Cocaine Bear director Elizabeth Banks stars in a currently running true-crime thriller, Skincare, from IFC Films, and the story sounds — as many real stories are — too absurd to be true. However, the film is (as is also often the case) only loosely based upon real-life experiences related to the plight of Dawn DaLuise, a celebrity facialist who was brought to trial on allegations of a murder-for-hire scheme. DaLuise was found not guilty by a jury, but the notoriety of her saga (she was imprisoned during the trial) brought director Austin Peters and Banks together for a film that is eliciting much chatter.
As Banks recently told Entertainment Weekly, she actually wasn’t initially aware that the script was based on true events. Instead, she “was just all in on Hope Goldman and this character and the sort of milieu of LA.” She did, however, get caught up in the story, although the film does contain notable differences from what actually transpired, which was indeed dark stuff.
First, a few facts: DaLuise (who, according to CNN, could count Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Aniston as clients at her Skin Refinery clinic) had been accused of calling for the murder of a rival aesthetician, Gabriel Suarez, who she believed was responsible for a string of harassing and threatening behavior against her. Suarez had opened a nearby clinic called Smooth Cheeks, and he was *not* responsible for what DaLuise was experiencing, although justice came in a roundabout and twisted way.
Back in 2014, DaLuise had been “venting” (in her words after the fact) about “[finding] someone who is going to take Gabriel out.” She sent this as a text to a “friend” named Edward Feinstein, who had a greater role in this story than it initially seemed. After DaLuise was arrested over the text, she spent 10 months behind bars before being freed after trial, which featured testimony from ex-NFL player Chris Geile, “[t]he man she was accused of approaching about the hit,” who revealed that the two had never spoken, and no murder-for-hire plot actually existed.
Police then began looking more closely at informant Feinstein due to their suspicion that “his friend (and one of DaLuise’s clients) Nick Prugo, a member of the infamous ‘Bling Ring’ thieving gang that had targeted high-profile celebrities’ homes, were behind the nefarious acts, not Suarez.” Oh boy:
In 2016, Los Angeles County Superior Court sentenced Feinstein and Prugo to 350 hours of community service and three years of probation each on stalking misdemeanor charges. The pair were ordered to stay away from DaLuise and her two daughters, and to cease contact with one another for 10 years.
Feinstein and Prugo were also accused of posting an online ad soliciting men to visit DaLuise’s home to rape her, though the judge dismissed that felony charge, saying there was insufficient evidence.
As Banks has declared, she based her character, Hope Goldman, upon a different real-life facialist, “Matty,” who had a range of celebrity clientele and had been referred to Banks by her agent. From the IFC synopsis of Skincare:
Beauty is a cutthroat business. Elizabeth Banks stars in a smart, funny thriller about famed aesthetician Hope Goldman (Banks), who’s on the cups of taking her career to the next level by launching her very own skincare line. But Hope’s personal and work lives are challenged when a rival facialist Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Méndez) opens a new boutique directly across from her store. She starts to suspect that someone is trying to sabotage her reputation and business, and together with her friend Jordan (Lewis Pullman) she embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of who is trying to destroy her life.
Skincare is currently in limited release in the U.S.