CDG - The Costume Designer

Winter 2018

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Meeting and working with the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci and his producer Jeremy Thomas was the high- light of my career. I was lucky enough to work with them on three films. Twice as Costume Designer (The Last Emperor and The Sheltering Sky) and once as both production and Costume Designer (Little Buddha). Bernardo Bertolucci expected and insisted the heads of his departments join him in the creative process of filmmaking. We became his collaborators, his allies, his sounding boards and, most importantly, his friends. "My collaborators are like my lemons," he once said, "every day I will come and give you a little squeeze for your juice and then I will come back the next day and give you another squeeze … in fact, I will squeeze you every day … until you are dry." His unique poetic vision of the world and the projects we were involved in made huge demands on our commitment, creativity, and stamina, but he also illuminated our lives with his passion and brilliance. We enjoyed being squeezed. Jeremy Thomas is the bravest and best independent producer in the world. His mod- est, gentle support, and infectious humour—even under the most difficult of situations— was remarkable. While he headed each of these projects, he has independently produced more than 50 movies. He was also their servant, creating the environment and opportunity for everybody involved in the process to do their very best work. I am privileged to say that they remain my friends to this day. 2004 James Acheson 2005 I'd like to say something to people designing now. My advice is that you have to put the story and the characters before your own ego and stop trying to get attention for yourself and your designs. You should serve the materials and the project first. Anthea Sylbert 2003 The career highlights are all the people that I've worked with since 1960 and they're all related. I can start from The Odd Couple on Broadway in '64 with Neil Simon and Mike Nichols all the way up until when Mike died two years ago. We all stayed working friends and cohorts. Those are the best friends I have. I always say if I got put in jail in Selma, Alabama, who would I call? The people that I work with. They're really very dear to me. My advice is that there's not enough research, curiosity, museum-looking, and reading today. A Costume Designer should know the history ... I'm an obsessive researcher. That's one of the important things. You should know the difference between the balance of a frock coat in 1840 as opposed to the balance of a frock coat in 1870. Also, I worked with Irene Sharaff, and one of the many things I noticed about Irene was she was very secretive. If she found some fabric in Lower Manhattan or in New Orleans, she wouldn't tell you. I'm not exactly like that, but what I learned from her was that you are constantly on the search for something that nobody else has found. Constantly. That's sort of a fun aspect of the job, finding a treasure and not spilling it. Ann Roth Winter 2018 The Costume Designer 47

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