Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504732
18 • THE ARTISAN FALL 2023 We started filming with episode nine, "Escape from Shit Mountain," in which Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) is covered head-to-toe in mud. When I was talking with Rian, I said, "What do you mean, covered in mud?" Because that can mean so many different things. He said, "Completely covered, unrecognizable." I said, "Ohhhhhhh, like Predator!" And then later in the episode, he wanted her to be a little more cleaned up, though still sweaty and with some remnants of dirt. I said, "Like Rambo?" He said, "Yes!" It's always helpful to have visual references to pull from when creating a shorthand with somebody you've never worked with before. e boards I created for Charlie included images of Brigitte Bardot, Farrah Fawcett, and Stevie Nicks. I really wanted to use warm tones with a peaches and cream vibe. Charlie is natural, but cool; messy, but pretty. She's made up, but not very made up. I wanted it to still be believable that she rolls out of bed looking this way. We were also able to modify her look between episodes because each is a standalone story—so she could have the same color palette but with a different vibe. I love how each individual episode shows a different version of Charlie Cale and yet she's clearly always the same person. I played with variations of intensity for her rust-colored lip, and Charlotte Tilbury's "Pillow Talk Medium" was the top choice. Charlie's tattoos were a fun design. A stick-and-poke of her final winning poker hand from before she had to quit playing; a dagger with a snake; and a blurry cat tattoo that I not only have tattooed on myself, but that I had designed for a lead character in the film Her Smell, directed by Alex Ross Perry. We never quite saw it enough to tether the two together but even so, why couldn't Charlie be a fan of some fictional '90s punk band? I enjoy placing Easter eggs in my work. In addition to the blurry cat, I also incorporated a tattoo from a film I worked on with director Riley Stearns called e Art of Self-Defense. Riley had designed a heavy metal version of the title art so I asked him if I could use it for a tattoo that would stretch across the shoulder of the drummer, Gavin, in the "Rest in Metal" episode.