Skincare Guru Ole Henriksen to Get Biopic Therapy

The wild, hydrated lifetime of skincare guru to the celebs Ole Henriksen is being prepped for the massive display.

The 74-year-old is the topic of a brand new biopic venture mounted by frequent Martin Scorsese collaborator Niels Juul and author-turned-screenwriter James Wyllie. The information was introduced in the course of the Cannes Movie Pageant on Wednesday morning at a press occasion aboard the Woman Jersey yacht docked on the Albert Edouard jetée within the metropolis’s previous port. Henriksen took a seat on a settee on the yacht’s higher deck the place he participated in a panel dialogue concerning the imaginative and prescient for the venture alongside his inventive collaborators.

“It’s been two years within the making,” Juul instructed The Hollywood Reporter of the venture which is within the early phases and doesn’t have a director or expertise connected however does have a completed screenplay from Wyllie. The scribe’s credit embody tasks for BBC and Film4 and the books The Microdot Gang, Goering and Goering, Nazi Wives and others. “Ole’s story is unbelievable however with a view to craft it, we needed to get the proper author, who’s James Wyllie. Once I heard Ole’s life story, I used to be blown away.”

Per his official bio, Henriksen was born in Nibe, a small village in Denmark. A ardour for dance led him to Indonesia at age 19, and whereas there, he developed cystic pimples. A buddy, Lagita, who occurred to be an aesthetician, helped remodel his pores and skin by way of the usage of botanical remedies. As his pores and skin cleared, a brand new mission emerged to assist others with their very own skincare considerations. After graduating in 1975 from the Christine Shaw School of Magnificence in London, he moved to Los Angeles, the place he opened a namesake spa in West Hollywood.

By the early Nineteen Eighties, the “Ole Glow” helped him grow to be one of many business’s first and most in-demand celeb facialists with an enviable shopper record that included Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and David Bowie. He launched his label — OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare — and the model grew to become a giant success. In 2011, OLEHENRIKSEN was acquired by luxurious powerhouse LVMH.

However that’s simply Henriksen on the enterprise entrance, and what Juul was finally blown away by was Henriksen’s private journey. Juul, who has a powerful record of government producer credit on Scorsese movies The Irishman, Silence and Killers of the Flower Moon in addition to on Michael Mann’s Ferrari, stated he was moved by what Henriksen endured and the way he has quietly helped advance homosexual marriage in his dwelling nation.

“Initially, he’s a skincare guru to the celebs with purchasers like Diana Ross and David Bowie. He ended up on [The Oprah Winfrey Show] to advertise his guide. However earlier than all of that, he was only a 17-year-old child rising up in redneck nation in Demark. He didn’t determine as homosexual but, he didn’t know what that was however he favored to bounce along with his arms over his head. He was overwhelmed up by a tough gang, which occurred quite a bit within the ‘60s and ‘70s. He then escaped to Copenhagen, Denmark, which had the nation’s solely vibrant homosexual scene as a result of it was practically unlawful in every single place else. He met a Harvey Weinstein-type producer, actually a gangster-type producer, they usually had intercourse. They flew all over the world fucking such as you wouldn’t consider.”

However wait, there’s extra: “This man finally ends up killing a prostitute and taking pictures himself within the mouth, leaving Ole on their lonesome in Indonesia with no cash, nothing. He puzzled how he was going to vary his life till an previous woman urged he put some cream on his face to remedy his pimples and that’s how his story began. From there, he went to L.A. the place he opened up a salon on Sundown Boulevard that famously grew to become a paradise. Barbra Streisand walked in and requested for assist. Behind the scenes, he grew to become a champion for homosexual rights his complete life, particularly in Copenhagen. Most significantly, he’s not the clown that folks suppose he’s. He’s stronger than you possibly can consider.”

He’s additionally an “open guide,” per the person himself. “I by no means believed in being closeted. I jumped out of the closet at a younger age as a homosexual man. It was an excellent feeling. There’s no secrets and techniques, and that makes it fantastic for me to work with James [and Niels] to allow them to elevate the oldest pleasure to one thing very particular.”

Henriksen went on to credit score Juuls for his “big success” and his indefatigable vitality as somebody who “at all times in movement.” The truth that he’s additionally from Denmark and labored intently with Scorsese appeared to even be in his favor. “My life has been a Scorsese film with all of the drama, however that’s not what this film is about,” added Henricksen who earned the nickname “probably the most optimistic man in magnificence.”

As for the plot, Wyllie revealed that his script takes place over the course of 1 week and options two fictional characters that encounter Henriksen and are “remodeled” after spending time with him. The imaginative and prescient additionally requires music to play a giant half within the story. In his conversations with the skincare guru, Willey stated he was struck by Henriksen’s lifelong love of dance and music.

“Ole’s had a tricky life and he’s handled many obstacles, which might defeat most of us,” he defined. “However he at all times overcame them, and his angle is at all times optimistic. Music provides you that positivity and vitality, and we have been eager to do one thing lighthearted that will be really feel good so as to stroll out of the cinema such as you’d spent an hour with Ole.”

As for Henriksen, nonetheless residing a colourful life, the biopic provides one other probability to do one thing sudden. “I at all times have had an open angle to new adventures,” he stated. “Is that not essential for all of us As a result of life is that this fascinating rollercoaster journey for all of us.”