For The Gilded Age star Carrie Coon, as soon as she dons her character’s corseted costume, fully immerses herself in her role as new-money matriarch Bertha Russell in the 19th-century drama.
“You can’t help but transform yourself when you put on these costumes — they completely reshape your body,” the 43-year-old actress tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. Another thing that immediately puts her in the role? Eyebrows.
Coon says makeup artist Nicki Ledermann “spends so much meticulous time” on her brows so they match her wig.
“Of course, I’m not a brunette,” she notes. “I don’t think my team would recognize me if they passed me on the street because I look so different.”
Jeremy Shamos and Carrie Coon in ‘The Gilded Age’.
Barbara Nitke/HBO
The Gilded Age Star Carrie Coon Says She Doesn’t Bring Bertha’s Energy Home: ‘It’s Just Chaos’ (Exclusive)
Coon, who received a 2024 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series for her role, says it’s not as glamorous as it looks wearing heavily embellished gowns with gloves, hats and intricate hairdos to evoke the period drama’s aesthetic.
“When you get to 4 p.m. in a corset and high heels, you just start losing your mind,” she tells PEOPLE. “You start to understand why women changed five or six times a day, upper-class women, because they needed a break.”
Whenever he can take a breather during filming, he takes advantage of every minute he gets. “Amber and I, she’s my wardrobe, we time ourselves and see how fast we can get in and out of corsets and corsets and stuff because then we know how long our breaks can be,” Coon says. “So we always make it a sport.”
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Carrie Coon.
Anders Overgaard
Louisa Jacobson says ‘Gilded Age’ corset was so tight it hurt her ribs: ‘I couldn’t sleep on my side’
Filming of the 3rd season The Gilded Age is currently underway, and while Coon says she’s “really shocked by a few twists we’re expecting,” she’s still waiting to see all the scripts. “I like surprises,” she says.
There is no doubt that she is hoping for a scene where all her colleagues will come together. “It’s funny, our favorite days are when we have big ballrooms or big charity events because we’re all there,” she explains.
“I’m usually limited to working with Morgan [Spector] and Taissa [Farmiga] and Harry [Richardson],” Coon continues. “But we have the most fun when we’re all together because it really turns into an old theater camp. We really have a ball. There’s a lot of singing, a lot of complaining, a lot of dancing, and we just laugh.”
The Gilded Age Seasons 1 and 2 are broadcast on Max.
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Source: HIS Education