With tens of thousands of dollars spent on costumes, hair and make-up for blockbuster films, you would expect that they would be able to create some pretty impressive styles. Numerous films have proven that even a bad script and some pretty horrible acting can be at least partially redeemed by impressive and elaborate styling, giving viewers at least something pretty to look at in a mess of a film. In a great film, interesting costumes can have even more of an effect, creating stunning visuals that just shine on camera.
Most directors have a specific look in mind for their film going in, which means that, depending on their vision, the make-up department may be tasked with creating some pretty crazy do's. Luckily, they have risen to the occasion many a time, creating hair do's that make audiences say everything from "wow" to "okay" to "WTF." Here are the movie hair do's that were the absolute craziest, most ridiculous creations to ever grace the big screen.
15. Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four
With a budget of $120 million, you would think that the new Fantastic Four film would have been able to find the money to buy Kate Mara a better wig. The wig became necessary after Mara cut her hair short for The Martian but then had to go back in for notoriously expensive reshoots on the film flop. Shots of Mara in her incredibly blonde, Halloween store wig are interspersed with the original shots of her with her normal dirty blonde cut, adding lack of continuity onto the laundry list of the movie's problems. It inspired multiple tributes, earning perhaps more attention than any other aspect of the film besides its general awfulness. The wig was so bad that the actress herself took notice, saying that she appreciated the fact that the wig provided some viewers with entertainment in the rough superhero film. Maybe the Invisible Woman should have used her powers to hide her horrible fake haircut.
14. Ace Ventura
Jim Carrey's famous pet detective has his own very eccentric style, pairing his Hawaiian shirts and striped pants with one of the tallest, most gelled hairdos in film. The famous comedian's hair is twisted into crazy concoctions throughout the film, from the single high pointed style with at least five inches of height to it to the somehow even more extreme two points, devil horn style complete with two pointed pieces of bangs. The character's impeccable pet detecting skills are only rivaled by his stand up do, showing off height that even the highest jumping kangaroo couldn't achieve. Of course, he does show off his un-gelled messy hairdo throughout the film, but even that is equally impressive, sticking out in ever possible direction it can. His signature hairstyle has made the character a Halloween costume favorite for the 22 years since the film was released and has inspired countless online hair tutorials.
13. Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth
David Bowie was known for his eccentric style, but, as Jareth the Goblin King, the central villain of 1986's Labyrinth, the musician took his looks to a whole new level. He accentuated his tight costuming with a bright blonde feathered mullet complete with brown and silver highlights and, of course, beautiful bangs, making hearts flutter everywhere with its 80s glory. Adding that hairstyle on top of his great old school pirate shirts and metallic makeup makes for one of the most stylish characters ever shown on screen. The hairstyle is the perfect accompaniment to the movie's strange and fantastical cinematography, elevating the world to a whole new level of awesome ridiculousness. Although talks of a sequel or reboot have been announced and then debunked, if there ever was a remake, probably the hardest part of the original film to recapture, aside from Bowie's raw sexuality, would be the height and feathery awesomeness of his hairdo.
12. Mary in There's Something About Mary
Although Cameron Diaz's 90s bob was questionable throughout the entirety of There's Something About Mary, her hairdo reached peak WTF in the movie's most famous scene. After accidentally mistaking Ben Stiller's sperm for hair gel (you know, like normal people do), Mary ends up with a straight up, highly gelled hairdo that she, for some reason, proceeds to wear for the majority of their date before her hair somehow goes back to its normal, limp self when they travel back to her apartment. Although the movie is clearly playing up Mary's crazy hair for comedic effect and takes it away once there's other crazy things going on, it raises quite a lot of questions. Did she wash her hair in the bathroom? How did she get it to sit down again? Does Cameron Diaz carry conditioner and hair gel in her purse whenever she goes out to dinner? These are the burning questions that we need answers to in order to justify this WTF movie hairdo.
11. Johnny Depp.
Johnny Depp doesn't shy away from playing extreme characters, and those characters are often accompanied by some pretty extreme hair cuts. From Jack Sparrow's long, half dreadlocked look to Sweeney Todd's single white skunk stripe, Depp isn't afraid to don some strange wigs in order to truly commit to a role. His weirdest hairstyles? The fire engine red poof as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland definitely stands out, and when you couple it with the long red eyebrows and white lashes, it nearly takes the cake. However, it's slightly edged out by his creepily still bob from Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, which tries to pass itself off as a normal short, brunette cut but is given away by its scary lack of motion. However, the oddest hairdo has to be his turn in the leading role in Edward Scissorhands. We have no idea how the film's hairstylist got his locks to stand up like that, but the confusing messiness of it all just about borders on delightful, adding to the odd whimsical feel of the film. No matter what your favorite Johnny Depp 'do though, there's no denying that the best Depp films come with the best haircuts.
10. Mugatu in Zoolander
Will Ferrell's fashion designer has quite a few WTF moments throughout Zoolander, but somehow his hairstyle takes the cake over all of them. Start at the top of the head: at first glance, it looks like Mugatu is sporting two Princess Leia style curly buns, but in actuality he just has two hair poofs that are cut in such a way that they stand up on the side of his head without any hair tie assistance. The curled portions are a bright white color, with a shorn section down the middle and, of course, a gelled goatee to top it all off. Mugatu is so committed to his crazy style that he even cuts his dog's hair the same way, making them both a fashion nightmare. Of course, he ended up shaving the crazy do and replacing it with a bald, head tattooed style while in jail during Zoolander 2, but luckily he ends up bringing back the character defining signature do pretty quickly.
9. Sara in Gone in Sixty Seconds
Angelina Jolie is very pretty, and her perfectly symmetrical features and constant appearances on the cover of tabloids are not about to let you forget that fact. However, even very pretty people can run into fashion nightmares, and that's just what happened to the actress in car chase flick Gone in 60 Seconds. The actress, who sported platinum blonde faux dreads in the film, has trouble pulling off the hair style or color. Although at times her yellow twists work for her, at many points throughout the film the hairstyle has become so intricately fake messy that it makes it look like her Nicolas Cage-loving car thief character woke up at 6 am and toiled for three hours just to create a hairstyle that makes it look like she just jumped out of bed. Although Jolie obviously still looks good in the film, it's probably best for the actress to stick with her signature dark, straight haired look.
8. Johnny Suede
Brad Pitt is known for being one of the most attractive actors around, but even he had trouble shining through his ridiculous haircut in his early film Johnny Suede. The star sported a mile high pompadour in the film, a signature feature of the too cool for school character. The hair do is probably the most memorable thing about the odd film, which featured Pitt in one of his earliest film roles, just after his famous turn in Thelma & Louise. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Suede's look, aside from its impressive height, is how soft it looks despite the amount of gel that must be required to get it to stand straight up. Although the 1991 film didn't do very well with critics or at the box office, we can always relive its glory by looking back at Pitt's gravity defying hair do, a look strangely reminiscent of Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron but slapped on to a pre-fame version of one of Hollywood's biggest stars.
7. Terl in "Battlefield Earth"
Where to even begin with John Travolta's Battlefield Earth 'do? In the absolute mess of a film, which one of our writers ranked as the fifteenth worst film of all time, Travolta's hair somehow manages to be the worst thing on screen whenever you can see it. Starting off with an exaggerated widow's peak accentuated by what must be at least ten to twelve Bump-It's, the horror continues in a cascading dark auburn mess of dreadlocks, braids and the clear signs of someone who has not seen a touch of conditioner in the last five years. With how much of his own money Travolta donated to make the Scientology-based sci fi film happen, he must have had at least some say in his character's look, which means that the famous actor was at least partially responsible for the rat's nest he showed up wearing on his head. While investing millions in a horribly executed film project is a bad decision, that hair cut is definitely worse.
6. Richie in American Hustle
You can't deny that Bradley Cooper commits to his roles, and he certainly committed to his portrayal of FBI agent Richie DiMaso in David O. Russell's American Hustle. His character, who is based on real life FBI agent Anthony Amoroso, Jr., sports a curly perm that Annie would be jealous of. The perm's origins, though, don't hail from Amoroso, who has a straight, significantly less ridiculous hair do than Cooper's. The make-up department on the film created Cooper's look to go with Russell's goal of seventies glamour, making the star sit for two plus hours every day before filming to get his hair perfectly curled. According to make-up department head Evelyne Noraz, Cooper and co-star Christian Bale often had to spend more time getting their hair done than their female co-stars. It's costly and time-consuming to get curls that distinctive, but that's just the price you have to pay to look that cool.
5. Queen Amidala in Star Wars
There have been some iconic hair styles from the Star Wars universe, but Queen Amidala's take the cake. Natalie Portman and her decoy Keira Knightley (who appeared in the film as the Queen's handmaiden Sabé, a character who was then voiced over by Portman) paired their beautiful dresses and gorgeous make-up with some over the top hairstyles that could only be found in outer space. Queen Amidala puts her daughter Princess Leia's buns to shame with her high flying, extravagant do's, a look that was so widely talked about that it was even modeled in a six-page spread in Vogue in 1999 before the release of Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace. Although the Star Wars prequels were not well received, Queen Amidala's wardrobe has gone down in history as one of the most stunning on film, while her elaborate hair dos will be remembered forever as some of the strangest on film.
4. Velma Von Tussle in the 1988 version of Hairspray
Actress Debbie Harry displayed a number of glorious hair concoctions throughout the first movie version of Hairspray, showing hair height and volume that would put even Effie Trinkett to shame. Her poofy blonde original hairdo is impressive in itself, ballooning out far beyond her head before ending in a glorious side swoop. However, she takes crazy hair to a whole new level later in the film, with a glorious three foot tall hair brush looking style complete with sideswept bangs and, Princess Leia buns placed about halfway up the hair tower and, of course, decorative hair braiding to top it all off. Unfortunately, the costume designers decided to go a lot less extreme with Michelle Pfeiffer's hair in the 2007 remake, giving the evil blonde bombshell piled on curls and sparkly barrettes which, while impressive, doesn't hold a candle to the magic that happened on Harry's head.
3. Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element
Chris Tucker sported quite a few odd hairstyles throughout his turn as famous talk show host Ruby Rhod in the sci-fi flop The Fifth Element. Tucker, most known as a stand-up comedian, fully committed to the ridiculous role, wearing crazy costumes and (hopefully) wigs that truly brought his character to outer space. Although it is Tucker's over the top ridiculousness that will always be associated with the role, it was recently revealed that the late musician Prince had initially been offered the role, complete with the ridiculous outfits albeit with a much less crazy hairstyle. Fun fact: in the initial casting, Mel Gibson had Bruce Willis's role of Korben Dallas and Julia Roberts had Milla Jovovich's role of Leeloo. For better or for worse, though, the film's casting quickly changed and Tucker took over the role, giving viewers a hairstyle that they will have many dreams and nightmares about forever.
2. Bombur in The Hobbit
All of The Hobbit dwarves have some questionable hairstyles, but Bombur's (right) takes the cake. The dwarf, despite having almost no dialogue and only appearing in a small role throughout the films, made quite an impression thanks to his impressive hair, beard, mustache concoction, a braided, sideburn-ed, bang-ed ball of red fluff that probably has more magic in it than the One Ring. Although many of his fellow dwarves have impressive hair cuts (Oin's double braided beard and Ori's Dumb and Dumber style bangs are definite stand-outs), Bombur's immediately takes the cake, elevating the adventurer from just a background role to basically the star of the show. However, actor Stephen Hunter doesn’t appear to actually walk around day to day with a beard that awesome; Jackson used yak hair on the dwarves to create distinct beard patterns that would help viewers to tell the dwarves apart, and Bombur ended up with the best deal.
1. Cousin Itt in The Addams Family
Cousin Itt in The Addams Family is the definition of a WTF movie hairdo. Somehow, Cousin It has let his hair grow so long that he doesn't actually have any other features besides his long, straight 'do. Although Itt tries to play it up by accessorizing with some sunglasses and a hat, he still can't pull off the excessive amount of mane. The straight style also doesn't help, making the hair fall limp on his head— hasn't he ever heard of volumizing shampoo? Not only does his hair look bad, but it must also be inefficient and annoying for him getting around in his everyday life— it's a major trip hazard alert, and everyone knows that making eye contact is important when meeting new people. Unfortunately, unlike his family members Wednesday and Morticia, it doesn't look like Cousin Itt will become a style icon anytime soon, but the character can be honored by his frequent appearances in Halloween costumes everywhere.