A Fine Cut
Oscar-winning costume designer Mark Bridges talks about developing characters through clothes
BY CHRISTOPHER LAVERTY
Film criticism often ignores how essential costume design is to creating character, but one glance at the filmography of Mark Bridges is enough to clarify its importance. Try to imagine some of the characters in his films—Boogie Nights’s Dirk Diggler and Rollergirl, There Will Be Blood’s Daniel Plainview, The Artist’s George Valentin—without their iconic ensembles. At the top of his field in creating both period and the oft-overlooked contemporary costume, Bridges spoke to us about his craft, from films past and future: his latest, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, coming later this year, is centered on the world of couture fashion.
How does what is required of you vary from director to director?
My process is the same with each director. I read the script, I do my research, and I make them presentations of what I think the costumes should look like. In that meeting I find out what works for them and what doesn’t. Hopefully we find a rhythm. Sometimes you have to hit the ground running. For I ♥ Huckabees [2004], my first film for David O. Russell, I was called in eight days before shooting. David and I had a concept to work with: we were doing the palette of Luis Buñuel’s film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. In fact, David even wanted some of the costumes re-created. David has a lot to say about costume, actually, more so than any other directors I have worked with. You’re always safe with him if you just make it real sexy. He’d yell across the set, “Bring me another top and make it see-through!”
I was surprised to see you had taken on Fifty Shades of Grey [2015]. Why did this project entice you?
It was the opportunity to work with Sam Taylor-Johnson, the director. It was also the opportunity to do a project that will be watched by millions of fans. Could I do justice to that? A college girl and a billionaire’s relationship told through the language of contemporary clothes was too good to pass up. Ultimately I think you see in the clothes that Christian Grey becomes a more regular guy and Anastasia Steele grows from a girl to a woman. And, you know, I don’t get to dress a billionaire every day. I knew it was going to be high-profile and interesting. The book’s author, E.L. James, was there all the time. There was some general guidance about what her fans would probably expect. She was particularly fond of the idea of Anastasia’s graduation dress, described as “grey chiffon” in the book, which I thought was weird for a graduation dress. So how do you solve that? I like to maneuver through things with the least amount of stress so there was that level of diplomatically getting everyone satisfied and happy—including me.
Another surprise was Jason Bourne [2016], as it felt like a very established world already in terms of costume.
I had never done the action genre. I loved working with Paul Greengrass and his team. We did Captain Phillips [2013] together, and I wanted to try my hand at an international action film to see how that would work and how I could make it look and feel real for Paul, who comes from a documentary filmmaking background. I was actually very pleased with it because I feel like it is all there but is so distilled down to the barest essentials of differentiating and speaking about character. Re-creating the riots in Greece at the beginning of the film was a fun challenge to me. How do I make that look real? If someone asks “Is that real footage?” I can say, “No, we shot it all in Tenerife!” It was the same with the Somali village in Captain Phillips. People have asked me if that’s a real village, but they’re all wearing thrift clothes from the San Fernando Valley. I like to fool the eye in a way that is believable.
You have worked for Paul Thomas Anderson on all of his feature films. What is he like in terms of preparation and execution?
I wouldn’t say that Paul is as specific as David O. Russell. He’s a writer-director with a lot on his plate but an incredibly good instinct about what’s right and what’s wrong. He does an enormous amount of research, whether it’s how an oil derrick works or how cult religions began in living rooms after World War II. We did a lot of research for There Will Be Blood [2007]. I put together a book to show him some possible images of the Sunday family and a look for Daniel [Day-Lewis]. It was an actual notebook he could leaf through that moves as the story moves. I think he gave it to Daniel to seal the deal on getting him to do the movie. With Paul there is all this meticulous preparation, but then the filming is more free-form. He creates on set, trying angles and lights and how to play a scene.
You have just finished working with Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson again on the upcoming Phantom Thread. How was it?
It had a lot of layers to figure out. Real characters that had to be believable in the world of 1955 England. Both country folk and London society. I had to tell a story with each character’s clothing and communicate the class structure of that period. Then we had to decide what are the designs of the couturier that is Daniel’s character. Are his looks like Norman Hartnell? Hardy Amies? Or is it our own thing? What level of success is he? Is he a Balenciaga? Or a John Cavanagh? It was an enormous amount of research of silhouettes and trends. We were fortunate enough that about a year ago Daniel, Paul, and I were in London and were treated to see some of the clothes that are now on display at the V&A Museum, as part of their Balenciaga exhibition. We could view the construction and embroidery—actually touch it. That was the level of research we undertook.
What are your feelings on contemporary costume being forever overlooked at the Oscars?
It’s funny, but when the Academy had two categories for Costume Design, Black and White and Color, up until 1967, most of the black and white films that won were contemporary. All About Eve, A Place in the Sun, La Dolce Vita—those all won. The films that would win in color, like Camelot, were mostly period. Camelot was the first year there was only one Costume Design category and since then, except for rare exceptions, the winners are all period. I just think what people actually think of as a “costume” is why the period stuff always wins.
You won an Oscar for your work on Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist [2011]. Are you glad it was for this film?
The Artist was such a labor of love. It was a low-budget movie by a relatively unknown French director. By the end of the shoot crew members would come up to Michel and ask, “How are we going to see this movie?” There was a chance that if nobody picked it up it would be languishing in some French video store as a novelty art piece. There was no reading the script and thinking, “Ooh, I’m gonna get an Oscar for this.” That would be a deadly way to go into these jobs. I mean, I had a guarantee to work on La La Land, but unfortunately they didn’t end up doing it when I was scheduled to, so I did Jason Bourne instead. I wasn’t sitting there going, “La La Land is going to be an Oscar winner, so I’d rather do that.” This is show business, so anything can happen.
Christopher Laverty is an author and costume consultant. He edits the award-winning website Clothes on Film and wrote the book Fashion in Film.
