After finding the right actors to take over the iconic parts of the Stooges, the task of physically transforming the them fell to costume designer Denise Wingate, who created a vintage-looking wardrobe, providing a comedic contrast to the modern-day story attitudes; makeup artist Kim Greene; and hairstylist Kelly Muldoon.

To help turn the handsome Sean Hayes into sour-pussed Larry, veteran Hollywood wig maker Renate (who has created hairpieces for such characters as Spider-Man, the X-Men, and “Pirates of the Caribbean” anti-hero Jack Sparrow) styled a replica of the original Larry’s unique hairstyle.

It was a time-consuming routine to do the Larry “’do.”  Each day of shooting, Hayes had his head shaved, cleaned and prepped. Then, the hair team would draw an outline on his pate, apply glue, and affix the wig to Hayes’ head using spirit gum and tape.

For Moe’s coif, Chris Diamantopoulos donned an expensive wig groomed by veteran movie wigmaker Victoria Wood, working under Muldoon’s supervision.

From custom wigs to custom threads, Wingate complemented the recreation of the Stooges’ original look with her handmade wardrobe. “Because the original look of The Stooges is stamped in our DNA, I didn’t want it to be exactly the same as the old films,” Wingate offers. “My task was to both tip our hat to the era of the original Stooges, and still make it contemporary. This was the most challenging project I’ve undertaken, as far as getting the look and feel for the characters right.”

In any era, the Stooges were not exactly fashion plates. “Curly’ pants were never long enough,” says director Peter Farrelly. “They were always up to his ankles, and if he had a hat on, it was too small. Larry’s sleeves were always too long. Moe looked like he had no neck due to the way he dressed.  We’ve kept all that iconic clothing, but updated it.”

The filmmakers surround the Stooges with an impressive ensemble, including Jane Lynch, Sofía Vergara, Jennifer Hudson, Craig Bierko – and Larry David…as a nun…named Sister Mary-Mengele.

“Sister Mary-Mengele. That name is what really attracted me to the role,” offers David. “For years I said to myself, ‘if only I could play a character whose last name was Mengele. Or Goebbels. Or Goering.’”

“I’m a really authentic actor,” David continues about his approach to playing outside his gender for the first time in his career. “I really researched it and I spoke with some nuns, and they told me that I couldn’t really reveal what’s on underneath the habit. They took me into their confidence.”

Like David, veteran actress Jane Lynch endured the hot Atlanta heat-and-humidity, in a nun’s clothing, for her role as the orphanage’s Mother Superior, a “habit” she’d soon rather not repeat (at least not in a southern summer).

“We were in Atlanta in the summer, it was a hundred degrees in the sun, and I’m wearing a black habit,” Lynch recalls incredulously. “And, I wore the wimple along with the veil. All made of polyester. We had a cooling tent where they shot this cold air at us and, between takes, I would actually pick up my skirt and put it over the vents to get the whole body cooled down!”

Emmy-nominated actress Sofía Vergara (“Modern Family”) plays the film’s femme fatale, Lydia, who tries to lure the Stooges into offing her innocent husband. Vergara, who relished playing the sultry villain, explains that the Stooges’ appeal is universal, citing her own encounters with the phenomenon.

“I think everybody at some point in their life watched The Three Stooges. In Columbia, where I grew up, we called them ‘Los Tres Chiflados’. At that time, there wasn’t any native Columbian TV shows, so the big hits in the United States would go all over the world.”

Lydia’s partner in crime is Mac, “who gets the stuffing beat out of him for about 90 minutes,” says Craig Bierko. “My function in the film was to be on the business end of a fist, a twist, a poke, a lion, a steamroller, a pogo stick and, occasionally, Sofía Vergara. Which is how they lured me here.  Sofia Vergara!” the actor states with a sly grin.

The starring cast also includes Oscar-and-Grammy winning actress-singer Jennifer Hudson as the orphanage’s resident singing nun. “What I remember most about The Three Stooges growing up was hearing my mom speak of this classic show,” Hudson says. “That was her favorite thing back in the day. She used to always tell me about it. That was one of the things that drew me to the part.”

Image Courtesy of   @thethreestooges

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This Christmas, think twice before you leave your kids to the sitter – Jonah Hill stars in the new outrageous comedy The Sitter, in cinemas December 9. A terrible choice to begin with, Hill’s character Noah stumbles into the job and on to trouble because of a certain lady — his alleged quasi-“girlfriend,” Marisa, a manipulative, sexually self-involved woman whose request for Noah to score her some coke – with the promise of sex to follow – triggers the Sitter’s night to remember.

We meet Marisa, portrayed by Ari Graynor in the film’s opening moments, as she reacts to Noah’s oral ministrations. “It was an, umm, interesting scene to shoot,” says Graynor, noting that Hill lightened things up considerably by singing a well know videogame song as the action unfolded. But when he requests she return the favor, Marisa declines, offering weak excuses.

Marisa’s selfishness is a formidable roadblock to likability but here, too, the filmmakers found a softer side to the character. “Marisa is a tough customer, and a pain in the ass, but she’s also vulnerable,” notes Graynor. “You come to understand that her hardened attitude stems from insecurities and a broken heart from a previous relationship.”

But it’s Marisa’s cold, manipulative heart that enables her to ask Noah to embark upon an impossible mission: to secure some cocaine for her – while he’s sitting three obnoxious kids. Noah’s futile task results in him getting chased, punched out, and having his face plastered with a small mountain of the white stuff.

Marisa’s pushers of choice are Karl, an insane but oddly sensitive drug dealer, and his sidekick Julio. Acclaimed actor Sam Rockwell portrays Karl, and JB Smoove, best known for his work as Larry David’s pal on Curb Your Enthusiasm, is the fast-talking and profane Julio.

The two antagonists are so extreme, in unexpected ways, that the movie’s director David Gordon Green admits, “I’m not sure we crafted those characters. I think we just let them out of a cage and they exploded, and things got messy and out of control. We thought of Karl as a combination of James Cagney and Andy Warhol.”

Sam Rockwell notes that Karl is “dangerous, scary, and very funny. He sees Noah as more than just a customer; he wants to be pals with him, and being pals comes with trust. When Karl thinks Noah has betrayed that trust, he is very, very disappointed in Noah.” Julio has a somewhat more traditional approach to being a badass. “I love being bad,” says JB Smoove in his signature rapid-fire patter.

“Julio is so bad, he doesn’t carry a gun – he doesn’t need it! Julio wants to get what’s owed him, and to get it, pursues Noah across the city.” Karl’s subordinate, Garv (Sean Patrick Doyle), never removes his signature roller-skates, as he wheels his way to greeting visitors to Karl’s lair, and running errands for his boss.

Garv’s loyalty and friendship are treasured by Karl – but that doesn’t prevent the drug kingpin from shooting him in the leg when Garv displeases him.

An extraordinarily bizarre character like Karl certainly merits an equally unconventional lair, so The Sitter production designer Richard Wright crafted a surreal scientific laboratory and stronghold, where European techno trance pulsates, and ‘roided-up bodybuilders pump iron beneath pervasive fluorescent lights.

Bodybuilders? Pumping iron? In a drug lab? “I just knew I wanted bodybuilders throughout this environment,” Green explains of the incongruity. Wright was only too happy to oblige, with his imagination sparked by everything from epic Stanley Kubrick sets to ‘80s breakdance movies.

Another favorite set for the filmmakers was “Kid City,” a clothing store where Noah must interrupt his drug run, kids in tow, to buy some new undergarments for young Blithe, who has soiled the pair she’s wearing. “I sharted,” she announces in the car to the appalled Sitter. As Noah waits for Blithe to complete the change of clothing, he’s left alone in the girls’ underwear department.

Noah is confronted by a sales clerk, who understandably assumes he’s a pedophile, and who, it turns out, holds a longtime grudge against him. Their confrontation will escalate throughout the story, to unexpected results.

The Sitter, a genuine New York story, was shot last fall and winter on locations in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and an upper middle class neighborhood in Yonkers. Brooklyn provided some colorful and historic locations, including the borough’s Williamsberg and Greenpoint sections, the latter providing various interior and exterior locations for Karl’s incredible bodybuilder-laden loft.

New York City – and the way we look at babysitters – may never be the same.

Image  Courtesy of   http://www.thesittermovie.com/

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