I Was Harry Potter’s Stunt Pubic Wig by Sean Hodgson
After 28 years Michael Keaton returns to the role of Batman, but after reading the 28th rewrite of ‘Batman’s Back - Take the Money and Run’, he stormed out of rehearsal. That is when I seized the moment and grabbed a few words with Derek Fig, Michael’s stunt wig.
Derek built a solid career from his work in 4 of the five Die Hard films.
‘Yeah, Bruce helped me onto the heads of quite a few well known actors and so I decided to put down roots in Hollywood.’
I caught up with Derek relaxing on a custom made mahogany mannequin head after answering a call from Micheal Keaton’s agent.
‘It might seem I didn’t add much to Michael’s script reading but I do give some actors a much needed feeling of confidence.’
In Hollywood, Derek’s wig work is known as ‘The Syrup of Fig Confidence,’ a Cockney Rhyming slang reference to Derek’s London background. This confidence was obviously lacking in ‘Die Hard 4’ where the producers opted to give CGI hair to Bruce, and the film was poorer for it.
The CV, of this lovechild of two Star Trek Tribbles and a Wookiee, could read like a ‘Who’s, Who’ in Hollywood. Unfortunately Messr's Cruise, Pitt and DiCaprio are a bit sensitive about such information coming out - or so I thought.
‘Nah, they don’t care, I’ve done ’em all,’ claimed Derek, lying back sipping a Strawberry-Lemon Mojito. ‘Yeah, sure they’ve all got their own great hair but the insurance on that lot is astronomical. I work with Scarlett Johansson (ED. apparently not that Scarlett Johansson) who’s a stunt baldy. She covers their ‘oh so precious locks,’ then I get on top of her and we begin filming. Fire, explosions, rolling around in the mud and that was me blowing in the turbulence on the side of the plane in Mission Impossible 4. That way, their own hair is protected, the insurance company’s happy and I get to have toupee sex on screen. Bish, bash, bosh everyone’s happy.’
I was keen to ask about the upcoming re-release of ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows,’ the Directors cut, where Derek had a little known but crucial role.
‘Yeah. I was Harry Potters stunt pubic wig.’
At last the rumour has been confirmed.
‘The thing is, this was a family film, so on its original release I was digitally edited out.’
Potter blogs have been throbbing with excitement and expectations that the much talked about shower scene will now be included, un-pixelated.
‘We’ve all grown up with Harry, but in the final film he was an adult so the shower scene was supposed to be OK. But Danny was a bit hesitant, so I had the call. It was an awkward days filming not helped with Danny’s mum being there.’
With Derek’s background in stunt wig work I wondered what the actual stunt requirements were for Radcliffe. At first Derek waffled on about the showers being too hot and the requirement for vigorous rubbing of soap, everywhere, all over.
‘...particularly down below which is where I came in.’
Having seen Radcliffe front frontal in Equus I’m not sure what the fuss was all about. He should have been proud of what he had to offer no matter how vigorous the soap rubbing was.
Eventually, three Strawberry-Lemon Mojitos later, the truth slipped out.
‘It was an infestation, bloody horrendous it was, bugs the size of cockroaches crawling all over him. And you know digital cameras today, they pick up everything. His poor mum didn’t know where to look. So I discreetly slipped in.’
Michael Keaton returned, calmer but in need of Derek’s comforting confidence so our time was up. I asked if he’d do any more stunt pubic wig work.
‘Not really, the whole experience left a nasty taste in my mouth.’
Written by Sean Hodgson
Sean Hodgson lives in Oxfordshire, with a garden that has three plastic pink pigeons because this is Faringdon, Oxfordshire. He used to be a police officer but since getting better he generally keeps quiet about that.