The Halloween fandom was pretty torn by the third and final installment in David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy. Halloween Ends saw Jamie Lee Curtis’ final girl Laurie Strode face down the boogeyman in a no holds barred fight to the death with only one of them walking away. And, although viewers couldn’t seem to agree on whether they loved or hated what is allegedly Curtis’ last appearance as the plagued babysitter, there was one aspect of the movie that brought us all together—the wigs.
Whether you thought the film itself was good or bad, there’s no denying that the wigs worn by Curtis were a thing of absolute legend. And, while Laurie Strode may never make an appearance again, the same can’t be said for one of her looks as Jennifer Grey recently revealed that she’ll be wearing one of Curtis’ hairpieces in her upcoming Lifetime movie, Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation.
For those who may not know, Shamblin was a religious leader who led a diet-centered cult called the Weigh Down Workshop in the 1980s before founding the Remnant Fellowship Church in the late ‘90s. Shamblin went on to lead a heavily publicized life that would end tragically for her and several church members back in 2021. Along with her weight-based obsession, she also had a “the higher the hair the closer to God” mentality, coiffing her do into an incredibly recognizable look.
Obviously, the outrageous hair would require an equally amazing wig with Grey turning to her close friend Curtis for some help. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Dirty Dancing star says that she phoned Curtis to ask her for some help with her latest character. “‘I’m sending you a number right now,’” Grey recalls Curtis saying before passing along the number of Rob Pickens who not only designed Curtis’ wigs for Halloween, but also Ana de Armas’ pieces for Blonde. Curtis explained that Pickens’ process is very complex, layering the wigs “hair by hair,” telling Grey to call him right away.
When she got ahold of Pickens, Grey says he was more than happy to help, adding that he could “repurpose Jamie’s old wig from Halloween Ends” and use it as the new wig’s “base.” Grey went on to explain that the very “first wig” seen sitting atop her head in Starving for Salvation is one of those iconic wigs from Halloween Ends. Commenting on his work, Pickens said that it was an easy change to reform the wig for the character of Shamblin, adding that it was “very special” that the two “dear friends” were able to share the wig.
Even though we may not see Curtis in any more head-turning looks as Laurie Strode, it’s great to know that not only does the wig live on in spirit, but that it also helped to form another larger-than-life character. You can see the wig in action when Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation lands on Lifetime on February 4 and, if you want to learn more about the real-life woman behind the cult check out HBO Max’s docuseries, The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. Watch a trailer for the Lifetime feature below.
