Costume Designer Daniel Orlandi concludes his guest-blogging day with our favourite of his pictures. You should follow him on Instagram for more fun set photos & costume sketches....
by Daniel Orlandi
The Doris Day / Rock Hudson sex comedy romps were among the first movies I saw as a kid. I was so enamored of the look. So when I read the script to Down with Love (2003), I had to do it. I owe a lot to Producer Paddy Cullen for helping me get the job. She slipped me that script early and got me in to meet the director and producers first.
There was one problem, though...
I had already signed on to design the costumes for The Alamo. I was torn at what to do, due to scheduling conflicts. A friend said "say yes to both!” (It all worked out since The Alamo was then delayed due to a change in directors, so once a week while filming Down With Love, I was checking on samples of Mexican uniforms being manufactured for The Alamo.) I was so excited about the opportunity that even before the first meeting, I sketched almost the whole film. Surprisingly very little of it changed through the filming.
The next step was meeting Renée Zelwegger's manager who was super excited by the designs. When Renee came in to discuss the film and see the designs, she said “Lets go for it! ”
We had a very small budget so the producers were skeptical that we could get it done. Except for a sweater or two and some shoes, we had to make all of the principal costumes. I wanted the film to have that completely authentic artificial look of those original 1960s comedies. As a favor to me my good friend who had sewn so many costumes for Bob Mackie made Renee’s gowns out of her home workroom.
It was so much fun to work closely with production designer Andrew Laws matching colors: the red of Catchers office wall matches Peters vest; for Renee’s pink suit, the same plaid was embroidered on the fabric seamlessly all around, plus it's the exact color of her sofa. Special thanks to Cinematographer Jeff Crowenworth for dealing with lots of white, herringbone plaids, and bright colors all of which make lighting and shooting difficult. We met again recently and he brought this challenge up, but also told me that it's his daughters favorite of all the films he's done!
The whole film was shot on Hollywood sound stages and the Universal backlot. The actors all had dressing rooms instead of trailers. Every morning the actors would get ready and meet in the hallway seeing each other all dressed up in their finery. We had a small studio with a large window where we displayed the costumes. Other productions would walk by daily to see what was new! The prop department even made leaning boards to make it really seem like a 60s production.
Renée, me, and director Peyton Reed posing on our leaning boards.
(For those that don't know, leaning boards are tilted padded boards so actresses don't have to sit in their costumes and get them wrinkled while resting.)
Shooting the famous montage sequence of Barbara and Vicki getting stood up was really fun. I came up with the idea of the Houndstooth and yellow reverse costumes and Peyton loved it. After shooting it, though, an executive at Fox flipped out. She hated yellow especially on blondes and I had to design two new costumes to reshoot the scene. Thankfully the original scene stayed in the picture and was mentioned in many of the reviews as a highlight; the review in the New Yorker was especially satisfying!
The cast meshed so wonderfully. We had so much fun on set, David Hyde Pierce playing piano in his room with charming Ewan McGregor singing. The girls dancing in the hall. Ewan even drove to the studio each day in a 1960s sports car. The day Renée did her famous monologue was particularly amazing. At the very first run-through she did it perfectly — all seven pages — without missing a beat; the whole crew erupted in applause. This was also Sarah Paulson’s first major film role. So many big names auditioned for her part but none could get the rhythm of that 60s patter. Sarah came in and nailed it!
Next time you’re watching the film, look carefully at the beatnik party. You can see a young Zachary Quinto (whose lines were cut) as a beatnik poet!
One final note on a film that so many people seem to love now. We hired a recent graduate of my alma mater as a production assistant for this shoot. The veteran wardrobe supervisor told her one day:
Remember this! You will probably never have as much fun on any other film as we are having right now.”
She was right!
A huge thank you to Daniel Orlandi, a designer whose work we always look forward to, for these fun peeks into his inspirations, career, and filmography. If you enjoyed these please let him know in the comments, and if you're a Down with Love fan, please share the post on social media. - Editor