The film’s costume designer talks about how he got to the parts used by the actors in the new Marvel movie about the hero
In North Hollywood there is a secret building full of super suits and other knick-knacks, a costume warehouse where Marvel Studios keeps all the important clothes that its heroes have worn on the screen for the past decade and a half. For costume designer Mayes Rubeo, walking around the warehouse is always a fun journey, also because there is a corridor full of costumes left over from her work in Thor: Ragnarok which is the most colorful part of the whole building.
“It’s really cool to bring color into the world of people,” said Rubeo. “I’m Mexican and I live in Italy, so I’m not afraid of color”.
Anyway, Rubeo’s work on the new sequel Thor: Love and thunder is even more vivid: at a time when superhero fantasies tend to be more subdued than pages of headquarters and in which movies they like The Batman he avoids color and light in favor of darkness, Rubeo prefers a more flamboyant approach. and the plot of Thor: Love and thunderwhich sees Thor (Chris Hemsworth) teaming up with his ex-girlfriend Jane (Natalie Portman), who is dealing with her sudden superpowers, has given Rubeo plenty of room to create.
In her opinion, it helps a lot that this is her third collaboration with the irreverent director Taika Waititi, with whom she worked on Thor: Ragnarok And Jojo Rabbit (which earned Rubeo an Oscar nomination). “We have parameters in the wonder where they come to you with a visual development package, which I respect a lot, “Rubeo said.” But everything gets thrown out the window when you work with Taika. “
Below, Rubeo talks about some of the film’s more edgy looks.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth)
When we first see Thor in love and thunderswapped his traditional superhero costume for something a little more rock ‘n’ roll: he’s fighting aliens dressed in a red leather vest, a tight white T-shirt and jeans so tight that “my assistants were a bit ‘worry, ”Rubeo said.
The radical 80s look pays homage to Kurt Russell The adventurers of the forbidden neighborhood – one of Waititi’s favorite films – plus a nod to the time Thor spent strolling with the Guardians of the Galaxy, because the leather jacket appears to be a jacket borrowed from Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), modified to show Thor’s bulging biceps. “If he had sleeves, he tore them off,” Rubeo said. “He can’t stand wearing sleeves. Thor is too hot.”
Later, after meeting his old flame dressed as a superhero, Thor uses one of his most unknown and useful abilities – the power to give himself an instant transformation – and conjures out of thin air a new colored armor, full of blue and gold accents.
“It’s super flashy, there’s no other way to describe it,” Rubeo said. “It’s too bright!”
Mighty Thor (Natalie Portman)
Blessed with Mjolnir, Thor’s mystical hammer, Jane transforms into a Norse goddess, and Portman – after two Thor in which he plays a helpless human character – manages to wear a super outfit that includes a silver bodice, leather pants and a bicep bracelet to accentuate his newfound muscles.
“It’s a very romantic look,” said Rubeo, although some elements proved difficult to design, most notably the winged helmet that Thor is jealous of. “It was very important to me that his eyes didn’t disappear,” said Rubeo. “The helmet could have been lower, but we made it so you don’t lose Natalie in it.” And since it would be difficult to wear a helmet during action scenes, it’s usually a CGI effect added in post-production, even though Rubeo has made real helmets for Portman to use in photo shoots.
As for the suit itself, “it had to be light,” Rubeo said. “Natalie has never had the experience of wearing a superhero costume, and for that you need proper training – it’s something you have to get used to.” The flowing red cloak also had to be modified to fit Portman’s 1.60m: although Hemsworth’s cloak is made from the same heavy Dorchester fabric worn by the Queen’s Guards, Rubeo got a more dynamic and leaner fabric from Spain for the cover of Portman.
The end result impressed not only Portman, but the actress’s children as well. “They were absolutely obsessed with the costume, they wanted to wear it,” Rubeo said. “Natalie is super professional, of course, so she was like, ‘No, no, you can play but you can’t use it.'”
Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson)
In a film filled with unconventional creative choices, no detail better exemplifies the spirit of trying a little bit of everything Thor: Love and thunder Thor’s shoulder, Valkyrie, showed up on his first big fight in a tacky hoodie the Phantom of the Opera. “We made this sweatshirt in the ’45s of the second half,” said Rubeo. “It was a saga”.
But like the the Phantom of the Opera do you have such a privileged place in a character who usually wears futuristic armor? Rubeo noted that, unlike Thor, who spent the last few years traveling in space, Valkyrie remained on Earth, immersed in her weird and wonderful culture. “Taika wanted Valkyrie to be portrayed as someone who really has a life,” Rubeo said. “She is in the grand scheme of the world.”
It’s not Valkyrie’s only unconventional piece of clothing, appearing elsewhere in the film wearing a three-piece suit – a nod to the character’s bisexuality and her Frida Kahlo penchant for menswear, Rubeo said. But the sweatshirt Ghost resonated in a unique way: when Rubeo told Thompson what he was going to wear in the action sequence, “he said he had moments where he really slept in a football shirt.” the Phantom of the Opera“.
Gorr (Christian Bale) and Zeus (Russell Crowe)
While the heroes wear bright metallic suits, the evil Gorr, the Butcher of the Gods, is more discreet: he wears only a white robe and all colors fade from the dark realm he lives in. “We wanted this character to be like one of those rather haunted statues you see in the Archaeological Museum of Naples,” said Rubeo. “We wanted to give him that eternal and eternal feeling.”
While Gorr’s dress looks simple, putting it together was pretty tricky. Rubeo commissioned 50 meters of linen to wear on Bale, cleverly arranging the fabric to hide secret aspects such as the cooling system that would prevent the actor from overheating and the added hook when Gorr flew through the air.
A sequence that featured Bale versus Jeff Goldblum, the Grandmaster of Thor: Ragnarok, was cut in the editing room. “He was heartbreaking because we made him a fantastic Kandinsky robe,” said Rubeo. But he was thrilled with the mid-film sequence of Russell Crowe as Zeus and contacted the Roman leather masters Augusto and Giampaolo Grassi, whose father dressed Richard Burton in Cleopatrato make a breastplate covered with gold leaf for the actor in Gladiator. “We’re talking about someone who already knows how to wear armor,” she said.
With Thor: Love and thunder in the theaters and costumes of Rubeo sent to light up that Hollywood warehouse, are you interested in working on something more intimate and less cosmic next time? Not necessarily.
“The core of the situation is that with each project I want more, I want to be challenged each time,” he said. “I want to create another fantasy land. Another fantasy planet!” / TRANSLATION OF RENATO PRELORENTZOU
Source: Terra
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
