Latest / The Art of Costume Podcast / Nosferatu with Costume Designer, Linda Muir

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Nosferatu with Costume Designer, Linda Muir · The Art of Costume Podcast

0:05
Hello, welcome to the Art of Costume podcast.
0:08
I'm your host, Spencer Williams, and thank you so much for
0:12
joining me for another bonus episode.
0:15
I just want to be real if you all for a second before we get
0:19
into this week's special episode with Linda Meer to talk about
0:23
Nosferatu. It's been a long week here at
0:27
The Art of Costume. As many of you know, today we're
0:30
supposed to be the premiere of our first video episode in a new
0:33
studio. And we actually did record that
0:37
episode. But, you know, we still have to
0:39
work out some kinks. We're having some lightning
0:42
issues, camera issues. But nonetheless, before we could
0:46
reshoot the episode hoping to premiere today, Los Angeles was
0:51
hit by these catastrophic fires. The Palisades fires, the Sunset
0:55
Fire in Hollywood, and of course, the Eaton Fire in
0:58
Altadena. And when the fires kicked off,
1:02
it was horrific. We lost power.
1:05
The winds were at levels that I've never experienced in my
1:09
life. Very large trees are falling
1:11
down on our street, landing on houses and cars.
1:16
And we can see to glow the fire from our window because it's
1:18
just, I mean, it was just down the street and we were in the
1:21
evacuation warning zone. Actually, as I'm recording this,
1:24
we are still in the evacuation warning zone.
1:28
You know, luckily, we are safe and not currently in danger, and
1:33
I'm very thankful for that. But however, that is not the
1:36
case for everyone. Countless families have lost
1:39
their homes throughout Los Angeles, and it's just
1:42
absolutely heartbreaking. And there's one family I want to
1:46
point out that includes someone who is so near and dear to me
1:50
and everyone here at The Art of Costume who has been a big
1:53
supporter of this podcast since the beginning.
1:56
Costume designer Jennifer May Nichol, who is a costume
1:59
designer on Gotham Nights, she was on a podcast sometime last
2:03
year. And her husband, JP, they both
2:06
lost their home in Altadena this week.
2:09
And this tragedy could not have happened to two kinder people,
2:14
two people that many people in this industry look up to, from
2:18
designers, costumers, writers, actors, producers.
2:23
It's devastating. Just a few months ago, Jen threw
2:26
the. Best House of the.
2:27
Dragon Finale watch party at her home.
2:30
And I was just obsessed with it. We had such a good time and it's
2:33
just hard for me to believe that that space we were just in a few
2:36
months ago is now gone. Jen and I, we did Comic Con
2:41
together this year. We go to screenings a lot for
2:44
this podcast. So she's been a real partner and
2:47
the destruction out there is just unfathomable.
2:50
And I know there are a lot of people that need help, but if
2:52
you're able to, there is a GoFundMe set up for Jennifer and
2:55
JP. Please consider donating to
2:58
support them during this difficult time.
3:00
Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a
3:03
difference. And I will be linking that
3:05
GoFundMe in the show notes below.
3:08
If you're on YouTube or in Spotify, Apple Podcast, you
3:11
should be able to find in the description.
3:13
And as the weeks unfold, Please note that our hearts are with
3:16
everyone who's been impacted by these fires and that everyone
3:19
here at The Art of Costume will do anything to support our
3:22
costume and film slash TV community out there.
3:27
Also to show notes and social media.
3:29
I'll be posting resources for our film TV costume community
3:32
out here in LA for all those impacted by the fires.
3:35
It's all happening a bit fast, admittedly, so I'm not sure what
3:39
they'll look like quite yet, whether it's a link tree or a
3:42
spreadsheet, but it'll be there and likely on our website,
3:46
Discord, social media channels, everywhere, I can put it.
3:50
Our hearts are with you all. This has been an absolutely
3:54
devastating week. We're here for you.
3:57
Whatever we can do to help, please message us and we love
4:01
you all. But now to this week's episode.
4:04
We're talking about film that has been absolutely going crazy
4:07
for the costume nerds. One that everyone's been asking,
4:09
when's that episode going to come out?
4:11
We're talking about none other than Nosferatu.
4:14
And thankfully, just a few weeks ago, before the films released,
4:18
I was joined by costume designer Linda Meer to get into all of
4:22
the crazy, absolutely beautiful costumes of this film.
4:27
But before. We play the interview.
4:28
Here's a quick summary. In the 1830s, estate agent
4:32
Thomas Hutter travels to Transylvania for a fateful
4:36
meeting with Count Orloc, a prospective client.
4:39
In his absence, Hutter's new bride, Ellen is left under the
4:42
care of their friends Friedrich and Anna Harding.
4:46
Plagued by horrific. Visions and an increasing sense
4:49
of dread. Ellen soon encounters an evil
4:51
force that's far beyond her control, and that is Nosferatu,
4:56
which was of course directed by one of my new favorites, Robert
5:00
Eggers. Now to me, your costume
5:02
designer. The costumes for Nosferatu were
5:04
designed by Lynn Amir, who you will know her work from the
5:07
witch. The lighthouse for which?
5:09
She won a Calf Cat Award, the Northmen and now Nosferatu,
5:13
which is nominated for a CDGA and a Critics Choice Award and I
5:18
hope soon an Oscar. I'm just going to be real about
5:21
that. I'm so.
5:22
Happy I got to spend some time with Linda.
5:24
I actually saw her at Universal Studios just a few weeks after
5:28
she recorded the witch episode. With us for our. 2024 spooky
5:32
season and I got to see the costumes in person and they were
5:35
just absolutely spectacular. And I will not lie, these
5:39
costumes and this movie. Were.
5:41
Probably some of my favorites of the year, right next to Dune
5:44
Part 2 and Wicked. So please enjoy this interview.
5:48
Also, we will announce soon our new Season 5 premiere date from
5:51
our new studio. We are working out some kinks
5:54
like I said, but we are looking forward to hopefully being back
5:56
in January with new episodes together.
5:59
So, costume nerds. Take care of yourselves, we love
6:02
you and enjoy Nosferatu. Hi, I'm Dan who does all the
6:10
magic behind the scenes. I wanted to say thank you.
6:13
And if you want to support the show even farther, go to
6:16
tpublic.com/user slash the Art of Costume where you can buy a
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couple variations of our logo on T-shirts, mugs and stickers.
6:28
Also, be sure to leave a like comment and subscribe.
6:31
And if you're an audio listener, leave us a five star review on
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Apple Podcast. Now back to the show.
6:43
Well, let's get into Nosferatu. I only have a little bit of time
6:46
and like 1,000,000 questions and I know you're such like a
6:49
detailed researcher, so I hope we could get through all.
6:52
Of it, but let's. Start from the beginning.
6:55
I want to, before we get to like the nuance of this film, I
6:57
really want to talk about the collaboration of you and.
6:59
Robert Eggers, which, you know, we just talked about.
7:02
The other day about the the witch, how did that first
7:06
conversation between you and Robert go about Nosferatu?
7:09
Because we've now done witches, sea monsters, dragger, Bjork, I
7:15
mean, you know, like, so now we're doing vampires.
7:17
So how did that conversation go? Well, the first conversation,
7:21
it's happened a couple times because we had a, a couple of
7:24
starts, but most recently and, and to completion, you know,
7:30
the, the, that conversation would have been informed by, you
7:34
know, previous conversations. And so we start always with
7:38
reading. So it's text based.
7:40
It's, it's the, you know, reading Bram Stoker's Dracula
7:44
again and, you know, reading every book I can get my hands on
7:50
about the period, about the places.
7:54
It was a bit more difficult. Actually, it was a lot more
7:56
difficult in for this film, you know, researching the
8:02
information that was about the Romanian characters and places,
8:07
for instance the inn and all of the particular people that are
8:11
in the inn. We chose the Transylvanian
8:15
county of Hunidora to locate the inn.
8:18
And so that meant very particular things about
8:22
headdresses. It made the choice of what kind
8:25
of embroidery to do, hand embroidery to do on the
8:28
clothing, what kind of shoes they would wear.
8:32
And so, you know, all of that starts with the script.
8:38
Then you start to think, OK, we need more information about
8:42
exactly, you know, where is Thomas travelling to?
8:45
Where does he go after he jumps out of the castle window and is
8:49
washed downstream and is found by the convent nuns.
8:52
Where is that convent? You know, neither Robert nor I
8:58
Reed or write Romanian and so the research for those
9:03
characters was very difficult. And and so that was when we
9:07
would say when we do reach out to actual historians or, you
9:13
know, people that can translate these things.
9:15
So, you know, as you go along and you get deeper and deeper
9:19
and deeper into prep and you have to start producing costume
9:24
pieces, then you really do need to know very specifically what
9:28
it is that you need to design. So, you know, that always goes
9:33
by those questions always go back to Robert and he always has
9:36
answers. You know, he has always has a
9:38
very clear idea of how he wants to proceed.
9:41
And and that's so rare and and, you know, very inspiring.
9:46
You know, he sets his bar really high and you know, we by turn
9:50
have bars that are set very high for us.
9:52
And so we ended up being really rewarding.
9:55
I I have this quote here from Aaron Taylor Johnson and he
9:59
said. I love this quote.
10:00
Linda is the perfect person for Robert because she too has that
10:04
extreme eye for detail and loves nothing more than to.
10:07
Dive into the. Historical facts and research
10:10
and you know, I know this be very true from talking with you.
10:13
So before. We get into like the actual
10:15
costumes, the town where a lot of this takes place, where Ellen
10:21
is living throughout this nightmare.
10:23
I'm curious to know a little bit more where this film is set in
10:26
and what sort of research kind of comes along with it.
10:29
Yeah, so it's so. Robert has set the contemporary
10:34
part of his Nosferatu in the fictitious town of our fictional
10:39
town of Vizburg. We modeled it on Lubeck, which
10:44
is in Germany. And it would also be true, I
10:46
think, to say that like the secondary locations and the
10:51
tertiary locations that the story is set in, you know, the
10:55
borders of these places, depending on when you're looking
10:59
at them in history change. You know, so the, the the
11:05
Germany of the period 1838, which is when Robert set the
11:09
film is a part of the Enhancy Attic League.
11:13
You know, it has very specific military, it uniforms, It has
11:17
very specific like we have hospital scenes.
11:20
We have, you know, attendants who are dealing with the knock.
11:27
There are all sorts of of costuming even not even for the
11:31
just the principal characters, you know, that needed to be
11:33
researched. And but for the menswear, I
11:37
tried to include the idea that yes, we have beautiful French
11:44
illustrations. We have great English
11:48
illustrations for men's and women's wear.
11:51
But I was really keen to get my hands on German fashion plates.
11:56
And there was a particular magazine, the name of it has
11:59
slipped my mind, but you know, I, I don't speak German.
12:04
And so I was constantly reaching out to people saying, could you
12:07
go to the library and find this, this particular journal that has
12:12
fashion plates in it? And these are the years that I'm
12:14
interested in, years and months up to 1838.
12:19
And I got a few issues that were after that so that I would know
12:24
not to include those. And so there is hopefully a a
12:29
very specific German feel to it that also was enhanced by
12:37
looking at illustrations and looking at paintings and, you
12:41
know, looking at the kinds of characters that we had, like for
12:44
instance, the cattle herders, we did a very specific German
12:48
cattle herder hat that is is featured in the street scene.
12:51
You know, so there were there were hopefully when you put in
12:54
enough of the small details collectively that gives you, you
12:58
know, the overriding look of the piece with the women's wear it,
13:03
it is the style details are very specific. 1838 is this kind of
13:12
odd little pocket where the sleeves, which in the early
13:17
1830s would have been your massive gigot sleeves, you know,
13:21
they, they become pared down. They're still quite large, but
13:24
they're, they're pared down. They're starting, the forearm is
13:28
starting to move toward what you will see later in the in the
13:31
1840s and 50s. But, you know, to try and not
13:35
get the shape of the bonnet changes, you know, to try and
13:38
not get anything, not to have anything in the film that is
13:44
anachronistic. Obviously things can be earlier
13:47
and and earlier for good reason. You know, I tried to design
13:51
Anna's costumes, for instance, at being up-to-the-minute, you
13:54
know, so they are like fashion plates and they are completely
13:58
accessorized. The bonnets and the headpieces
14:02
were so much fun to design and and fit.
14:07
You know, they were heaven. So all the jewelry is is is
14:12
created for the characters and on very specific references.
14:17
The shoes and boots were a real learning curve because it really
14:21
is the beginning of, you know, footwear that becomes more it's
14:27
very delicate, but it it, it's not the easiest footwear to
14:30
wear. You know, there isn't a big
14:32
heel. There isn't, you know, it's very
14:33
flat. You know it, it's the you have
14:37
to research really basically everything from the skin out and
14:40
then because we are going for such a specific look, we end up
14:45
having to make most of what we need because there aren't the
14:49
rentals that are the also that specific.
14:52
Yeah. I mean, like you mentioned, it's
14:54
a really unique time because it's kind of, you know, it's not
14:57
Regency, it's not Victorian. It's a really an era that's not
15:00
really on screen all that much. So you're not going to get.
15:03
All this. At a costume, yeah, well, you're
15:06
the 1st, but there's not like costume houses where you can
15:09
really find a lot of this stuff, so of course you have to build
15:12
most of it. I want to now.
15:14
Have talk about Lily Rose Depp who plays.
15:16
Ellen, who really is the heart of the story, You know, she.
15:20
Really goes through such. Harrowing psychological sexual
15:26
terror. This.
15:27
I mean, I just, I really feel for her throughout this entire
15:29
film. But Even so, Lily Rose Depp
15:32
mentioned that the costumes were a dream to wear.
15:35
So I love to hear your. Approach to Ellen's.
15:37
Character because you really see this story are kind of move
15:42
along with her character as you know it's kind of bright colours
15:45
and gets more muted and then at one point we're just wearing all
15:48
black in this film so. Well, I think that you know
15:52
Ellen's character. This is an aspect that is unique
15:57
to Robert's idea of the story of Nosferatu.
16:02
You know, here's Ellen has a back story.
16:05
She has a connection from childhood to this otherworldly
16:09
character, this demon, this vampire.
16:13
And, and it's apparent from the setting that she is from a
16:17
family of money and that when she marries Hutter and she is a
16:22
young wife, she's completely content to not have, you know, a
16:27
lot of different changes or a lot of different clothing or
16:29
made to help her dress or, you know, it's really Thomas that
16:33
wants all of that for her. And so, you know, to plot.
16:38
And I'm, and I do do very detailed and very thought
16:43
through costume plots. And I, and in consultation with
16:48
Robert, because, because he's written the script and because
16:51
he's embedded so many of these visuals in, if not in the
16:55
script, in his mind writing the script, you know, I, I always
16:59
check with him, you know, in terms of, you know, when, when
17:03
I'm figuring out how many costumes I'm designing, I'm
17:06
starting with the plot, you know, and I and and that is that
17:11
develops over time, pardon me, into a document that it has to
17:17
include how many multiples. You know, she's going to RIP
17:20
open her body as well. You know, what do we think about
17:22
that? He's going to fall out, you
17:24
know, of a castle window. How does he get to that point?
17:28
You know, he's going to be, you know, he's going to escape
17:32
without clothing from the convent, can't ride away naked.
17:37
What is he going to be wearing when he arrives?
17:40
You know, it's not going to be him.
17:41
It's going to be a stunt rider La La, you know what I mean?
17:43
Like it's it's all of that information, which hopefully no
17:48
one actually thinks about when they're watching the film.
17:51
You know, they're they're watching the film.
17:53
The audience is watching the film and it's all making sense,
17:55
but it's getting to the point of it making sense.
17:58
That is, you know, a, a large part of, of the, the sort of
18:02
early prep, you know, Robert is involved in in all of that.
18:06
If there's something that some particular detail that I, you
18:10
know, I'm not quite sure about, you know for sure, I can go to
18:12
him and say, you know, so tell me more, you know, you know, so
18:17
that's the kind of conversations that I have with him and, and
18:21
it's ongoing and it's ongoing into the last day of your shoot.
18:26
And that collaboration with Lily, though, I mean, she wears
18:30
some really quite beautiful things, even though she's going
18:33
through some, really. Tough times, I actually.
18:35
There was a moment I saw this film with a bunch of costume
18:38
designers and costume crew, and there's a moment where the
18:41
doctors talking about, you know, you got tighten up the corset or
18:44
loosen it up to help, you know, help her with her night terrors.
18:47
And everyone in the audience busted up laughing because we
18:50
all know that's hilarious, but they're dead serious so.
18:54
Here's. About your collaboration.
18:55
With Yeah, well, you know, it's it's, I mean, all of all of
18:59
Ellen's clothing was meant to portray the kind of young woman
19:04
that she was, that the the social status, her taste, her
19:09
the fact that, you know, she doesn't care if she wears the
19:11
same dress several times. One costume detail that I
19:17
absolutely loved, which unfortunately didn't, didn't end
19:21
up making it into the film. But you know, the dress that
19:23
that Lily Rose wears first at home when she receives the
19:26
massive bouquet of lilacs from Hutter.
19:29
That dress has long sleeves, very detailed sleeves.
19:34
What I learnt in researching the period was that women would have
19:39
dresses made with detachable sleeves and that meant that they
19:44
could use that dress in more circumstances.
19:48
It's, you know, for some people phenomenally expensive to have
19:51
these dresses made at the time. And so if you can get more
19:54
mileage out of a out of an outfit, then that's great.
19:57
And so we had a scene. Where Ellen is at the Harding
20:02
residence and she's in her own room and she's, she has the
20:05
wedding dress and she's out of a chest and she's missing Thomas
20:10
terribly. And, and so I chose to to make
20:14
the dress with detachable sleeves.
20:17
And you see the sleeves are hanging over her dressing screen
20:20
in the background. Tiny small point, you know, But
20:23
it was kind of like, oh, wow, that's kind of interesting.
20:27
You know, with with Ellen's character, you know, she goes
20:32
through definitely this journey that is much more in your mind
20:36
and her and, and, and she's being terrorized and she lives
20:39
in terror of what will happen to Thomas.
20:41
And and so she's not thinking about dressing.
20:45
She's doing the bare minimum of what society requires and then
20:49
anything that we see her in, which is totally plot driven,
20:55
which is like for instance the corset over the nightgown.
20:59
With that corset, I found an example of what's called a
21:03
family corset. I've been calling it a self
21:06
tying corset, but it kind of sounds like the corset ties
21:08
itself and that's not what I intend.
21:11
So. You know, it's obviously
21:12
obviously the wearer that tightens it themselves.
21:17
But what that particular style and design of corset gave Robert
21:22
was that when Ellen is in the throes of communing with Orlok
21:29
and and, and Sivers and Harding are trying to make, you know,
21:34
male sense of this, they choose to tighten her corset.
21:39
Well, if she wasn't wearing the particular style of corset that
21:42
she is, she'd be face down on the bed.
21:44
Whereas this corset, because it could be tightened from the
21:47
front, means that we can see all of her pain and her convulsions,
21:52
and we can see the man imposing their will on her.
21:58
So that's a really happy example of research and and need kind of
22:02
coming together in a really great way.
22:04
Yeah. That's that's extraordinary.
22:07
And yeah, it's one of my favorite parts of the entire
22:10
film. It's just so great to see that
22:11
corset front of front because you never, ever see that.
22:15
Something I'm very excited to talk about is, of course, Count
22:19
Orlock, who is just absolutely horrifying, Robert Eggers said
22:24
about Orlock. The Folk vampire is not a suave
22:27
dinner coat wearing, seducer sparkling hero.
22:32
The folk vampire bodies, disease, death and sex in the
22:36
base, brutal in unforgiving way, which I thought was really
22:40
exciting because you know, when we think about vampires, of
22:42
course, like I'm obsessed with the Ishioka Brahm, Stoker's
22:45
Dracula, which is very. Extravagant.
22:47
Warlock is not that, he is a guy and you.
22:49
Know it's, it's a different version of it's a different
22:55
experience that the costuming is gorgeous.
22:57
It's, it's beautiful. But what Robert is always very
23:01
interested in is, is something more terrifying.
23:04
If you can believe that it's real, if you can believe that
23:07
people actually are out, you know, walking around in, in, in
23:12
these particular garments. And so, you know, the research
23:16
was centered around Transylvanian slash Hungarian
23:22
count from around 1580. So he's 300 years, you know,
23:29
before he's like a young vital person 300 years before our
23:36
story is set. And you know, he's obscured for
23:42
the beginning of the film for good reason.
23:44
He doesn't want Hunter to know that he's a rotting vampire.
23:48
And so he hides in his within the, the size of his mente, you
23:55
know, the, the size of that, that cloak, which is an outer
23:58
coat, which is meant to do a couple of things.
24:01
It's meant to evoke the shape of the collar and the kind of size
24:08
of Mac Shrek of a vampire in a Cape.
24:12
It's not a shiny black satin Cape, but it is a cloak.
24:16
It's a coat with long, super long, you know, sleeves.
24:20
You saw it at the display, but it's worn as a cloak.
24:24
And it's this kooky, crazy cultural reality of the period
24:29
which extends out into shepherds.
24:31
You know, when I with the more research I did, they're like,
24:33
oh, wow, this is really interesting.
24:36
You know, we, we see the same silhouette on shepherds and we
24:39
see this, you know, on the Romanian man.
24:43
They, they develop from being sheepskin cloaks to being these
24:47
sheepskin coats with super long sleeves, never intended to be
24:50
worn with their arms through the sleeves.
24:53
But it's this kind of presentational coat, you know,
24:56
and they and they have these, the, the very wealthy of the
25:00
counts. They have these incredible
25:02
dolmans underneath and these sashes and, you know, overlays
25:06
of incredible metallic lace and buttons that are to die for.
25:10
And, you know, so it's all a very presentational origin.
25:16
Whereas what Warlock is doing is he's like kind of shrinking into
25:21
it all and he's hiding within it and he's, you know, and, and his
25:25
huge coal pack hot. You can imagine when he was a
25:27
young man, it would have been a completely different way of
25:31
wearing it. But now he's hiding his the
25:35
reality of his 300 year old head, you know?
25:39
Yeah, I mean, I, my gosh, I didn't even think of that.
25:41
That he's literally hiding himself within it too.
25:43
Because he's. You know, he's not getting the
25:46
glamour side of previous vampires that we know in the
25:48
past. I'd want to ask.
25:51
You about. The aging and dying of these
25:54
costumes I mean you know we talked about this with the witch
25:57
like obviously there's a lot of blood these costumes go through
26:01
hell and back I mean there's feces there's blood that there's
26:05
so many rats I. Mean.
26:08
Your your poor costumes. How did your crew get through
26:11
all of these? Well, in terms of the actual
26:14
breakdown, Savannah Sacco was our lead textile artist and she
26:19
was amazing in terms of, you know, the care and the and the
26:23
and you know, we did it in stages in terms of bringing
26:27
Orlocks costuming into the decrepitude that you see and
26:30
feel in terms of all of the crowd scenes where you have Roma
26:36
and you have villagers and, and, and, you know, none of that
26:40
clothing was to look pristine. It all, it all had a story to
26:44
tell. You know, really there wasn't
26:46
much even in the new clothing that you know, where we
26:50
particularly at Hunter's clothing, you know, his his
26:52
travelling outfit, he has very few changes within that a
26:56
waistcoat here. You know, he has he the idea was
26:59
that he would have packed additional linen, but not, you
27:04
know, a number of different waist coats, for instance, or he
27:07
would have had maybe 2 or it was very limited what he had in that
27:10
little sack that little and on set.
27:15
I mean, you know, the, the our check on set crew were
27:19
phenomenal. You know, they made everything
27:22
appear fresh and perfect each time.
27:26
And I don't mean fresh and perfect like ironed or whatever.
27:29
I mean, like, you know, what it was meant to look like at, at
27:31
when we in the world. Yeah, exactly.
27:34
Perfectly disgusting. And you know, it, it it was it
27:38
was cold, it was wet, it was night.
27:42
Things were heavy. You know, Bill's, Bill's cloak
27:44
is very heavy and yet you know, they were always there to, to
27:47
lift the weight and take it off, cool them down, put it back on,
27:50
go again. So you could look at the film
27:53
and you could say it's a beautiful film.
27:57
To me, it's beautiful for so many different reasons.
28:00
It's, it's not just the, the, the amount of detail or, you
28:05
know, the delicate accessories or the bonnets.
28:10
It's the fact that also, you know, there, there is this
28:14
clothing that is that you don't see, you know, like the ethnic
28:17
clothing of the, of the Romanian villagers or, or the Roma.
28:23
You know, we tried to do a version of Roma that was perhaps
28:26
more accurate to what a nomadic group of people would have been
28:32
like, could collect things as they go and to not necessarily
28:37
do or, or actually definitely not do a, a, a later version of
28:43
Roma that is maybe, you know, more popular.
28:49
So hopefully it's beautiful to people because they look at it
28:51
and they go, oh, that's interesting.
28:55
But it informs the story. You know, it doesn't sort of
28:58
stick out and and seem extraneous.
29:02
Well, I think it's beautiful, like you said, for so many
29:04
reasons. And most of that to me is to
29:06
realism and how, you know, this just feels between you and
29:10
Robert, you just really have this really niche for making
29:13
such horrifying folk tales feel so realistic, which makes even
29:16
more horrifying and one aspect to it, which you've really
29:19
become a master of this. But these costumes that are
29:22
being lit essentially by candlelight, you know, like goat
29:25
sheds or. Well, you can thank Karen for
29:27
that. He's he, You know, if Robert
29:31
sets the the aesthetic at a high bar, Jaron sets the lighting
29:36
needs and how to figure that out for Craig, you know, he's in the
29:39
same, he's in the same difficult boat.
29:42
It is. And, and Robert and and Jaron,
29:46
they storyboard and devise shots that are very unique and
29:52
economical in that they cover a lot of text, a lot of story, a
29:57
lot of plot. And, and you don't have a lot of
30:01
different angles. They're not cutting away to a
30:04
medium shot or a close up or, you know, they're, they're
30:06
telling the story in these very measured ways.
30:09
And, you know, that can be, that can be quite fraught for us
30:14
because, you know, for, for Craig and I, because, you know,
30:17
there are other, there's other information there, but at the
30:20
end of the day, it is the story that they're telling, you know,
30:25
So yes, low light levels. I've, I've had to learn to
30:30
figure that out. And, and I certainly haven't
30:33
done it on my own because, you know, there, there's all the
30:35
support of Robert and, and, and Craig and Jaron for sure.
30:39
But then also once they go into the editing room, you know,
30:42
Louise Ford, Robert's editor is, is, you know, very conscious of
30:47
how these things go together and how the scenes obviously go
30:50
together and, and, and how the story is progressing.
30:53
But then, you know, they'll tweak, they'll tweak in in post
30:56
as well. And that can be heart wrenching.
31:02
But in the end, after amount of time passes and then you see it,
31:05
you go, Oh my God, this is so affecting so.
31:10
Well, costume is on your Lindemir.
31:12
This has been so fun. I love this film.
31:14
It's a brilliant film and I can't wait for everyone to see
31:16
it. It's so good and I love your
31:18
costumes and I love talking. With you.
31:20
So thank you. Thank you.