Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531371
Javier Gonzalez L Specialty Costume Manufacturer Javier Gonzalez has been building and painting Super Suits for the last 15-plus years, but his introduction to costuming was not through the typical channels. "I grew up airbrushing, sketching, and drawing. As a teenager in the late '90s, computers weren't really a thing. Everything was hand formed, whether it was sculpting, sketching, building, creating, painting, or taking things apart." Nowadays, when a production needs something like specialty custom armor or other hard goods worn in costumes, Javier has been hired to sculpt, 3D design and print, mold, cast and finish these pieces. A few of Javier's biggest productions include The Avengers, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and many Marvel films and series like The Dark Tower, Passengers, the Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fe, as well as Rebel Moon. Javier has also been an active military reservist since 1999 and was able to develop skills initially through his career as an Army auto mechanic. "I was big into cars when I initially joined, so I joined the military as a mechanic. Having an artistic background in automotive, I would constantly be doing airbrush murals and custom paint work. That guided me to other things on the automotive and motorcycle side. It then led to 'how do you put together this piece of upholstery?' I learned that on heavy-duty machines, doing custom upholstery, and I thought to myself, 'wow, it's funny how if you fast- forward, these things led to the skill sets I use currently.' I never thought I could make any money doing any form of artistic type things like film." Javier briefly le the military and rejoined as a Civil Affairs Soldier which entails being a liaison between the local populace and government/ military. "I was building relationships, keeping people out of each other's way, and dealing with civilian problems. I think that background helps me work with everybody to collaborate more and be a lile beer. Constantly being an open book and talking about problems, talking about issues, how we can solve it without reliving the conflict. Also being able to use that on a personal basis and being very personable, such as talking to people, working with people, regardless of who and what you are, and approaching things as a team instead of just one person. I think that helped me a lot." Javier aributes his ability to lead his specialty team to his military experience. "The training doctrine of the military stresses people on purpose so they can learn how to deal with it. I think having those stressors and going through all that when I approach film and its deadlines, I think I look at things differently. I'll put things on a calendar and I'll backward-plan everything. So, if I have an item that we're making, a costume that we're working on, or a helmet that works on a certain day—I plan everything backward. The military teaches me to give myself about three to four days for it to be completed. That means paint would have to fall on a certain day and we are finally completed and ready for paint on this day and everything else falls on that." One of Javier's first forays into film was on Tron: Legacy, where he was hired to work for a special effects house to help create a set of motorcycle helmets worn in the film. "They wanted everything slick, shiny, and kind of meticulous. So, I approached it like instead of me painting a Harley tank or a custom automotive part, I'd be painting a helmet. So, when I got into that, I'm like, 'What else do you guys do? You build costumes, build props? I really like this.' That's what slowly led to me joining the industry." He now has dozens of films under his belt and has worked his way to becoming a Specialty Manufacturing Foreperson. For Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Javier was the Key Specialty Costumer and worked closely with Costume Designer Ruth Carter and Supervisor Dana Hart. In preparation for the film, Javier talked about the research that went into developing the costumes for the fictional world of the Talokanil. "The amount of research Ruth did motivated me to research just as much on my end. We spoke to historians from Mexico, and they gave us a lot of insight on Talokan and the language and the kind of armor that they would wear. They gave us a history lesson. We spent days Zoom calling with these people, and they would fill us in on what the people ate, the kind of sports they played, and how the armor would look and feel. Even though we weren't trying to be historically accurate, because Talokan is fictional and the way it's portrayed in the movie is fictional, we did a lot of history research to do it justice." A good portion of the film is underwater and Costume Makers know it is an arduous task to make pieces that will not only survive working through a production but also look good on camera underwater. "We had to do a lot of research and 36 SPRING 2025