Milla Jovovich’s look in The Fifth Element is nothing short of iconic. But according to the actress, her character’s distinctive — and much replicated — hair style came at a price.
In French director Luc Besson’s 1997 sci-fi cult classic, Jovovich played Leeloo, a cosmic being who represents the universe’s only defense against a giant evil fireball. As Jovovich explained in an interview with GQ, Besson wanted her character’s hair to be a color “that had never been seen before.”
“They came up with this florescent orange and the blonde roots,” she recalled. “It was almost like people working at night on the roads when they need to be seen they would wear that kind of orange so you don’t get hit by cars.”
Jovovich, now 49, initially had her own naturally dark hair bleached and dyed for the role. But, she said, “In practice, it was difficult to keep up.”
“What we didn’t realize at the time was that my hair grows very fast,” she explained.
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Jovovich said her roots began to grow out every week during filming. “Literally every week you would start seeing, like, that little bit of dark hair,” she recalled. “They kept trying to touch it up, but you have to be very delicate.”
The actress revealed that the damage to her hair from repeated bleaching and dying made it start to fall out in clumps.
“So, we had to wig me,” she admitted.
The change from Jovovich’s real hair to a wig was noticeable onscreen. But, she said, her first appearance wearing the wig in the film was timed so that it came after her character had showered.
“So, it kind of made sense that it was a little, like, poofier and more clean-looking,” she said.
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