Hollywood hair stylists generally have a limited role in the movie-making process, but that was bound to be different in the shooting of "You Don't Mess With the Zohan."
The Adam Sandler film, which opened over the weekend, is about an Israeli commando who moves to America and takes up hairdressing. It so happens that Sandler's own stylist, Yuki Sharoni, served as an Israeli soldier before moving to Los Angeles to open a salon. Sandler asked Sharoni if he could use the name Yuki for his character.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, June 12, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 35 words Type of Material: Correction
Yuki Sharoni: An article in Sunday's Calendar section about hairstylist Yuki Sharoni, who helped inspire Adam Sandler's film "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," misspelled the last name of salon stylist Courtney Nanson as Manson.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, June 15, 2008 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 1 inches; 34 words Type of Material: Correction
Yuki Sharoni: An article last Sunday about hairstylist Yuki Sharoni, who helped inspire Adam Sandler's film "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," mentioned fellow salon stylist Courtney Manson. The correct last name is Nanson.
Sharoni advised against it -- Yuki is not an Israeli-sounding name -- and Sandler eventually decided upon Zohan. But that was hardly the end of Sharoni's role in the film. Sharoni, a sort of real-life Zohan, used his history and wizardry with shears to help Sandler as he created the character.
"My friends are all asking me if it is a portrait of me, of my history," said Sharoni, a slight man with a head of black hair that is curly when not blow-dried. "They all think it's my biography. I said, 'Go and see it and you'll figure it out.' "
Sandler has a policy of not speaking to newspapers, and his on-set hairdresser, Ann Pala, declined to say much about Sharoni beyond that he and Sandler have been longtime friends. But Courtney Manson, a stylist in Sharoni's Beverly Hills salon, was on hand when Sandler came in for some on-site training. Manson noticed the subtle ways in which the comedian was drawing upon Sharoni for his film
"Adam was looking at the way Yuki converses with his clients and how much the little Israeli accent is there," Manson said. "In the end, he told me that he was noting down things to use in the movie."
Sharoni himself is quick to point out all the differences between Zohan, the fictional Israeli hairdresser, and Yuki, the real one. In the movie, Sandler plays a lethal commando, whereas Sharoni never got out of the Jewish state's tank corps. And when Sandler's character decides to give up the military life, he does not follow the 50,000 or so Israelis, including Sharoni, who have chosen L.A. Instead, Zohan lands in New York.
All the same, there is that moment in between Israel and America, where Sandler's character tells his parents of his plans. They respond by flapping their hands in disbelief.
"That definitely rang a bell," Sharoni says, "though my argument with my family was longer than just one conversation. It lasted a year and a half."
