Skincare Guru Ole Henriksen to Get Biopic Treatment in Collaboration With Niels Juul, Scribe James Wyllie

The wild, hydrated life of skincare guru to the stars Ole Henriksen is being prepped for the big screen.

The 74-year-old is the subject of a new biopic project mounted by frequent Martin Scorsese collaborator Niels Juul and author-turned-screenwriter James Wyllie. The news was announced during the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday morning at a press event aboard the Lady Jersey yacht docked on the Albert Edouard jetée in the city’s old port. Henriksen took a seat on a sofa on the yacht’s upper deck where he participated in a panel discussion about the vision for the project alongside his creative collaborators.

“It’s been two years in the making,” Juul told The Hollywood Reporter of the project which is in the early stages and does not have a director or talent attached but does have a finished screenplay from Wyllie. The scribe’s credits include projects for BBC and Film4 and the books The Microdot Gang, Goering and Goering, Nazi Wives and others. “Ole’s story is unbelievable but in order to craft it, we had to get the perfect writer, who is James Wyllie. When I heard Ole’s life story, I was blown away.”

Per his official bio, Henriksen was born in Nibe, a small village in Denmark. A passion for dance led him to Indonesia at age 19, and while there, he developed cystic acne. A friend, Lagita, who happened to be an aesthetician, helped transform his skin through the use of botanical treatments. As his skin cleared, a new mission emerged to help others with their own skincare concerns. After graduating in 1975 from the Christine Shaw College of Beauty in London, he moved to Los Angeles, where he opened a namesake spa in West Hollywood.

By the early 1980s, the “Ole Glow” helped him become one of the industry’s first and most in-demand celebrity facialists with an enviable client list that included Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and David Bowie. He launched his label — OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare — and the brand became a big success. In 2011, OLEHENRIKSEN was acquired by luxury powerhouse LVMH.

But that’s just Henriksen on the business front, and what Juul was ultimately blown away by was Henriksen’s personal journey. Juul, who has an impressive list of executive producer credits on Scorsese films The Irishman, Silence and Killers of the Flower Moon as well as on Michael Mann’s Ferrari, said he was moved by what Henriksen endured and how he has quietly helped advance gay marriage in his home country.

“First of all, he’s a skincare guru to the stars with clients like Diana Ross and David Bowie. He ended up on [The Oprah Winfrey Show] to promote his book. But before all of that, he was just a 17-year-old kid growing up in redneck country in Demark. He didn’t identify as gay yet, he didn’t know what that was but he liked to dance with his hands over his head. He was beaten up by a rough gang, which happened a lot in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He then escaped to Copenhagen, Denmark, which had the country’s only vibrant gay scene because it was nearly illegal everywhere else. He met a Harvey Weinstein-type producer, literally a gangster-type producer, and they had sex. They flew around the world fucking like you wouldn’t believe.”

But wait, there’s more: “This guy ends up killing a prostitute and shooting himself in the mouth, leaving Ole all alone in Indonesia with no money, nothing. He wondered how he was going to change his life until an old lady suggested he put some cream on his face to cure his acne and that’s how his story started. From there, he went to L.A. where he opened up a salon on Sunset Boulevard that famously became a paradise. Barbra Streisand walked in and asked for help. Behind the scenes, he became a champion for gay rights his whole life, especially in Copenhagen. Most importantly, he’s not the clown that people think he is. He’s stronger than you could believe.”

He’s also an “open book,” per the man himself. “I never believed in being closeted. I jumped out of the closet at a young age as a gay man. It was a great feeling. There’s no secrets, and that makes it wonderful for me to work with James [and Niels] so they can elevate the oldest joy to something very special.”

Henriksen went on to credit Juuls for his “huge success” and his indefatigable energy as someone who “always in motion.” The fact that he’s also from Denmark and worked closely with Scorsese seemed to also be in his favor. “My life has been a Scorsese movie with all the drama, but that’s not what this movie is about,” added Henricksen who earned the nickname “the most positive man in beauty.”

As for the plot, Wyllie revealed that his script takes place over the course of one week and features two fictional characters that encounter Henriksen and are “transformed” after spending time with him. The vision also calls for music to play a big part in the story. In his conversations with the skincare guru, Willey said he was struck by Henriksen’s lifelong love of dance and music.

“Ole’s had a tough life and he’s dealt with many obstacles, which would defeat most of us,” he explained. “But he always overcame them, and his attitude is always positive. Music gives you that positivity and energy, and we were keen to do something lighthearted that would be feel good so that you can walk out of the cinema like you’d spent an hour with Ole.”

As for Henriksen, still living a colorful life, the biopic offers another chance to do something unexpected. “I always have had an open attitude to new adventures,” he said. “Is that not important for all of us Because life is this fascinating rollercoaster ride for all of us.”