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Please write: dan@dancooper.tv |
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William Ivey Long: We would
bring, in the fitting room of Vincent Zullos costume studio, called Vincent
Costumes, my assistant Sue Gandy and I would bring bolts of fabric that Id chosen
from little tiny swatches, and throw them over the costume racks, and sort of throw them
against each other and sort of look. And thered be like fifteen, twenty, you know,
and then we would go and get rows of yarn. It wasnt yarn. What was it? It was
thread. Actually he wove these pieces of thread together to make this appliqué on the
suits. Wherever we find, like, this orange. That isnt just a piece of ribbon or anything. Thats actually about five pieces of orange thread, woven together on the sewing machine, and then sewn right into the fabric. So its sort of like were weaving it in. And then you see the purple -- its two rows. See, its the purple and orange. And placing just where that goes, you see, was tricky. Because the other side you see FF: Yes, look at that. William Ivey Long: ... see its just green fabric. And we put all that into it. And, theres that fabric, but we popped it by putting that yellow FF: Right -- oh thats great. William Ivey Long: ... see on top of it. And there we were, for hours and hours, days and days putting the yarn -- I cant call it yarn, its thread. Ill say yarn. The yarn over the fabric to try to get the stripes and balance them out. So we did little mini collage constructions in the fitting room with the lights aimed right at the fabric. And then we rejected as I said, I made some mistaken fabric choices, which ended up I think going to somebodys quilt collection. But thats not bad. I think, from two hundred suits to have three that just were not up to the level -- it was very clear that they didnt work. And we took them right out. FF: When did you discuss with Jerry Zaks and Tony Walton that you had decided to go really bright and really bold? William Ivey Long: Well, this is how it really happens. You dont discuss "how Ive decided." You try to, and listen to my -- to my tense -- verb tense -- you try to get everything theyre thinking. Because you want it to be supportive of the world that the director and set designer have created. And so, I try to get as much information out of them as possible. And I even did a shot before these mug shots. I think its bitten the dust. But this would be the first one. These were all tracings of the illustrations from Damon Runyons books. And this is how I started playing. This is Tonys set. So to answer your question, I took the set -- you see I kept it all carefully covered up so it wouldnt get coffee all over it. And I didnt draw on it. I mean its just a color Xerox. But still I was respectful of the color Xerox. And I picked these colors. Theres a warm range and theres a blue -- and I was just playing. And then I started with this sort of thing, see: Nathan Lane, because that was Nathan Detroit and Faith Prince, Miss Adelaide. See Sky Masterson. So youre really seeing the first step. Its almost as if I knew you were going to ask this question.
And then, here we go. And there they are; theres Peter and his mockup, and theres Nathan. Youve been to fittings. Thats the interfacing showing. FF: And the fabrics, were they made or did you just search and search and put together ... William Ivey Long: The fabrics were all made. I found maybe this one right here, which I did not put the thread on. But here, you see, green fabric, and you see we put the yellow and black -- its shadowed with the black stripe. But the -- the ones that I found were few and far between. FF: Wow. William Ivey Long: And look at the beautiful suit making. So when I say Vincent made these like proper suits, that was truly the secret. They werent jokes. They were made like proper tailoring. You know, nothing was a joke. And these white suits were breathtaking. But there -- there -- see thats a -- theres that. So thats sort of like -- almost like the real person. FF: Businessmens suit, right. William Ivey Long: See, businessmens suit. You see. FF: And then it pops. William Ivey Long: But then you do that to it and its Guys and Dolls. See, there it is. FF: Fabulous. William Ivey Long: Yeah. And then the shoes go together. FF: The shoes are just gorgeous. |
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Next, tears and drama as the fittings begin.... | |||||||||||