Michael Cera went through a lot of hairstyle ‘iterations’ while shooting ‘The Phoenician Scheme’
Opening up about his wacky look in the film, Michael Cera has admitted he went through a lot of hairstyle “iterations” before deciding on his look for the upcoming movie ‘The Phoenician Scheme’.
Michael Cera went through a lot of hairstyle “iterations” before deciding on his look in the upcoming movie ‘The Phoenician Scheme’.
The actor, 36, surprised fans with his blonde perm-style thatch for Wes Anderson’s new film, and has now revealed the lengths he went to in creating his latest character for the movie, a Norwegian entomologist called Bjorn Lund.He told People: “We had to work really hard to get the hair.
“We had a lot of iterations of hair that weren’t quite right before we landed on this wavy thing, that set through some process of heat.”
Michael also delved into developing Lund’s personality for the movie, which sees his character hired to tutor nine sons. According to the star, Wes’ script offered a clear outline of how the character should behave, but it still required exploration to refine the specific mannerisms, including the voice, hair and physicality.
He added: “It was very clear in the writing how he was going to sound and look and feel.
“We just had to find him.”
‘The Phoenician Scheme’, which opens in theatres on Friday (30.05,25), features Cera’s character being hired by Zsa-zsa Korda, played by 57-year-old Benicio Del Toro, to educate his children.
Wes’ typically offbeat film has been described officially as “the story of a family and a family business”, and includes an ensemble cast, with Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend and Hope Davis all taking roles.
When asked what subject he himself might be qualified to teach, Michael told People: “I’m really not qualified to teach anything. I have no academic credentials whatsoever.
“I could teach someone how to waste time, maybe. How to procrastinate effectively.”
Michael first drew attention for his dramatic hair transformation earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, where he debuted bleach-blond hair while promoting another project, ‘Sacramento’.
During an appearance on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’, he admitted the look was tied to his role in ‘The Phoenician Scheme’.
Host Seth Meyers, 51, told the audience: “My producer today said, ‘Michael wants me to let you know that he’s blond'.
“I didn’t quite know what to expect but I’m glad he told me.”
Michael replied: “Well, I kind of want to apologise for it a little bit. No, but the thing is, I mean, my hair is in a weird place right now. And I know this is going out on TV and everything but… that’s all I wanted to say really.”
The ‘Superbad’ actor went on to say that he was hesitant to cut the hair or dye it back.
He said: “I feel like I can’t cut it right now because then I’ll have, like, frosted tips.
“Or I dye it back to my own colour and that just feels wrong.”
