Pokin Around: Springfield stylist moves to Tinsel Town to make it big in movies and TV - News-Leader

maleomales.blogspot.com

Steve Pokin Springfield News-Leader

Published 12:30 AM EDT Sep 6, 2020

It's been a long time since Andy Friedhofen, 71, got a $12 haircut from Linda Flowers here in Springfield.

It was Friedhofen who called to tell me that local girl Flowers made it big in Tinsel Town and become the "stylist to the stars."

Flowers, 63, certainly has done that.

I spoke to her this week. She has cut the hair of Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Scarlett Johannson, Billie Eilish and shaped the hair-and-makeup look of Jennifer Lawrence and Elizabeth Banks in two "Hunger Games" movies.

Before she moved full-time to Los Angeles, she did the hair and makeup of Johnny Cash for a music video made here in Springfield.

For years in L.A. she has worked exclusively in film, television and music videos.

If you were producing a movie and wanted Flowers on your set, it would cost about $3,500 a day for her expertise.

“Most people want to make people look beautiful," she tells me. "I get paid to make them look like somebody else. I use wigs. It’s being able to age people. To do character work."

"Character work" is the creative side of what she does. 

What should the characters in the Hunger Games, for example, look like?

Especially, what should their hair look like?

“It is not as glamorous as you would think," she says. "You get there early and work late. I was doing the Hunger Games in Hawaii. I was in mud up to my knees.

“You are out there fighting mosquitoes. It is really a grind and a lot of work. It’s a lot of responsibility. It costs so much money to film. It’s about $10,000 a minute.

“There are people there to build the set. People there to paint the set. People who design the set. People getting everybody ready. Then you have to feed everybody.

“It’s a lot of work. A lot of meetings. And there is a lot of pressure.”

'I didn't know movies. But I knew hair.'

Flowers' father was born in Missouri and her mother was Japanese. Both are deceased.

The family settled in Springfield after her father retired from the military.

They lived on the west side of town, near Sunshine, and she graduated from Central High in 1974 not knowing what the future held.

For 30 years, starting in Springfield, she practiced martial arts and eventually earned a third-degree black belt.

“I just remember growing up in Springfield, I would see other hairdressers. They wore fun clothes and were driving fun cars. And they didn’t work 9-to-5 jobs.”

About a year after graduating high school, she started to cut hair.

What hooked her were the trade shows sponsored by manufacturers of the various products used by stylists. She attended and, like others, waxed creative as she cut hair at the shows.

"There were so many colorful people," she says. "I mingled with people."

Pokin Around:  'All my life. I just had a heart for activism. I have always spoken up'

She was about 30 when a fellow stylist suggested she visit a movie set in Arizona with her. The friend had been hired to work in hair and makeup.

“I didn't know movies. But I knew hair.”

She was asked to cut hair.

“One of the actors liked the way I did his hair and I ended up working with him for five years."

That was Judge Reinhold, who was in the movies "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Beverly Hills Cop."

For a while, she says, she would spend part of her time in Springfield and part in Los Angeles.

It was during this period that she worked with Johnny Cash. He was making a music video here in Springfield.

Music videos were much simpler back then, she says. It was a video of Cash simply singing and playing the guitar. She does not recall the song.

"I did his hair and his makeup.”

"They did a few takes and that was it. It was simple back then."

What was Johnny Cash like?

"He was a lovely man."

The Governor of Hair

She moved to Los Angeles full-time in the 1990s and initially lived with a friend who worked in the business. The friend helped her find jobs.

Flowers was hired as chief hairdresser for the 1994-96 TV series "One West Waikiki" starring Cheryl Ladd.

Her career has since skyrocketed.

She has worked in hair and makeup in movies such as "Black Widow" starring Scarlett Johannson; "There Will Be Blood" starring Daniel Day-Lewis; and "The Social Network" starring Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg.

Eight years ago she hired an agent.

In fact, to reach Flowers I went through her agent. Flowers replied the same day.

She now holds the strange title of Hair Governor.

Pokin Around:  Meet the man behind the flag of Sweden flying on a National Avenue porch

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has numerous governing bodies.  Three governors oversee hair and makeup — two cover makeup and that leaves Flowers to preside over hair.

She is not married but has had a steady boyfriend for 25 years, Francis Forlenza, who is an artist and day trader.

She lives in the beachside community of Playa Del Rey and once or twice a year visits family in Missouri.

She has a sister who lives here and her niece, Josie Shelton, is a stylist at Paul Mitchell. in Springfield. Another niece is a stylist, as well.

I ask if other factors played a role in her success, such as personality.

“It is definitely a part of it. But first, overall, your work has to be good. The people you work with have faces that end up on screen and they do not want to look bad — although sometimes you need to make them look bad.

“Some of it is luck — being in the right place at the right time.

“The best way to do it is to get in with an actor.”

I called Friedhofen back on Friday to let him know I'd finally interviewed Flowers.

He says Flowers worked at several local places and he followed her and her scissors.

"She was such a good stylist."

I tell him she only works in film, TV and music videos these days.

"I kind of figured I wouldn't be getting any more $12 haircuts from her," he says.

Pokin Around:  Can someone, including suspended sports jock, explain the 'truth' he spoke?

These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper eight years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 417-836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"Movies" - Google News
September 06, 2020 at 11:32AM
https://ift.tt/3lXCS4w

Pokin Around: Springfield stylist moves to Tinsel Town to make it big in movies and TV - News-Leader
"Movies" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2xuBIZW


Bagikan Berita Ini