Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / Bullet Train with Costume Designer, Sarah Evelyn

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Bullet Train with Costume Designer, Sarah Evelyn · The Art of Costume Podcast

• 0:12
  And this thing we really need head to toe.
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  I mean, we made the bolo tie, we made the belt, we made the sued.
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  We had it embroidered. We made this shirt, the boots we
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  didn't make the boots. We bought with blue tips.
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  We did make and he killed, you know, he killed there.
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  Literally he got Killed the did hello and welcome to the art of
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  katzenbach cast. I am Spencer Williams and thank
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  you so much for joining me for another extra special bonus
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  episode. I am so excited to introduce you
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  all to today's guest. Just saw such an amazing movie.
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  I loved it so much, and I know you all are going to love it.
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  You you would know her for her work on American Horror Story,
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  Fast and Furious presents Hobbs, and Shah and a Netflix
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  television show Hollywood for, which she was nominated for an
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  Emmy. But today, we're talking about
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  the costumes for the new film directed by David leitch and
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  starring just a huge ensemble cast, including Brad Pitt.
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  Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Joey King.
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  Brian, Terry, Henry, how are you Ki Sonata and one of my
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  favorites? Bad Bunny.
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  I'm talking about costume. Designer Sarah Evelyn.
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  Sarah welcome to the podcast. I've been so excited to talk to
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  you. I saw bullet train the other day
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  and honestly I loved every single second of it and I was
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  disappointed. My fennel our interview was days
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  away. I give away all week.
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  So thank you so much for joining me.
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  My pleasure. So bullet train is so fun.
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  It's, I believe it's based on a book yet, lots of different
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  costumes Lots of different culture, locations go from Tokyo
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  to Kyoto and just first, when you start a bullet train, what
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  were your I guess Inspirations, how did you prepare for a
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  project like this? I mean, I definitely started by
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  there was I had a copy of the book that was transcribed into
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  English and I feel like that was a really big starting point for
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  me. I definitely definitely started
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  early with like a Japanese costume.
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  Some consultant and a Japanese cultural consultant just looking
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  at a lot of those things. Because, you know, while this
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  film is very Global, I felt like I still wanted to get the help,
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  kind of like beginning to understand sort of like where
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  the book might have started. Right?
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  So so that that was sort of like the beginning of thinking about
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  bullet train the David and Kelly's team.
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  Is a really awesome a really collaborative.
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  And I feel like this and David comes, David Kelly sort of calm,
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  very directed. So I feel like next up was
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  starting to really talk to like the production designer about
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  the world that was being created and about the references that we
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  were going to use and about the movies that we were looking at
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  to think about this. Like I remember really being
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  into Japanese noir films, think even like sort of start
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  considering this like, Yo pop for example is really big
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  influence, so kind of just getting down the visual language
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  was important and then at the casting started to come in then
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  I feel like you start to. So you have this sort of bigger
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  picture that's like what's our overall world?
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  What's our overall aesthetic language?
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  What are our touch stones that were sort of resonating between
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  and then as casting comes in you can really Start pinpointing
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  things, you know what I need? Whether you're talking about
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  color, Okay? Brad is in green.
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  All right. Everyone needs to be in
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  something else. Is that the kind of we were
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  making or are we not making that movie.
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  So it's sort of like that. It was like, overall we formed
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  the language of our film, the visual language of our film and
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  then it's casting came in and we sort of drill down on what
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  people's characters were going to be it.
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  We kind of like found some grounding for it.
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  Let's say That's fascinating. And I believe this took place
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  during the pandemic, right? It was like one of the first
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  movies, I think, one of the first big movies that happened,
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  and it wasn't the kind of movie that doesn't traditionally
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  happen in a la. Like usually I feel like these
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  movies are filmed somewhere else.
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  It was really amazing to be able to work in LA because Allah is
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  made for the movies. There are some amazing Artisans
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  there. There are so many amazing
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  resources. There there are.
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  So many talented lives. For talented crew there there.
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  I had really, really incredible like costume supervisors in a
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  really amazing amazing crew, but it was crazy.
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  Because like stores were closed or stores had decreased hours
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  and there wasn't the same amount of stuff on the shelves and
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  shipping wasn't coming as quickly.
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  And fabric stores were closed and supplied, there were supply
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  chain issues. Oh man.
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  Not only that, it was when we were all working in the office.
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  This with like glasses and masks and we would have to do fittings
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  with a gown mask and a full shield which is like Darth Vader
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  style, another human like that. So basically like you know
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  you're just friends hang on Sarah you know to meet you that
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  was really crazy and one thing we decided to do was really Make
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  a lot of the clothing, we knew we were going to need tons of
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  multiples. We knew we were going to like we
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  weren't going to be able to wait on supply chain, or what was in
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  the stores or the whole thing. So, we made most of the
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  costumes. Wow, that's impressive.
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  Well, it all worked out, they all came out beautifully and I'm
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  really excited to just talk about all the different
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  characters. Yeah.
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  And we'll start with probably the coolest of them all.
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  Brad Pitt who plays ladybug. I've never wanted a bucket hat
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  so badly in my life. Life is so strong right.
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  Makes it look good seriously and the black rimmed glasses.
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  Let's just dive into his look. You said that.
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  His color was green. Yeah.
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  What was your concept behind the ladybug?
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  I mean I would say this costume was incredibly collaborative.
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  Brad definitely came with this idea that he would look like.
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  Maybe he had been fishing at the Docks.
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  Maybe he would be wearing a bucket hat and I was all about
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  it. I feel like you could dress.
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  And if anyone can pull it off, it was him right?
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  And you know so we started trying on different Silhouettes
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  definitely we're talking about work.
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  We're definitely were talking about things that might be a bit
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  nautical a bit fishing related, like the pea coat and the bucket
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  hat started looking really hard at color and fabric and texture.
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  And you know Brad is like an incredible filmmaker with like a
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  wealth of knowledge that has a deep understanding.
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  I feel of like, art and fabric. That's Very visceral person.
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  So he was really generous and sort of sharing all of his
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  thoughts and ideas and willingness to like, take these
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  risks, which I feel like only makes the movie more awesome.
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  Oh yeah, yeah, there's plenty of risk and I just you could tell
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  that is very collaborative. You could tell that he had the
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  most fun doing this film and so that everyone else on the film.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  Totally. We took a long time person color
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  with Brad. We were like between we were
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  between sort of Like a blue, a green, and a yellow trying to
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  trying to figure out what was going to look work.
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  Best for the character in this very tight world of the train,
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  you know? And we landed on the Greenwich,
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  I'm all about I'm all about it, big fan who came out wonderfully
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  and then we have two characters, I love so dearly lemon and
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  tangerine. Yeah their costumes are so fun,
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  they're very sophisticated. Good kind of blending in, but
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  they're also very Dapper. Very I guess sophisticated for
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  their line of work. I would say, I mean, I think we
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  sort of always knew. Tangerine was going to wear a
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  suit. We had his casting like, pretty
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  early on and I think the idea was like, he sort of wears a
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  suit to contain the Beast. He would have grown up, you
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  know, probably in like South London and he would have always
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  had his eye in salwar row but he also Been interested in gangster
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  Vibes you know. So that's sort of where we get
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  this idea of both the Pinstripes and the bankers collar, but also
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  like the very good you know the gold jewelry elements right?
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  At the end of the day, he's a businessman and this is his
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  work, he would like to think so but also I feel like at the very
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  end of the day he kind of like can't contain the Beast, whether
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  the Beast. I mean, II feel that this was a
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  character with a ton of hard You know, and he he couldn't just be
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  cold either way. Actually, you know, like I think
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  he's fancied himself a businessman but at the end of
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  the day I think he was like a lot of hurt.
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  Yeah, a lot of heart, I fell in love with these two characters.
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  I was crying then laughing then crying again.
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  And the lemon is wearing this denim looking jacket at.
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  We talk a lot about Thomas, the Tank Engine, I couldn't help but
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  feel like this is kind of a conductor nod slightly.
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  Maybe a little, I think that's great.
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  You know, lemons casting came after Tangerine after we
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  already. Sort of knew what Tangerine
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  words going to be wearing. And we wanted to play a little
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  bit on the idea of twins, but also on the idea that they
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  totally want twins, they were so different.
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  And so, we like the idea of kind of pairing the blue and pairing.
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  This suiting idea with like the top and bottom matching, but
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  that's exactly right for lemon. It is more of a nod to
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  conductor. And you know, he's wearing red
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  suspenders and also that's a bit of a nod to something more
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  youthful, more, playful more work where conductor like I love
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  the fun, that's a good character but we have to talk about Bad
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  Bunny. I am a huge Bad Bunny fan.
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  I thought Veneto did so good in this film and his suit was a
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  credible. I audibly gasped when I saw him
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  on screen. No, I'm so glad I am a huge Bad
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  Bunny. And to yeah, she just does not
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  disappoint. I felt like it was a situation
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  where he walked into this costume and he just brought it
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  alive. I loved like, I really, really
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  love this whole sequence and this thing we really need head
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  to toe. I mean, we made the bolo tie, we
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  made the belt, we made the suit. We had it embroidered.
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  We made this shirt, the boots we didn't make the boots.
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  We bought but boo tips we did make and he You know, he killed
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  all day, literally. He got killed the did and I love
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  just that the use of the color white, you know, he wore it
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  because he was, this was what he worked his wedding.
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  But then also, you see of the, like costume distressing
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  happening on his suit as well. So really stands out on the
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  train. Yeah, and I just watched before
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  he got on, I watched a video with the cast doing and like a
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  round table, and they're talking about But how bad bunny is dead
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  essentially throughout the entire film?
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  But yet he's still there and he's kind of slumped over in a
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  costume which I thought was pretty hilarious.
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  Okay, we have Joey King, as the prince Joey's character is very
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  mischievous but then when it comes down to it, she pretends
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  to be a cute little girl. So her costume really has to
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  help her in that tactic talk to me about the prince a little
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  bit. Well, first of all Joey is
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  giving such good face in that picture.
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  Yeah. Such a joy to work with a great
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  great collaborator to. I'd this whole cast was really
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  fantastic, and amazing, but for Joey.
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  That's right. We were playing on kind of
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  school girl Chic and sort of trying to play with like good
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  and bad. You know here you have a little
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  pleated skirt. That is both schoolgirl
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  schoolgirl but then become can become very like sexy with a
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  really high feel and she's wearing like a high hill loafer
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  which we also made but like but also very All, you know, like
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  this isn't just she's I feel like what we were trying to do
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  with this costume was play with feminine strength, sexy, not
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  sexy power, not power, you know, so it's like having the tie in a
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  sort of strange salmon color with the collar tie, it all the
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  way up and it's a bit of a schoolgirl uniform but it's
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  there's also something like that the bit of a power suit when
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  you're just looking at this part, right?
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  So that's what we were really just trying to do with her.
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  Her. Yeah.
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  It's very strong and it kept you kind of guessing literally until
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  the last 15 minutes of the film. You don't understand this
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  character fully until it's over the costume really lended to
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  that. Yeah.
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  One of my favorite people. I think, on this planet.
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  How are you Ki Sonata as the Elder?
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  Such a cool guy. I love him so much.
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  His costume to me felt a little bit more traditional sense.
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  Like I knew who this character was the moment he stepped onto
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  this train like everyone knew like it.
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  About to go down when you see the Elder.
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  Yeah, hero is amazing. And he has such an amazing
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  career and actually when David leitch was younger I feel like
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  like he I think he worked with hero like hero was a bit of a
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  mentor I think Heather and they had had like a really long
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  relationship and I was so excited to work with hero and I
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  felt like it was really a moment where we could.
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  Try and integrate some garments that would be a nod to the more
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  traditional and you know, because because he's hero and
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  because he was in the movie and because he's an actor because
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  he's a Japanese we really, really collaborated, you know,
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  on these things. Including like we worked a lot
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  on his coat, which is sort of a bit of a nod to traditional
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  hurry coat and we worked a lot on his fabrics and wanted to
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  make them like a bit speckly and a bit sort of Heritage.
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  But also kind of like, Manly. Yeah, that definitely came
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  across and you just you could feel his presence.
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  We see him in his costume like he was a big deal, very serious
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  but also really cared about the situation.
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  Yeah yeah we only see her for a quick bit but the Hornet played
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  by Za ZB. It's so good.
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  She as we'll talk about a little bit is hidden, she's disguise as
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  one of the people on the train succeed her for a quick moment
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  in. She's in the moment on.
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  Yeah that too. So yeah talk to me a little
• 15:47
  about her look. But then as we get into, we're
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  going to also talk about just creating the train in general
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  and the people on the train. Yeah, well that's a v.
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  So we had already served developed this.
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  What the uniform was going to be by the times of Z, but it's
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  cast. So we sort of knew what this
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  would look like on her. And we, you know, we
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  essentially, like, we took the train logo and we Write it out
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  across the top of the uniform and that's kind of what like
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  makes the striping across the top of the chest.
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  And I love these hats. These hats are like what
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  Japanese train conductors where but fitting her in the moment on
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  the super duper duper fun. Actually, she had like a really
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  fun time walking around in that and are fitting and definitely
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  made everybody laugh. It was sort of, that was kind of
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  like the reveal of the actual moment on to the cast and crew,
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  you know, that's a lie. I didn't realize she was
• 16:40
  actually in the MoMA Don. Yes.
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  Yeah. There's a point where she takes
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  the head off and it's like her right, you know?
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  Okay, yeah, I mean I was so in love with the movie.
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  I probably missed that detail, but that's amazing.
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  So then let's like, let's talk about the moment on then
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  actually was this your first time doing a costume like this?
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  Because I know it's such a crazy process.
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  Creating something like this is, well, this was actually designed
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  by the production. Designer David cinema.
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  This was like his genius idea and his genius idea for like a
• 17:15
  whole moment on car and having some sort of like, Japanese
• 17:19
  mascot. I felt like it actually really
• 17:21
  helped create our world and kind of like, rounded it out.
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  We did end up making it because my costume supervisor.
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  Jim Tyson is a legend when it comes to building and knows a
• 17:33
  lot about building things like this.
• 17:35
  I mean, he knows a lot about building everything, but he
• 17:38
  making it a shot. Called Theory.
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  And yeah, it does take a lot to make and then it takes it even
• 17:44
  more to make in a way that it can be used practically.
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  You know, you have to think about because the moment on did
• 17:52
  stunts. So you have to think about how
• 17:55
  your son died gets in there, how your stunt guy, sees how you're
• 17:57
  sunk I breathe, how he doesn't die of heat, you know.
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  Right though it was the concept was done by David cinnamon and
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  the build is really done by Jim Tyson and they're both super
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  brilliant. I feel lucky.
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  I get to work with them. I love it and I agree feel
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  really just kind of rounded everything together.
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  It really brought you into the world.
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  You were laughing. But then you're also a little
• 18:17
  scared of it at the same time. He doesn't know how to feel it,
• 18:21
  when it's like they're fighting over the briefcase, you know,
• 18:26
  it's hilarious. So good and I feel like I need
• 18:28
  like a stuffed animal my house now or something definitely so
• 18:33
  taking a break from the main characters for a little bit.
• 18:35
  As we talked about this a little there's a lot of people on this
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  train at first. Slowly starts to get less and
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  less but there's a lot of background actors specifically,
• 18:44
  the, the people with the carts and then the one lady who keeps
• 18:49
  rushing a lemon and tangerine, which I don't understand why
• 18:52
  they are not getting it quiet. So what was it like designing
• 18:57
  for all these background characters?
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  It was awesome. And actually a lot of the
• 19:01
  characters I mean a lot of the background came back day after
• 19:05
  day after day because they would have been on the same.
• 19:07
  You know, leg, we were filming these same Day after day after
• 19:10
  day, right? So that was kind of cool
• 19:12
  especially during covid-19 it was like such a weird time and
• 19:15
  it was sort of a joy to get to see people on a regular basis,
• 19:18
  let's say and feel like you were a bit of a community, it's a
• 19:21
  little bit more of a commitment than you usually would see on a
• 19:24
  film like this definitely definitely and I love joshing
• 19:28
  passenger. She was hilarious.
• 19:30
  It's so good. That's I mean I felt her a
• 19:33
  little bit. Yeah, more of her sweater.
• 19:37
  I feel like there was a duck on it but whatever.
• 19:40
  Yeah. I mean I get that I could see
• 19:42
  it. When I was sitting in the
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  theater, it's really nice. And then wrapping up with the
• 19:50
  white death but not just the white death.
• 19:52
  But his crew also very like took you out a train and suddenly
• 19:56
  you're scared. These people are serious.
• 19:59
  Their masks were beautiful at the same time as just really
• 20:03
  shrouding them in mystery and fear.
• 20:06
  So talk to me about the white death and his crew.
• 20:09
  Yeah, well those the white obviously, the white death had
• 20:13
  to be this like major major character and I would say that
• 20:17
  it's one of those situations where, you know, the costume
• 20:20
  doesn't make the character. It's like the actor can wear the
• 20:23
  costume and make the character and Michael Shannon, like,
• 20:25
  definitely did an amazing job. We wanted a guy that looked
• 20:29
  like, he'd been, you know, very wealthy and then maybe hadn't
• 20:32
  changed since his wife died. So, we came up with this idea of
• 20:35
  this sort of old school smoking jacket, like a bit of a retro
• 20:39
  vibe. Vibe and David, you know, it was
• 20:43
  really these masks really word David leeches concept and sort
• 20:48
  of a way to create this mystery in this real, you know, fear and
• 20:53
  then the vast were also built it Theory which is the same place
• 20:57
  that milk built the moment on right and like his his character
• 21:00
  to me like I felt like a recognizes character a little
• 21:03
  bit. You could tell he was a villain
• 21:05
  but a little bit more complicated than you would
• 21:07
  think. Yeah.
• 21:09
  Like, An anime character or something?
• 21:11
  I don't know. He's very cool.
• 21:14
  Yeah. Like you could tell they're like
• 21:15
  it felt like there was backstory, right?
• 21:18
  Yeah. Right.
• 21:20
  Well that actually kind of brings us to the end you know
• 21:23
  this isn't a podcast but usually when we do we like to do a
• 21:26
  little game called one costume, the rule them all the one
• 21:31
  costume to rule them all. Do you have a one costume?
• 21:39
  The rule them all from this film that you just like see it and
• 21:42
  like I love that one. Maybe it's not your favorite.
• 21:44
  I won't make you pick a favorite.
• 21:45
  Right? Right.
• 21:46
  No I can't the favorite. I cannot pick a favorite.
• 21:50
  Was there one you saw on screen where you're like?
• 21:52
  Wow that really came together. They're all my babies.
• 21:57
  Hold on. Let me think.
• 21:58
  For one second, you can save my baby.
• 22:03
  I could imagine because it's different because, you know,
• 22:07
  they all wear the same Costume. So it's not like they have
• 22:09
  changes. No, it's true in that makes like
• 22:11
  the costume so much harder actually because it's like this
• 22:15
  one costume has to say everything.
• 22:18
  Yeah. Can't I just say I love all my
• 22:20
  children the same that works. Yeah, I'll take mine would be
• 22:25
  the wolf costume. That's my own costume, to rule
• 22:28
  them all. I'm so glad.
• 22:32
  Thank you so much for joining me, Sarah, like I said, I was
• 22:35
  very excited to speak with you. This film is Thank you all so
• 22:39
  much for listening and thanks again.
• 22:41
  A costume designer Sara Evelyn for joining me.
• 22:44
  Be sure to go see bullet train as soon as possible.
• 22:47
  It's so good. I love this movie and I want to
• 22:50
  see it again and again and I know you all will love it.
• 22:54
  Yes, everyone go. See it.
• 22:56
  Stop what you're doing. Well, thank you so much for
• 23:00
  joining Sarah. Thank you, thank you so much for
• 23:03
  having me. You're out of costume.
• 23:09
  Blogcast is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Joy, glass, and
• 23:14
  Spencer Williams. Our audio engineering and
• 23:17
  editing is done by Dan White. Follow us on Instagram, at the
• 23:22
  art of costume pod or visit the art of costume blogcast.com.
• 23:26
  For all blogcast updates, if you want to support the show, go to
• 23:31
  the art of costume.com / part store, or you can head over to
• 23:38
  Mom / the art of costume or some bonus content for more costume.
• 23:43
  Reviews deep, Dives and interviews head over to the art
• 23:47
  of costume.com a Blog dedicated to highlighting the best in
• 23:51
  costume design. I forgot what it was called.
• 24:04
  The me show you because it's in theaters.
• 24:07
  I only have so many pictures but yeah.
• 24:09
  What, what was the name of the mascot Khan posted on moment on?
• 24:15
  Okay, I'll just write that down. Yeah.
• 24:19
  Momo Dawn, Momo Momo, great. I forgot what it was called.
• 24:04
  The me show you because it's in theaters.
• 24:07
  I only have so many pictures but yeah.
• 24:09
  What, what was the name of the mascot Khan posted on moment on?
• 24:15
  Okay, I'll just write that down. Yeah.
• 24:19
  Momo Dawn, Momo Momo, great.