‘The Substance’ Hair Boss Reveals She Was Ousted From Oscar Nomination In Favor Of Assistant

deadline.com:

Days before the Oscars, a war of words has broken out between two key below-the-line workers over the credits on The Substance.

Frédérique Arguello, who was head of the hair department on the Demi Moore-led horror movie, claims she was passed over for an Oscar nomination in the Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling category in favor of her assistant Marilyne Scarselli.

Scarselli, alongside special makeup effects designer Pierre Olivier Persin and key makeup artist Stéphanie Guillon, are listed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the official nominees in the category, one of five overall noms for the horror movie written and directed by Coralie Fargeat.

However, Arguello claims that despite the best efforts of distributor Mubi to include her, she was shunned from the list. It comes as The Substance is one of the favorites to win the category, going head-to-head against A Different Man, Emilia Pérez, Nosferatu and Wicked. RELATED: Pete Hammond’s Final Oscar Predictions In All 23 Categories “I worked on the creation of the hairstyles and, because it was a small crew, there was only myself as a key hair person and my assistant Marilyne,” Arguello told Deadline, speaking from her home in France. “She called me right before the shooting started, looking for work, and I hired her [as my assistant].” Arguello said she worked on the film for five months before she had to leave the set due to “family and health reasons,” leaving Scarselli in charge for shoot’s final three weeks. “It was almost the ending of the movie.