Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / Wonka with Costume Designer, Lindy Hemming
Transcript
- 0:11And in that shop, they were selling off old pieces of all
- 0:15different designery fabrics. And by chance they got a people
- 0:20brought it back. And I was like, that's
- 0:22absolutely fantastic because he has magic symbols on it.
- 0:26So that became one of his main scarves.
- 0:28He just kept getting hold of things that were really, really
- 0:31making the character feel like the characters.
- 0:43Hello and welcome to the Art of Costume Podcast.
- 0:46I am your host Spencer Williams and thank you so much for
- 0:49joining me for another bonus episode.
- 0:52Hello costume nerds, I have quite a lovely treat for you all
- 0:58today. Or shall I say a delicious
- 1:00treat. Let's see how many like
- 1:03chocolate or candy puns we could work into this episode.
- 1:07Because today of. Course, we are talking about
- 1:09Wonka, a movie that I believe we're all so excited to see.
- 1:14I've seen it. You've probably seen it by now
- 1:16since it's killing in the box office.
- 1:19I mean, of course it's Timothy Chalamet, and I will be the
- 1:23first to admit that I am a Timothy Chalamet superfan.
- 1:28Anything this man can do, I'm just on his side.
- 1:32Whether it be Wonka Dune, that movie with the Peach, I'm here
- 1:37for it. I love Timothy Chalamet.
- 1:39So with that, I'm so excited to talk about the costumes.
- 1:45Wonka had some incredible costumes and I'm honored to say
- 1:49that today we will be joined by costume designer Lindy Hemming,
- 1:53who did the costumes for Wonka. But first, a little summary.
- 1:58Armed with nothing but a hat full of dreams, young
- 2:02chocolateier Willy Wonka manages to change the world one
- 2:06delectable bite at a time. With dreams of opening a shop in
- 2:11the city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor
- 2:14Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of
- 2:18greedy chocolate tears, and that is Wonka.
- 2:22Now to go behind the costumes, we have director Paul King and
- 2:26costume designer Lindy Hemming. And let me tell you something
- 2:30about Lindy Hemming. She has done a lot a lot of
- 2:33things that I love and I know that you love as well.
- 2:37First we have to mention her Oscar award-winning work for the
- 2:41film Topsy Turvy. She went on to design costumes
- 2:45for Tomorrow Never Dies, Harry Potter and A Chamber of Secrets.
- 2:50And maybe a few of these films will also sound familiar to you,
- 2:53like Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, one of the greatest
- 2:57movies of all time, for which she won a Costume Designers
- 3:00Guild Award, and The Dark Knight Rises.
- 3:03She also designed the costumes for Casino Royale, Clash of the
- 3:07Titans, which is a guilty pleasure of mine.
- 3:10I love anything with Greek mythology and you know, monsters
- 3:14and Medusa and punching giant scorpions.
- 3:18Paddington One and Paddington 2, Wonder Woman, for which Lindsey
- 3:23also won another Costume Designers Guild award and Wonder
- 3:26Woman 1984. And recently Lindy designed
- 3:30costumes for Wonka as well. And I am so excited for you all
- 3:34to meet Lindy. Meeting her was a big treat.
- 3:37As you know, I'm a big fan of a lot of her work.
- 3:39I was a Dark Knight nerd in high school, let me tell you.
- 3:44I mean, it was, it's kind of freaky, you know, when anyone's
- 3:47like, really? Obsessed with the Joker?
- 3:49You'd. Just kind of a little bit pause
- 3:52there. I was definitely that kid.
- 3:53I mean, I was wearing like a Joker shirt too.
- 3:56High school. Like every other day.
- 3:58So meeting Lindy was a real treat.
- 4:00And of course, I'm a big Wonka fan.
- 4:02I love any of the Wonka movies, you know, the original one with
- 4:06Gene Wilder. And now we have to tell you how
- 4:08I feel about the Tim Burton version, Charlie and Chocolate
- 4:11Factory. So I was very excited for this
- 4:13one. I think Timothy Chalamet is
- 4:15great in it and costumes are great.
- 4:18So after this break we are going to talk to Lindy Hemming.
- 4:22But before that, let me remind you all that next week season
- 4:26four of the Art of Costume podcast is kicking off and we
- 4:29will be kicking off. With a very special two-part
- 4:34episode week, which. We don't often do.
- 4:36We never post two episodes in one week unless there's one of
- 4:39them's a bonus episode. But we're going to be posting
- 4:42two episodes in one week because we are doing Barbenheimer Week.
- 4:46We got to get both of these movies into the week.
- 4:51So we will be having Barbie on January 16th and Oppenheimer on
- 4:55January 18th. I know you all are excited
- 5:00because I'm excited. I'm excited to get back in the
- 5:03studio with Elizabeth and Daniel.
- 5:05Of course. We're going to have some fun, I
- 5:07know. Elizabeth is a big.
- 5:09Barbie nerd, So I'm sure she's working up all sorts of behind
- 5:13the costume packs for that one. And I know we have a little
- 5:16special surprise for the Oppenheimer episode as well, so
- 5:19stay tuned for that. Thank you all so much for
- 5:22listening and enjoy the conversation with Costume
- 5:24designer and Lindy Hemming. I'm so excited to welcome you to
- 5:54talk about Wonka. It was such a fun, exciting
- 5:57film. I kind of want to start with the
- 5:59big picture first. You know Helen Colvic did the
- 6:03costumes for Willy Wonka in 71 Gabriella the Charlie and
- 6:07Chocolate Factory in 2005, and now Lindy Hemming did Wonka in
- 6:112023 just. What is it?
- 6:13Connection except Wonka. How does it feel?
- 6:18What does that legacy feel like to be a part of such a beloved
- 6:21story when you first got the call?
- 6:23Well, to be honest with you, I wasn't a fully I liked Gene
- 6:28Wilder's Wonka, and that was my I hadn't really looked at Tim
- 6:31Burton's Wonka, actually, right? And I still haven't really
- 6:34looked at it properly. Well, because I find when you do
- 6:38the any superhero or iconic thing, you do need to know what
- 6:42you're dealing with. And obviously I know RAL dolls
- 6:44work, but I didn't want to be. I knew that because of the image
- 6:50of it, the thing it had to be with, it would have to be within
- 6:54a parameter, which the fans and the studio and everybody
- 6:59understood. But I wanted to try to come to
- 7:01it perhaps from the Gene Wilder end of things more than I did
- 7:06from the Johnny Depp end of things.
- 7:09I felt like the story we were telling was going to be more in
- 7:14that, the feeling of that world, than in the Tim Burton's who has
- 7:19his very special, specific way of telling stories.
- 7:23And I didn't think we were in that world at all.
- 7:25So your question to your question then, I suppose like
- 7:32every other costume that you do and especially if it's iconic
- 7:36some iconic character, you, you try to look for a way to access
- 7:42the character, which has got really not very much to do with
- 7:47the films. The other films, if they've been
- 7:49made, perhaps sometimes a bit to do with the book, the comic book
- 7:53or the book because there's more information to be gleaned or
- 7:57imagined by yourself in in the book than there is when you
- 8:00watch someone else's work or someone else's portrayal of the
- 8:04character. I think actors probably feel a
- 8:06bit the same. I'm not sure that you're there's
- 8:09a back story to our Willy Wonka which is written was written by
- 8:13Paul. So we have a a kind of idea of
- 8:16who he is and where he comes from and it's alluded to a
- 8:20little bit with the the flashbacks of the barge and that
- 8:24world. On top of that, we imagined that
- 8:28his costume was somehow gleaned, partly because of his love of
- 8:33magic and maybe from a magician or magician type world, and also
- 8:39partly, although you can hardly see it now, but things like the
- 8:42lining of his coat are from North Africa.
- 8:45And, you know, we tried to just put little bits of stuff in
- 8:48there. And his scarves, well, his
- 8:50scarves is a whole other story. But anyway, his scarves were
- 8:53part of the magic trick that he's been trying to do, you
- 8:56know, he's been doing. And of course it goes wrong
- 8:59quite often in the end. And so he wears A scarf.
- 9:03So that's the way we kind of began to build up who he was and
- 9:06where his stuff had come from. And I think you could say that
- 9:10the origins of his coat, anyway, are certainly from some old
- 9:13magician somewhere along the line.
- 9:15And so it's called Pat. Maybe not the same person, but
- 9:19just that world. And then all his other clothes
- 9:22he's picked up, as he says. Now in the script the from a
- 9:26mailman from Minsk. His trousers came from, if you
- 9:31notice that, he said. The dog trousers.
- 9:34I did. I love all the little different
- 9:36notes in the costumes. And then he.
- 9:38Stopped probably by his mother years ago and his knitted
- 9:43beautiful. He's got a beautiful knitted
- 9:46waistcoat with buttons which has got really lovely hand pattern,
- 9:52you know, hand knitted patterns on it and different worked in
- 9:56colours and that. I'm sure his mother made that
- 9:59for him or maybe he's gone by and before he goes, you know, so
- 10:04that's how we approach the character.
- 10:06So I suppose, of course we all know because an iconic thing is
- 10:10something, we all know what it looks like, isn't it?
- 10:12That's what it means really. So we all know what it is, but
- 10:16the job is to try and find a way using, using what you know,
- 10:21using what you imagine, and then using the beautiful Timothy
- 10:25chalamet to to make a new thing. Watching may not even think it
- 10:31is a new thing, but to us and to Timothy and to Paul, it is a new
- 10:34thing, you know? Right.
- 10:36Of course. I felt like a whole, you know,
- 10:38brand new vision. It was very fun to get to know
- 10:41this whole new world. And for you, this is not your
- 10:45first time working with Paul King.
- 10:46Actually, nor is it your second time.
- 10:48So. I'd love to talk about your
- 10:52collaboration of director Paul King.
- 10:55I love to know more about that working relationship and how it
- 10:58translated into Wonka. Well, it's, it started with
- 11:04Paddington, obviously, and it's just like, I feel, he might say
- 11:09not, but I feel like Indian spirits meet, you know, one of
- 11:13those things, He loves fabric, he loves colour, he loves
- 11:17textiles, he loves textures and he loves people.
- 11:22And so that's like my perfect person, you know, my perfect
- 11:26world, really. And he's totally collaborative
- 11:30as I like to work in a totally collaborative way.
- 11:33And so does he. And he's willing to spend hours
- 11:36discussing the characters and you know, the actor that's going
- 11:39to play them and how they would, how they would be.
- 11:42And you know, he's he's really the most, he might be the most
- 11:46available or one of the most available directors that I've
- 11:50worked with. And I think he likes the world
- 11:52of costume because he loves, you know, his wife used to be a hat
- 11:55maker. She's an artist, a hat maker.
- 11:58He he he loves clothes, handmade and he loves, he just likes
- 12:03textiles. And so he's willing to come and
- 12:06look at what you're doing and to be involved in conversations
- 12:10about why you like something better than something else.
- 12:13And he he's just, he's willing to to accept your overview, you
- 12:19know, because you know what everyone's wearing at different
- 12:22times and extremely collaborative about the sets on
- 12:27where you're going to be. And so it's just, I mean, I
- 12:30sound like a lovey. My somebody told me yesterday,
- 12:33you sound like a lovey because you sound like you're just
- 12:35saying everybody's nice. But actually it is a beautiful
- 12:39working relationship and it is a beautiful circumstances.
- 12:42And every actor, it's almost like he only chooses lovely
- 12:46actors and the minute they come, they're infected by the same,
- 12:49you know, their end, the spirit enters them.
- 12:52So it this is fabulous. Anyway, I don't know if that's
- 12:55the answer to anything, but it is true.
- 12:59Yeah, no, I mean, I I feel like as an audience, you could kind
- 13:02of feel it watching this film and the other films you've done
- 13:05with Paul as well, that there's just a, there's a harmony to it
- 13:08where it just feels like everyone's happy to be there and
- 13:10a story is just joyous and positive.
- 13:13It's true though, it isn't true. Reflection of the energy that's
- 13:16going into it, I think, yeah. Well, let's dive a little bit
- 13:20more specifically into Wonka's signature look.
- 13:23We touched on it a little bit, but collaborating with Timothy
- 13:27to bring this iconic character to life where what was kind of
- 13:30your process in starting with the coat, the signature look?
- 13:35Well, actually, if I tell the truth, I had two coats.
- 13:40I had a red coat in mind and then I also had a a really,
- 13:45really vibrant green overcoat, long overhead, which I fancied
- 13:49as well. But it just didn't go in among
- 13:51everything. And so I suppose my main luck,
- 13:58good fortune or choices was that I had fabulous people in my
- 14:02team, you know, in every department.
- 14:04It was just a a marvellous thing.
- 14:07So I had a wonderful Dyer of fabrics and a printer of
- 14:10fabrics, and I had a wonderful woman who was embroidery, an
- 14:13embroidery. And so we bought his velvet, you
- 14:17know, for his coat. We all thought that velvet is
- 14:19the right, you know, velvet was the right thing.
- 14:22And also my thing about velvet as opposed to other things, was
- 14:25I felt like we could really light it in a magical way,
- 14:30whereas A flatter fabric other than satin, which I didn't think
- 14:33it could be, we wouldn't be able to give it a ping, you know, we
- 14:37wouldn't be able to make. I knew there were going to be
- 14:40visual effects, moments and things.
- 14:41We wouldn't be able to give it a sort of glow really.
- 14:44And it has a glow in some sense. And so our dire and textile
- 14:48printer, Michael, we bought the velvet and then he started
- 14:52dyeing it and we all looked at dye samples and dye samples
- 14:55until we got to the colour that we thought was it was a sort of
- 14:59pink cherry, you know, red kind of pink cherry, not really red
- 15:03kind of, yeah, cherry colour. I love that.
- 15:07Me. I loved it.
- 15:09I still. And then we discussed how to cut
- 15:13it, of course. So I had a really, really good
- 15:15cutters and they their requirement was to not make it
- 15:19look too period, because then he would end up looking like Darcy
- 15:25or somebody, you know had to be a sort of looseness to it.
- 15:29And also because Timothy's so physical, there had to be enough
- 15:33weight to it so that it would fly, I call it.
- 15:36It also had to be heavy enough not to be like you know fluffy a
- 15:40fluffy garment. So it's so he kind of that that
- 15:44was an important choice in the fabric and then the Dyer and
- 15:49breaker downer spent a lot of time we we cut all we've got the
- 15:55cutter to cut the panel pieces. Lucy Denny, she was called and
- 15:59once the panels were made, we worked out how to burn the the
- 16:04acid burn as it were, the velvet pile away so that where there
- 16:08were seams we would end up getting bald seams.
- 16:12You know, part of it, the velvet had gone because we wanted to be
- 16:16really old and have a sort of a previous life, a lot of previous
- 16:20life to it and also dirt and also you know, like in a part
- 16:25where your knees gone in through it or you've sat.
- 16:28So we put all that onto the panels and then they sewed it
- 16:31together. And then once it was sewn
- 16:33together, Oh yeah, we designed a fabric for the lining of the
- 16:39coat because in my absolute mind, my, my, I knew I felt that
- 16:44he was going to twirl, he was going to move.
- 16:47It was done a dance, you know, film with dancing in it.
- 16:50I wanted to see the the just the different fabric underneath,
- 16:54something interesting that looked like it had come from
- 16:57somewhere. So it was a sort of North
- 16:58African ecat print inside which we made which Michael printed.
- 17:04So slowly the thing got put together.
- 17:08And then once we'd put one together, we just then thought,
- 17:12Paul and me thought that it would be good if it had some
- 17:16sort of embroidery on it to make it a little bit more theatrical,
- 17:20magical, you know, as though it came from a theatrical or a
- 17:23magic magician Y kind of show background.
- 17:27So our Sarah, our embroiderer, who's a fantastic embroiderer,
- 17:32started to do samples of where we could put panels of
- 17:35embroidery and where we could put the embroidery.
- 17:38And then we pinned all them on and showed them to Paul and
- 17:40showed them to Timmy actually. And slowly that that was
- 17:45decided. It's a long process.
- 17:47I must. I know I have indulgence really
- 17:51to be able to have the time to do that.
- 17:54And then she started embroidering the panels.
- 17:58So every panel had to be made and worked on by the breaker
- 18:02downer and the dire and the distresser.
- 18:06Then all the panels were sent to the back to the cutter.
- 18:10So their team makers Oh no sorry.
- 18:12Then they were sent. The pieces that were needing
- 18:14embroidery were sent to the embroidery and then slowly they
- 18:18went back up to the to the be made in the workroom.
- 18:21So at some point you'd have seen like 5 identical coats in
- 18:27different stages of breaking down and wear hanging.
- 18:31And some of them look like they've been wetted hanging in
- 18:34the workroom and then they set about to make the the multiples
- 18:38of those five, if you like five. It's almost like a James Bond
- 18:43film, you know shot. He's got bullet holes.
- 18:45Is this the. But he had all this this work to
- 18:48do on him and so that was an ongoing process.
- 18:51And then as well, at the same time we started, well, I started
- 18:56looking at different reference pictures and different knitting
- 19:00patterns because I got into my head that his mother would have
- 19:04knitted him some stuff or his granny would have knitted some
- 19:07stuff on their in their life on the barge.
- 19:10And so slowly we come came up with all the components and by
- 19:16some sort of luck we found we didn't want to use ordinary
- 19:19shirt fabric. And I think Joe, my assistant,
- 19:23who is my right hand assistant woman, went off to a market in
- 19:27the north of England and there there was a man who'd been to
- 19:29China. This is how it makes it feel,
- 19:31great China. And he brought back loads and
- 19:35loads of handmade Chinese shirting fabrics, just woven
- 19:40from linen and cotton. And so we decided that we would
- 19:46use one of them as his undershirt because we see it
- 19:49quite often because it looks sort of, it's slightly stiff and
- 19:53not going to go into rumply creases.
- 19:55It looks a bit boxy and lineny, bit old, and we know enough of
- 20:00that fabric. So, Michael?
- 20:02The printer had. We had to get more of it plain,
- 20:05and then he had to print it to look identical to the ones that
- 20:09we'd made from the real fabric. And it was just a long and
- 20:13endless process while all the other costumes to get him done.
- 20:19But he was that he was kind of sorted out fairly, fairly early
- 20:23on. As they were being cast, we
- 20:25could move on to the other characters.
- 20:27The hat was a very, very complicated thing.
- 20:31Oh, I could imagine. Pictures.
- 20:34Tons of reference. We had a whole room of
- 20:36reference, a sort of workroom cum fitting room.
- 20:41And we I'd found a picture of a magician's hat that collapsed.
- 20:47You know that collapsible top hat And so I also found some
- 20:52pictures of the magicians of magicians hats where they had
- 20:56you know devils or demons or explosions painted on them.
- 21:01And so we thought, I thought we all right then let's go for a
- 21:04collapsible hat. And then I think in the script
- 21:07at one point they don't think it happens.
- 21:09Now his hat did collapse but I think we've we've not done that
- 21:13but it end up with painting on it.
- 21:15You can just see the sort of tracings of an explosion painted
- 21:19on the side. And we got the an older lady
- 21:26who's a famous famous lady called Jane Smith to make his
- 21:30hats for us. And it was endless, an endless
- 21:34process of hand making top hats for him and again making them in
- 21:39different degrees of battered. Some had to be perfect and some
- 21:42had to be broken down and some had been sat on, you know, it's
- 21:45that kind of feeling. So it just went on and on his
- 21:48costume. Man, that's interesting.
- 21:50How many hats do you think there?
- 21:53Were well, in fact, there had to be more hats because they had to
- 21:58be given to the props department.
- 21:59Because in one shot, which I actually don't think is in the
- 22:03film anymore, yes it is. He looks up through his hat and
- 22:07sees the Bleacher, the nasty Mr. Bleacher looking down at him.
- 22:11I think right. I remember lots of things that
- 22:14were in the script that Anthony Moore probably, But anyway, he
- 22:18had his top hat had not only to collapse, but it also had to
- 22:21open at the top. Right.
- 22:25Lots of things, but we had to make them for props to do things
- 22:27to as well. Man, most people think there's
- 22:31just one hat, but that seems to be never the case.
- 22:35And then we had lot. He had loads and loads of we the
- 22:38the fabrics watching. People went out and we wanted
- 22:42them to look in all kinds of obscure places to find really
- 22:46really thin cotton lawn so they could make his scarves But so
- 22:51they weren't bulky but that we could use a lot of fabric.
- 22:54So when he wants to do his tricks you believe that the
- 22:58scarves are really long and they can keep on coming out but then
- 23:01he winds around his neck. So she found some wonderful
- 23:06fabrics but one of the best things that was ever found.
- 23:09He wears quite a lot and it's got stars and lightning bolts
- 23:14and things on it. And it was an old, old Liberty,
- 23:16you know, Liberties of London is a famous, famous fabric shop in
- 23:21London. And it was an old, old piece of
- 23:25fabric, a bolt of fabric from Liberties of London which they'd
- 23:28got rid of. And it had ended up in a small
- 23:31place which is called Southall I think.
- 23:33Or yes, it was Wembley, it was. And in that shop they were
- 23:37selling off old pieces of all different designery fabrics.
- 23:41And by chance they got a brought about and I was like, that's
- 23:46absolutely fantastic because he has magic symbols on it.
- 23:50So that would became one of his main scarves.
- 23:54So it went on like that. But I think you'd have to say
- 23:57that the gods were with us, do you know what I mean?
- 23:59Right. Just kept getting hold of things
- 24:01that were really, really making the character feel like the
- 24:05character somehow, yeah. I got to tell you, the scarves I
- 24:08think were my favorite part. Just every time I'd see a
- 24:11different scarf, I was my favorite.
- 24:14And if you. Ask Ask at the end.
- 24:16Why does he have that yellow scarf on?
- 24:18If he's been in the chocolate, that's interesting, but actually
- 24:25he had been wearing it. But I thought that looks as if
- 24:29you never had it on before it. Happens I one of my favorite
- 24:36parts of the film was seeing all the colors, the prints, as we've
- 24:40been talking about the textiles and that seems like a very.
- 24:43Important part to your. Process as well as the overall
- 24:46film is the use of color. Yeah.
- 24:47So can you elaborate on that use for a little bit?
- 24:51Well first of all the the, the freedom, the key to the the to
- 24:56be allowed to use color is Paul is Paul King.
- 25:00He loves colour, he loves colour and he loves the look of colour
- 25:05on the screen. And so starting from that then
- 25:08you know you, you plan who has what colours.
- 25:11You know where do we use, what do we use in different areas and
- 25:14places. But the the the main fabulous
- 25:19thing was that we had the luxury not only to be able to hire
- 25:24crowd costumes from Spain, Italy, America, but we also had
- 25:29a rather large amount of money put by to make crowd costumes
- 25:33and hats. So we were able to.
- 25:36The Charlotte child was the assistant in charge of the crowd
- 25:40and she was able to pull in from all over the world things that
- 25:45we chose individually and they were brought, but at the same
- 25:50time we had a whole workroom making crowd costumes.
- 25:54And so because also because they were dancers, they had to have
- 25:57gussets and all, you know, they have to be able to move their
- 26:00arms above their heads and all of that kind of thing.
- 26:03So, so we were allowed, we were able to use colours that we
- 26:08wouldn't normally use because we could make things ourselves and
- 26:12we were allowed and able to use colour that didn't exist in the
- 26:15costume houses. And then we would back that
- 26:18colour up with stuff that we hired.
- 26:21So it got to be that we had a whole range of colours which
- 26:25have got still which what we allow, what we're allowed to use
- 26:30in the crowd. And then we could get Michael
- 26:32the dying room to dye wools that we bought.
- 26:35But make sure that we had the colours we wanted to use in them
- 26:39And then behind them or backing them up, we we would only hire
- 26:43things that would either frame those colours or be in the same
- 26:48world. So a lot of work and a wonderful
- 26:50hat maker. It was.
- 26:52It felt like a treat. I mean, like almost like a
- 26:54dessert, seeing all these together.
- 26:58I had the best teams of people. I eternally grateful to them
- 27:03that they were marked. They loved the costumes as much
- 27:06as as if they were the, you know, they were their costumes.
- 27:09They were there. They were just great, making
- 27:12sure everyone looked fabulous all the time.
- 27:15It's a lot of hard work, which leads me to my next character I
- 27:19want to talk about is Miss Scrubbit, who also goes through
- 27:22a lot of hard work. I'm a big Olivia Coleman fan,
- 27:26and she actually said a little quote.
- 27:29She said There was so much fun going for my first fitting with
- 27:32Lindy, the beautiful drawings of all the characters around the
- 27:35room read. That I wish I'd read that.
- 27:38It's in the press notes. I'll send it to you.
- 27:40She. Said the fabrics.
- 27:43The swatches is like going into incredible haberdashery.
- 27:46So tell me, what was it like working with Olivia on designing
- 27:52the Miss Scrubbit character? She was so funny, as she always
- 27:55is, of course. Well, first of all, my all of
- 27:59the reference stuff. I I didn't know who's going to
- 28:01be Missus scrubbit when I started, obviously.
- 28:03So all of the reference pictures I'd had got out were of, you
- 28:08know, fat land ladies and awful washer women and people with
- 28:12boats and teeth, strange teeth, and, you know, really kind of
- 28:16basically really kind of ugly and nasty people.
- 28:20And so then I started to draw from them and I did draw.
- 28:24I haven't got them with me today.
- 28:25I've only got the end drawings, but sort of draw these pictures
- 28:29and show her them and think, I wonder if she's going to leave
- 28:31now. Anyway, she loved it because
- 28:35she's a consummate mad, mad woman.
- 28:37She just loved it. And what the thing was is that
- 28:43every fabric, I'd say 99% of everything she wears was made
- 28:49for a start and we printed. Nearly everything that she wears
- 28:55was either hand knitted or hand printed.
- 28:58But everything was made and our printer printed.
- 29:02You know, wonderful sort of 1930s, but a dress, fabrics, but
- 29:07in unusual colours like lilacs and acid greens and things.
- 29:11And then everything when it's made.
- 29:14Then we washed it and dipped it so that it didn't look new,
- 29:16obviously. So all of her costumes and she's
- 29:19got quite a few, especially the kimono.
- 29:22I don't know if you remember when she's with the biggest
- 29:25bosoms in the she, it's all handmade and it's all hand
- 29:32printed. And I so love her costumes.
- 29:37That's that's when people think, you know you get costume designs
- 29:41and people think all of it is when you do period questions
- 29:44with bustles and ruffles and silk and everything, that's,
- 29:47those are my favorite questions. Olivia Coleman kind of costumes
- 29:51and really all the costumes in the film are, you know that kind
- 29:55of hyper, real, ordinary people's things.
- 29:58But I loved her. I love her stuff.
- 30:03It was terrific. It was very immersive in a way,
- 30:06where you felt you've kind of felt like the dirt and the grime
- 30:08of it all when you were in. Their watch.
- 30:11House, you know, there's not many actresses that you can get
- 30:14them to wear a big padding, you know, and struck the body
- 30:17underneath and they come out of the fitting room and they go,
- 30:20yeah, I don't know if you can see me or yeah I don't know if
- 30:23you can see me or only hear me. But she she's came out and went
- 30:27Oh yes. They're like, I love, I love
- 30:30this, and then build costumes over the top of that.
- 30:35Wow, it's so. Fun.
- 30:38So she was. Anyway, she's a real, you know,
- 30:41she's a a fantastic person anyway, isn't she?
- 30:46And just to wrap up, what do you hope the audience will take away
- 30:49from Wonka through the costumes and just the film overall
- 30:54kindness? To other people, humanity, the
- 30:59behave in your behaviour towards how you should maintain your
- 31:04humanity and kindness in the face of all kinds of horrible
- 31:08things that happen. Laughter, a joy in the magical
- 31:15world, you know. Joy a joy for children in a
- 31:17magic to see a magical world. And adults really, Which is very
- 31:21similar to what I'd say about Paddington anyway, you know.
- 31:25But I think that the most biggest thing is, you know, the
- 31:29the, the all overwhelming sort of way that kindness wins out.
- 31:34You know, being kind to people and being, you know, having fun
- 31:38and and singing and dancing and joy wins out in the film.
- 31:43I think that's what I would hope.
- 31:44And of course I hope they like the costumes.
- 31:47But I think the sets, Nathan Crowley's sets, are just
- 31:51unbelievable. When you think that all of those
- 31:54exteriors, you know, where they're in the street with the
- 31:57pillars going around and everything and the pretend front
- 32:00of Saint Paul's Cathedral, they're all made.
- 32:02Everything's made. Every interior's made, every
- 32:05everything's made. And you just think they've gone
- 32:09and filmed in bath or, you know, somewhere.
- 32:12No. And all those, you know, where
- 32:13the chocolate is and where the room with the big, huge,
- 32:17enormous door that opens the vaults, all that's all it was.
- 32:21All made. Everything.
- 32:23Wow. Yeah.
- 32:24That's fascinating. I it was such a fun, positive
- 32:28experience. And I've the whole time had a
- 32:30smile across my face. And a big part of that was the
- 32:33storytelling through the costumes and of course, the set.
- 32:35So costume designer Lindy Hemming, thank you so much for
- 32:38talking with me. This has been wonderful.
- 32:40Thank you for talking to me, and thank you for being
- 32:42knowledgeable about what you were talking about.
- 32:44Oh, well, thank you. The Art of Costume podcast is
- 32:53hosted and produced by Elizabeth Joy Glass and Spencer Williams.
- 32:58Our audio engineering and editing is done by Dan White.
- 33:02Follow us on TikTok at The Art of Costume and Instagram at The
- 33:07Art of Costume Pod. If you want to support the show,
- 33:11go to theartofcostume.com/podstore.
- 33:15For more podcast updates, costume reviews, deep dives and
- 33:20interviews, go to theartofcostume.com, A blog
- 33:25dedicated to highlighting the best in costume design.