Nikki Gooley: Making Memorable Faces

One of the first projects Gooley and her team encountered on the Sydney set involved not only implementing the changes in Anakin Skywalker's appearance as he was last seen in Attack of the Clones, but also accurately portraying his stunning transformation as Darth Vader.

"We had to keep him very handsome and strong," Gooley reveals. "So to go from the short hair, younger Anakin to the older more mature Anakin we wanted him to look slightly older in the face so that it was an easier transformation into the darker Darth Vader."

Director George Lucas could be spotted in the makeup and hair department monitoring Gooley's progress and offering his ideas regarding Anakin's new look.

"George is a very interactive director when it comes to hair," Gooley smiles. "I think he had a very strong image in his head, and there were very detailed concept drawings of how Hayden should look. Sometimes it's very difficult to make a drawing come to life because there are other people involved. The actor has to have his say, or in the texture of the hair may be different than expected, or it doesn't resemble how it looks in the drawing. But we were fortunate enough with Hayden. The final look just evolved from conversations with George and from George playing with it, and combing Hayden's fringe. Plus Hayden was very definite about how he wanted his hair to sit."

The concepts regarding Anakin's appearance ran the gamut from a harsh Mohawk to a long pirate-like ponytail, before deciding on the final longer-hair version.

"We had made a long haired wig with a ponytail which looked great but it just wasn't strong enough for Anakin," Gooley explains. "Having a long ponytail would have been a little bit too swashbuckling. So it gradually got shorter and shorter, and then we arrived at the length and that was it. I think it was the right decision because it makes him look strong, it gives him a great jaw."

After the decision with Anakin's hair had been made, Gooley tried in vain to get different opinions of other crew members. Everyone seemed to love not only the hair, but also the actor.

"When we did some makeup tests in the beginning with Hayden, and we had the dilemma of whether we should use a short wig or go with the longer hair pieces, we'd ask the girls on set what they thought of Hayden's hair and they'd say, 'Oh he looks gorgeous! I love that look!' Then we'd go and ask somebody else. And they'd reply, 'I love him, I love him! I think he looks fabulous!' So I think no matter what you did to Hayden, all the girls would be in love with him anyway. He's so gorgeous."