When it comes to portraying a character having their head shaved on-screen, it’s hard to fake – the role usually comes with a heavy price. Here we have actresses portraying charcters being willingly shaved on-screen.
It’s not that unusual for an actress to appear bald with a bald-cap but a surprising number of actresses have undergone a transformation that goes beyond makeup and had their heads shaved bald to portray a hairless character. This is a transformation into character that goes beyond makeup. It may take four hours to have prosthetics applied; the makeup may be uncomfortable; the only food over a fifteen-hour day may come through a straw; an actress may not even be able to go to the toilet without help while wearing hand or body prosthetics – but, and it is a great big but, at the end of the day the makeup comes off!
A few have even agreed to have their transformation shown on-screen. Typically the character may be: becoming a nun; arriving at a concentration camp; suffering some sort of punishment haircut (eg a wartime collaborator); or undergoing some sort of cathartic transformation. A very few even agreed to be filmed shaving their own heads in character.
Sometimes it’s for that extra bit of authenticity; sometimes it’s for the money; sometimes it’s for the publicity that might revive a flagging career or kick-start a new one. I don’t understand why most of the actresses who have appeared bald in movies agreed to have their heads shaved: why they would agree to it being filmed and how they could have the confidence that they could remain in character throughout the process is beyond me.