Production costs on television can get pretty high, thanks to everything from actor salaries to visual effects work in post-production. However, if you’ve ever wondered how money on a TV show can quickly get spent, look no further than this recent information from The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies, who recently told David Letterman that she wears an amazingly expensive wig on the CBS drama. She later revealed the wig she wears on the hit show actually cost $10,000. I guess it’s the price the show was willing to pay so that audiences could not tell she’s even wearing a wig.
On the Good Wife, Margulies plays Alicia Florrick, the wife of Governor of Illinois Peter Florrick. She’s an elegant, well-spoken woman who absolutely dominates in the courtroom. With that background in mind, it’s no wonder the show would want to give her a high-end look, but it’s strange that the show couldn’t just tease Margulies' hair into place every day. In everyday life, Margulies actually has long and curly hair that might be tough to straighten and tame. Potentially, she also may have written it into her contract that she didn’t want to cut and die her hair the lighter brown shade of the wig on the show.
Whatever the reason, the actress didn’t elaborate during her visit to The Late Show. However, she did discuss her love for her really expensive but super fun wig on the late night series.
It’s amazing the process to sit for a really good wig. People are usually scared of them because they are usually cheap. But if you spend a lot of money...
There’s a lot that goes into any TV series. I’m sure that more money is blown each episode on fixing random stuff in the editing room than was used to purchase that wig. Still, part of me wonders if we would love Alicia any less if she were sporting her natural hair. While I doubt it would make that much of a difference, there’s one thing for certain: that $10,000 wig does look really good.
Margulies also mentions that the wig is made of natural hair and is meant to look as real as possible, which is probably why we never noticed her wig-wearing before. She’s not the only person who has ever put on hair for a TV series, though. The ladies in Game of Thrones frequently sport wigs, which makes sense, given the styles the HBO drama is attempting to reflect. In addition, Tom Mison wears a wig in Sleepy Hollow to reflect Revolutionary War era hairstyles. Regardless, there are plenty of shows that you would never guess feature wigs. In The Blacklist, Megan Boone’s character has sported a wig before to cover up a short haircut. Doubtless, these are all expensive hairpieces, as well.
You can catch more from The Late Show With David Letterman’s Julianna Margulies interview, below.
CBS’ The Good Wife airs on Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET.
