Beauty Break: Headdresses
Friday, July 4, 2014 at 10:00AM I've been holding on to this picture of Sigourney Weaver as "Tuya" from Exodus for a couple of days without any idea what to say about it other than 'thank god Sigourney's signature directors still love her'. Between Ridley Scott (Alien) and James Cameron (Aliens), Lt. Ellen Ripley will always find her way back to decent roles on the big screen.
But I don't understand the casting of that movie at all. Everyone is SO white, like pasty white. Especially Joel Edgerton as Ramses. In The Ten Commandments that role went to Yul Brynner. Though Brynner was also white, a white Russian to be exact though that sounds alcoholic and we're not talking about how drunk looking at Yul makes me, he had that exotic visual flair that had Hollywood casting him in every conceivable ethnicity. Kind of the way Ben Kingsley who is Indian British is used now, only sexier.
Let's stick with the sexy. The Film Experience loves a good headdress on the big screen. Here are some of the best.
Thou Shalt Not Lust After Yul Brynner - a commandment no one kept ever
Holy Smoke! It's Kate Winslet
Brigitte Helm - Pure Metropolis Evil!
Little Keanu Buddha
Josephine Baker
Phantom Headdress modelled by Natalie Portman
Norma Shearer
When even your headdress cant compete with your cleavage
Hedy Lamarr who needs a biopic in the worst way. so fascinating
Headdress overachiever Whitney Houston in "The Bodyguard"
And the all time headdress champions, Cher & Elizabeth Taylor...
Cher as Half Breed, Endless Touring Performer, and Oscar Fixture
Reader Comments (22)
Lovely selection. I would definitively add Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria (singing Le Jazz Hot) and Ana Belén in La corte de Faraón.
What is really embarrassing about Exodus is that they seem to have cast ethnic actors in every none noteworthy role, based on its imdb page.
"The Glass Bottom Boat"(1966). Doris Day looked terrific in her Mata Hari costume, complete with shimmering blue headdress.
Systematic white supremacy only surprises white people. Hollywood sees white first for everything.
That first pic would have been perfect for a dialogue, any thoughts?
Yes to "Le Jazz Hot"!
I got weird Supporting actress winner vibes from that photo of Weaver it's like she chanelling Anne Baxter.
what on earth is that thing on La Taylor's head in that last pic?!
Between Exodus and Joe Wright's self-proclaimed "multicultural" Peter Pan that has Rooney Mara playing Tiger Lily-White, I cannot deal with all this whitewashing bullshit right now. I feel like nowadays period/large ensemble dramas repeatedly forget the fact that they're allowed to have POC in substantial roles that don't draw attention to their race, if only for the fact that it makes for a breathing, organic landscape, because, you know, we exist in this world too. Many of the new prestigious directors especially-- Wright, Russell, Payne, Nolan, etc barely ever cast POC. Really very frustrating to watch and just shows how frozen in storytelling tradition innovative people can be, even as it resembles less and less of reality
and just who is that gentleman with the competing cleavage? Um, for research purposes.
Another "yes" to "Le Jazz Hot" here, too.
forever -- that would be Kellan Lutz in The Immortals (2011)
Kate Winslet in what movie is that??
I thought that first picture was Diana Rigg.
Other headdresses:
Mia Farrow in Gatsby
Everyone in Priscilla Queen of the Dessert.
The Fern headdress in Wigstock
Flash Gordon (the remake with Sam Jones)
Nora Desmond.
PATTI LABELLE!!!
A Hedy Lamarr biopic. Agreed. She was considered on of the world's great beauties during Hollywood's Golden Age, worked with some top movie talent, but never achieved major stardom. Did you know she wrote a biography in the mid-60: Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman? I snuck read it in middle school. She also was an inventor, who helped develop the basis for today's wireless communications. She led quite a fascinating life.
craver -- that's HOLY SMOKE!
Don't forget Carmen Miranda!
Yes, i look at Yul Brynner and think my oh my. But then he starts to MOVE, with that prowling panther walk, and my jaw just drops. Not enough actors have a great walk anymore.
How beautiful is/was Keanu?
I cannot believe they have cast a white Australian as Ramses.
where's Diane Lane in The Cotton Club?
I would add Nicole Kidman in the Indian number at the end of "Moulin Rouge". She looked faboulous with her headdress. And although it's technically a hat, what Audrey Hepburn wore in her head for Ascott in "My Fair Lady" is mythic.
And Greta Garbo's in Mata-Hari! Iconic.
I was shocked that Nicole Kidman wasn't included for her headdress in the Hindi Sad Diamonds number at the end of Moulin Rouge.