The writer-director of Medusa Deluxe on his hair-dressing murder mystery
“I’VE BEEN MACED!” someone screams midway through Medusa Deluxe, only to be told, “It’s fucking TRESemmé, you crazy bitch!” It’s not an exchange you’ll hear in your average murder-mystery film. But then again, the debut feature from Thomas Hardiman isn’t like any other whodunnit. “My mum went to the hairdresser’s a weird amount when I was a kid,” says Hardiman, describing how his literally hair-raising comedy-mystery came to be. “I’d wait there for hours after being picked up from school, so it’s something that’s always been in my mind. The best hairdressers have this incredible creativity — they're like contemporary sculptors.”
Medusa Deluxe sees the London filmmaker combine his respect for top-level coiffeurs with his two other great passions: absurdist comedy and murder-mysteries. “I grew up watching A Touch of Frost and Inspector Morse, again thanks to my mum,” he tells Empire. “But comedy is my real realm so this was a chance to combine both.”
Set backstage at a regional hairstyling competition, the film opens with news that one contestant has been murdered by scalping. Everyone is a suspect, and tension among the stylists, models and organisers is soon being cranked to hysterical levels as accusations fly amid the braids and backcombing. “Hairdressing has this high-[culture] aspect in that hair is culturally valuable for how people present themselves,” says Hardiman. “But there’s also this ‘low’, backroom, gossip-y side to it. That’s great for comedy: pinballing between the two.”
