecessor Clare Grogan when she took the role in Series VII. In Series VIII, she had her own natural hair (despite the fact that the series premiere took place a matter of minutes after the previous series' finale - the change in appearance was never commented on).

* Creator/DanAykroyd wore baby blue contact lenses and dyed his hair and eyebrows blonde to portray Vic in the 1981 film ''Neighbors''. [[CreepyBlueEyes The results]] [[UncannyValley are unsettling]]. It's fitting enough, considering the character is meant to be a little... off.

* Creator/KarenGillan shaved her head for ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' (the hair was made into a wig she wore during ''Series/{{Selfie}}''). Later appearances by Nebula, however, just have Gillan's hair in a bun hidden by all the make-up.

* Creator/ChrisPratt went through a series of physical transformations in a relatively short period of time. He went from slim to pudgy to play Andy on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''. During that time, he lost weight and gained muscle for ''Film/{{Moneyball}}'' and ''Film/ZeroDarkThirty'' (and went back to pudgy for ''Parks and Rec'' right after each) and gained an enormous amount of weight for ''Film/DeliveryMan''. He finally dropped 60 pounds of fat and put on muscle for his lead role as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and has maintained that physique since, even when he went back to playing Andy.

** Eminem bleached his hair platinum blond to portray Slim Shady for the video for "My Name Is" and it [[DyeHard became his signature]], even [[MemeticHair long after he went back to his natural colour]]. It also became an iconic NinetiesHair look, emulated by many young men.
** To portray the SerialKiller version of Slim Shady on ''Relapse'', Eminem (who had become obese in 2006) slimmed down to a very low body fat percentage, to the extent of even losing the fat on his face that gave him the cute, boyish appearance he'd been known for previously, giving him VillainousCheekbones. He'd wanted to look like Creator/ChristianBale in ''Film/TheMachinist'', but his personal trainer had talked him out of it. He still makes a point of [[MrFanservice showing off]] his extremely slim new body in the ShirtlessScene and BloodBath scene in the music video for "3 a.m.".

* Bruce Boxleitner grew a beard that he found very annoying for the last season of ''Series/BabylonFive'', at Creator/JMichaelStraczynski's insistence that his character be visually different to reflect his development.

* Eva Habermann dyed her hair blue to play Xev Bellringer on ''{{Series/Lexx}}''. Due to hair damage from the dye, she had to switch to a wig in the second season.

* Creator/KatieMcGrath dyes her naturally blonde hair very dark and "stays out of the sun" to play RavenHairIvorySkin Morgana on ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''.

* Ed Bishop dyed his hair white-blond for the role of Commander Straker in ''Series/{{UFO}}'', as the character's look was based on a character voiced by Bishop in ''Series/CaptainScarletAndTheMysterons'', Captain Blue, but soon switched to a wig because the dye damaged his hair.

* Creator/TomHardy (five-foot-ten, 180 lbs) put on forty pounds of muscle to play [[AxeCrazy British prisoner]] [[NamesTheSame Charles Bronson]] in ''Film/{{Bronson}}''. He got even bigger to play Bane in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.

* Mollie Sugden, who played Mrs. Slocombe in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', had to have brightly-colored hair which changed color every episode. At the start, this was done by actually dyeing Sugden's hair, but the treatment caused reactions and hair loss so the production switched to a series of brightly-coloured wigs from then on.

* For the scene in ''Series/ElInternadoLasCumbres'' where Paz's long hair is buzzed off as punishment, Paula del Río agreed to have her own hair buzzed, and even recorded the process in a [[https://www.cosmopolitan.com/es/famosos/peliculas-series/a35559273/el-internado-las-cumbres-paula-del-rio-pelo/ time lapse video]].

* Creator/MichaelRosenbaum shaves his head to play Lex Luthor in ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. The actress for Maxima also dyed her hair from gold to red. Unfortunately, [[AdaptationDyeJob no one did anything for Lana Lang or Lois Lane.]]

* Creator/SamuelLJackson usually wears wigs in most of his roles.