The decision to make Awkwafina's character Peik Lin a blonde was not a one-and-done deal. "If you do a film and everybody has black hair, yes it's fine, but it's good to have some contrast," said Merker. "We did that with Peik Lin's family. They were new money, so they wanted to be different — they had too many cars, wore too bright clothing, loved gold. With her, I thought, Let's give her a different hair colour because this family is the one who's different, the idea being that next week she would have pink hair or green hair the next."
Merker adds that there was a point before filming that the hair and makeup team was debating giving Peik Lin a different hair colour and style in every single scene. "We skipped it because it was too much," she laughs. "We didn't want to confuse the audience, so we said, 'OK, let's do one look.'"
Image Source: Warner Bros. Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection