“The Holdovers” : Press Conference with Director Alexander Payne and His Crew Members
Press Conference with Director Alexander Payne, Writer David Hemingson, Production Designer Ryan Warren Smith, Costume Designer Wendy Chuck, Composer, Mark Orton, Editor, Kevin Tent
The press conference features discussions with The Holdover’s director, writer, production designer, costume designer Wendy Chuck, composer Mark Orton, and editor Kevin Tent. They share insights into the film "The Holdovers," set in a New England prep school during the 1970s. Wendy Chuck talks about creating naturalistic costumes that don't feel like costumes and the challenges of finding period-appropriate clothes with limited resources. The team discusses the unique approach of making the film appear as if shot in the '70s. For more details on their experiences and insights, check out the full source Q & A.
Wendy's role as the costume designer adds a vibrant palette to the movie's visual storytelling. From David's mention of her modifying Miss Crane's Christmas party dress to Alexander's playful banter about costume changes, it's clear that Wendy plays a crucial part in bringing characters to life through their attire. The discussion about the yellow top and Wendy's perseverance adds a layer of humor and dedication to her craft. In Alexander's collaboration with Wendy since 1997, it's evident that the evolution of their working relationship enhances the visual aesthetics of each film. The costume anecdotes, along with Wendy's artistic approach, provide a glimpse into the intricate world of filmmaking, where every fabric choice contributes to the narrative.
Q : I think, you know, sort of something adjacent that I think of is that so often a period piece might feel costume-y or might feel kind of reductive of an era, but this film really avoids that. And I was wondering, so tell me about your process of picking what all of these different people at different times of their life would be wearing, that it feels like it is appropriate to the era, but it does not feel like a costume.
“WENDY: Yes. Thank you for that question. And I think with working with Alexander for all these years, I’ve learnt from him to do that. And some other great costume designers prior to my career have also said the same thing, that you always take one thing off. So you might dress the whole thing and then take one thing off, to quote Anne Roth. I feel it’s really important to have naturalistic costumes that don’t speak costume and let the actor do the work. So you have to support the actor and the story and the personality and the character through the clothes. So let them do the speaking or just let it be. And sometimes you know, in a fitting, it’ll be, you’ll know what’s wrong and you’ll know what’s right. So sometimes you can just tell, sometimes you have to keep working it. Sometimes it’s there straight away. And this was an extraordinary feat to pull together because of the lack of resource. We had to keep finding clothes, right.
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Like, there’s a huge volume even in watching it last night. There’s so many people in this movie, there’s so many clothes, half of which don’t appear on the screen. But the volumes were just, I would look at my assistant, I’d say, we’ve got to find more clothes. I’d go down to where the background was being fit and say, we don’t have enough clothes. I’m sick of seeing this thing. We can’t put that on anybody. It doesn’t fit. And also bodies are now very different too. So since 1970s, we now have the advent of fast food. People’s bodies have changed, and especially in Boston, so we don’t have like, tiny, tiny people anymore.
So that in itself is something, so we were dealing with the volume. But I want to second, Ryan and I don’t put people’s clothes on, although I have put on Jack Nicholson’s pajamas and broken them down personally. But in this one, I want to reference an Easter egg that nobody knows. Lydia Crane wears a heart-shaped necklace that Reese Witherspoon wore the exact same one in Election.
