JOICO LANDS STARRING ROLE IN HUNGER GAMES

Poised to become the next teen sensation in the mold of Harry Potter and Twilight, The Hunger Games--the first film adaptation of the wildly popular, young adult novel series—debuts in March of 2012. The movie stars Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks... and Joico.

Joico Guest Artist and Hollywood Stylist Cherry Petenbrink was tapped to color the hair for the film's leads and more than 500 extras, and she relied on the high performance, vivid tones and vast shade selection of Joico Vero K-PAK Color. What's more, she and the 35 stylists who worked on the five month shoot turned to the new K-PAK RevitaLuxe and Smooth Cure Smoothing System to maintain the cast's hair in the blazing sun of the North Carolina summer where the film was shot. She also reveals that Joico Design Collection stylers, Spiker and Spiker Blast, Joico JoiMist Firm Hairspray and Joico Brilliantine Pomade were the go-to formulas for designing and maintaining the film's futuristic hairstyles.

Hunger Games takes place in a post-apocalyptic future and centers on Lawrence's character—Katniss Everdeen—a teenager sent from her impoverished "District" to compete in the annual fight to the death held in the glittering Capitol city. For Lawrence's humble teen, Petenbrink was assigned to create a flat, matte brunette shade that would defy any trace of warmth. She reveals that she transformed the actress's Level 9 dimensional blonde in two steps. She first filled the hair with a Joico Vero Chrome Demi Permanent Color ¾ N6 + ¼ G6 and processed 20 minutes. Next, she glazed the hair with Joico Vero Chrome ¾ A5 + ¼ N4. "Jennifer actually likes the color," says Petenbrink. "She's still wearing it, even though she has finished filming! And she was so happy that I used Joico. Her hair had been severely damaged from another shoot and she had restored it with Joico K-PAK Reconstructor. So she was thrilled to learn that K-PAK is in all of Joico's haircolor products."

In vivid contrast to the mousy hue of Katniss, the citizens of the Capitol were described to Petenbrink as "sophisticated, couture and edgy." Collaborating with Costume Designer Judianna Makovsky and Hair Department Head Linda Flowers, she was challenged to create unique color designs for each of the 500 extras, using brights and pastels. "When you work with these colors, it's a challenge to make them look trendsetting and visionary and not clown-like," says Petenbrink. Once again, Joico offered the solution with the pure, vivid clear tones of products like Vero K-PAK Color Intensity. As a result, Petenbrink predicts that several of the color designs will strongly influence trends once the film opens. (Watch for the unique pink shade she created for Elizabeth Banks!)

Flowers, who has served as hair department head for blockbusters like Iron Man 2 and The Social Network, was impressed with the performance of Joico products. "We prepared hundreds of beautiful wigs and wefts with Joico haircolor," she reveals.

She adds, "Joico sponsored us and the products really lived up to our expectations. When you're doing a film, you have to have something you can count on day after day, time after time. Budgets are huge and you simply can't make mistakes. I was really able to count on the color and on the products. I can honestly say that Joico performed every bit as well as my actors!"

Hunger Games is the first of four planned films, and Cherry Petenbrink is proud that she was chosen to color the hair that will establish the look for the series. "It was a lot of pressure to come up with 500 completely different looks," she says. "But it was also a really fun and creative challenge. I truly think that once they see the hair, people will say that nothing like this has ever been done."