Here's How the Hairstylist Behind the Aladdin Live Action Brought the Characters to Life

The actress who plays Jasmine, Naomi Scott, chopped her hair into a bob for a role before being cast as the long-haired princess. That required Blundell to use hair pieces to add length, and it couldn't be too heavy either.

"The hardest one was the iconic 'A Whole New World' hairdo; I wanted to do a little nod to Jasmine from the cartoon, but we weren't trying to duplicate anything," she said. "I made various prototypes of the [bubble ponytail] and then put it on Naomi to see if she could work with it while dancing and all that. It was a bit heavy, so I had to use less hair and fill it out with some crepe hair so it was lighter."

Mena Massoud, who plays Aladdin, also went through an extensive hair regimen for his role. "Mena's hair was the biggest challenge, because he has very curly hair," Blundell said. "I didn't want to use too many chemicals, but we did end up straightening it over a two week period, and smoothed down the sides by blow drying them and using a straightening iron on a day to day basis."

When it came to the most magical aspect of the film, it was a challenge to make sure Genie's hair didn't overshadow Will Smith's performance.

"We tried a few things, like a mohawk, and then we settled on the top knot, since it's quite iconic and it seems to work well," she said. "Will has such an expressive face that we didn't want to overpower it with a big fancy weird hairdo."