As her hair-and-makeup team attend to her at VIOLET GREY Melrose Place, actress Zoey Deutch is contemplating her busy year. Tonight she’s attending GQ’s Man of the Year dinner, a festive pit stop after 12 months of nonstop filming. “Between Why Him?, a studio comedy; Before I Fall, an indie drama in which I died a bunch; and Rebel in the Rye, which is a period piece taking place in the ’30s—I play Oona O’Neill, Eugene O’Neill’s daughter—and then Flower, which is a dark, dark, dark comedy and I play a girl with borderline personality disorder,” she pauses to catch her breath, “I feel so lucky that I’ve had these great, distinctly different parts.”

Most pressing of the films is Why Him?, in which she stars alongside James Franco and Bryan Cranston as the daughter who brings home the boyfriend from hell (Franco) for Christmas. “I’m really excited about Why Him?, which is coming out on Christmas Day. It’s super funny and my first Christmas film,” she laughs. “I had the opportunity to work with Bryan Cranston—I love him, I always have, and if you don’t, your feelings are wrong.” The serial wisecracker cackles. “I fear talking about him in case I sound like an obsessed fan, but he’s truly generous and thoughtful. As a young actor, it was such a gift to work with him.”

Given her robust schedule, Deutch likes to keep her beauty regimen minimal, hewing toward drugstore brands like Cetaphil or, she confesses, Costco shampoo. But she admits to investing in high-wattage products she knows work for her skin. “I love the IS Clinical serum; it’s really strong but fantastic,” she says. She also notes, “I want to get SCBI stem cell masks,” the organic, vegan products that use the innovative technology. “They’re so nice, they work, and they’re fantastic.”

SUBJECT: Zoey Deutch
OCCUPATION: Actress
OCCASION: The GQ Man of the Year dinner
TEAM: Lauren Andersen, makeup; Renato Campora, hair; Elizabeth Stewart, stylist
GETTING-READY SOUNDTRACK: “Drake—I love to hear him serenading me!”
PRE-GAME BEVERAGE: Chardonnay. “Many a time I’ve been called a soccer mom in training, and I take it as a compliment.”
HEELS OR FLATS: “Well, I’m wearing flats [for daytime]—Fentys.”
IDEAL DINNER DATE: “Katharine Hepburn, because she’s the reason I became an actress. I think she’s a spectacular creature. Or Drake.”
FAVORITE HEPBURN FILM: Bringing Up Baby

THE MAKEUP
The actress’ makeup is similarly deceptive, as artist Lauren Andersen enhanced Deutch’s already flawless skin with a primer from the Honest Company, matte La Mer foundation, a pink lip, and a rosy soft pink cheek. For the eyes, however, Deutch and Andersen agreed that something a little more foxy was needed. “I worked with more structure, so we did a ’60s-inspired liquid liner and a brushed-up brow with individual lashes on top and bottom,” Andersen explains. Studying the overall effect, Deutch can’t resist one last quip. “I’m hoping to win man of the year!” she laughs, and disappears into the night.

THE HAIR
Tonight’s look involves quite an extreme change. Deutch is intent on having a short bob, a challenge when she has long golden hair that she’d rather not cut. Hairstylist Renato Campora gamely steps up to the plate, braiding her hair and fitting her with a wig. When Deutch looks in the mirror, however, the effect isn’t quite right, so Campora sets to work with a different technique. “I used a small rubber band to tie back half of her hair and pinned it at the nape of the neck. I then used the top half of the hair to cover it up and bring it into a bob—you kind of roll it a little bit under.” He then secured the completed bob with extra-long bobby pins, which he cleverly concealed under Deutch’s high-necked number.

THE OUTFIT
Deutch has two looks tonight; a high-necked black minidress for the dinner, and an Antonio Berardi look for the party, in which burgundy is shot through with iridescent silver and purple (“I’ll very clumsily change in the Chateau bathroom and hopefully make it out alive” she jokes). “It’s not my job to look perfect and model-esque,” she notes—although that’s exactly how she looks—“but an element to being an actor is changing my look, and in that way I appreciate it and love it.”