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While she is perhaps best known for her work on epic period films in collaboration with Robert Zemeckis and pro- ducer Steven Spielberg, Johnston's oeuvre has been diverse in every imaginable way. Following 1997's Contact, Johnston was approached to do Saving Private Ryan; to her own considerable amusement in hindsight, she thought was that it would be a fairly easy project. "Just a film of uniforms." But in fact, the project would end up being a baptism by fire. Military costumer David Crossman was a huge asset to her, ensuring that the most meticulous details of the uniforms for all of the military units were represented flawlessly. Another challenge were scheduled changes which required that all of the big battle scenes, in particular, the D-Day invasion, originally slated for the end of the production, be moved first up on the shooting schedule; it was Spielberg's idea to set the tone at the outset. That experience set her on good footing for the equally epic War Horse and Lincoln a few years later, though each presented its own new set of difficulties. In addition to the inherent differences between the First and Second World Wars, the added diversity of troops and locations throughout Europe featured in War Horse demanded even more extensive research than usual. Through a turn of circumstance, the lead up to the formal start of prep on Lincoln took over two years, giving Johnston an unusually long period to meditate upon the script and plan the budget. The head start proved to be a godsend, she explains, "When the trigger was fired, we were already four blocks from the starting point. It was a huge advantage because normally you start a film and all you do is read the script. You haven't done the budget. You haven't done all the breakdowns. It was luck with Lincoln because it was so massive. It had quite a lot of financial restraints. We had to be quite canny about how we were going to do it. "I think Lincoln was probably the toughest of them all, but it was probably the most thrilling I would say… I had really strong need to do the right thing. I think I was consciously aware of not being American, and in dealing with such a big American subject matter, you feel this really strong sense of obligation, really trying to get it right, in the same way as when you do military. I feel a sense of duty in a way. You kind of whip yourself a bit harder. Steven [Spielberg] has developed this quite strong group. We know each other quite well, and everybody had that extremely tight and dedicated trying to get it as best as it could be." She is quick to also credit her team, "But you're only as good as [the team around you]. I had an extraordinary team working with me in Virginia. They were everything, really. You have the vision, the goal, and it's just the people that can jump along with you on the ride. Marrying your ideas and your creativity." Lincoln earned Johnston her first Oscar and BAFTA nominations, as well as her second CDG Award nomi- nation (her first was for Excellence in Contemporary Film for 2002's About a Boy). Last year's Allied pro- duced her second Oscar and BAFTA nominations. Johnston just wrapped principal photography on Robert Zemeckis' latest project (current work- ing title The Women of Marwen). In a throwback to Roger Rabbit, Johnston found herself designing both live-action humans and the miniature occupants of Marwencol, a one-sixth-scale model of an imaginary World War II-era Belgian town. "It was pretty amazing … designing for dolls in a kind of half-doll and half- human story of enormous magnitude based on a true story. Who thought that dolls would be so interesting or so difficult? I was never really interested in dolls when I was young, so this was a really interesting new challenge for me ... all these tiny, fiddly little details and figuring out the scale." Of his working relation- ship with Johnston, Mr. Zemeckis says, "Working with Joanna is always a wonderful, creative adventure." With yet another project starting up January, it is safe to say that we will be enjoying more of Ms. Johnston's artistry for a long time to come. 28 The Costume Designer Winter 2018 Saving Private Ryan. Photo: DreamWorks Pictures.