Max Then and Now
The breadth of costumes in 'Mad Max: Fury Road' easily exceeds its dystopian predecessors. Beavan tells Yahoo Movies that she repurposed some of the older films' pieces for 'Fury,' notably Max's football-inspired shoulder pad, seen (from left) on Mel Gibson in 'Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior' (1981) and Tom Hardy in 'Fury Road.' Click through to learn about the huge effort that went into the thousands of distressed costumes of 'Fury Road':
That Shoulder Pad
While Mel Gibson also wore the shoulder pad in 'Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome' (1985, left), Beaven tells Yahoo that 'Fury Road' took most of its inspiration from 1981's 'Road Warrior.' "The Max costume is absolutely based on the iconic Mel Gibson one with additions from an unknown war," Beavan says of Tom Hardy's onscreen look. "The leather elements of his basic costume are all the Mel Gibson look, remade in Namibia in my workroom into multiples."
Function and Furiosa
Charlize Theron plays the renegade Imperator Furiosa, an expert rig driver with a prosthetic arm. While her shoulder pad looks a lot like Max's, Beavan says that the costume feature "is all part of her prosthetic arm mechanism." Her leather corset, adds Beavan, is only there to support the harness for the arm structure. "I don’t think I really thought 'make her feminine and attractive!' — Charlize can do that in spadefuls whatever her hair and clothes look like!"
The Wives in White
The Wives are kept in a "bubble" in the Citadel by Immortan Joe before being sprung by Furiosa. Explains Beavan: "They need little clothing, and are therefore are completely inappropriately dressed for a road trip [with Furiosa]!" Director George Miller had Beavan model their look after a ballet he'd seen with dancers lightly wrapped, bandaged. (From left: Abbey Lee as The Dag, Courtney Eaton as Cheedo the Fragile, Zoë Kravitz as Toast the Knowing, Charlize Theron as Furiosa, and Riley Keough as Capable.)
Menacing Mask
"Every costume, mask, piece of footwear and accessory was thought out, concept-drawn, reworked, tried out in model form, in prototype," Beavan recalls. "Nothing came easily." Concept artist Paul Jeacock made Immortan Joe's mask, modeling it after horse teeth. The "maw," as director George Miller called it, also serves as Joe's air-filtration system.
Rotten Through and Through
Immortan Joe (foreground, played by Hugh Keays-Byrne) "has rotting skin and needs the powder to soothe and disguise him," Beavan explains. His bulletproof Plexiglas armor also serves to mask his ailing body.
Powder Player
Nicholas Hoult plays Nux, part of the army of War Boys who are fiercely loyal to Immortan Joe. The War Boys pay homage to their tyrannical leader by wearing the same white powder he uses to soothe his diseased skin "and also because they are all sickly, too," says Beavan.
Metal Mask
Tom Hardy dons an iron mask during the first third of 'Fury Road.' "We had a maintenance crew with welding equipment!" says Beavan. "We did also have stunt ones made in various plastics from hard to soft."
Everything Has a Backstory
Every character, costume, and prop has a backstory in 'Fury Road.' Filmmakers and actors alike followed a detailed bible of the futuristic wasteland depicted in the movie. Angus Sampson, left, plays the Organic Mechanic. Sporting a number of sadistic-looking medical tools and a questionable bedside manner, you wouldn't want to be his patient.
Markings Say Everything
In this future world masks are a status symbol; scars, like the intricate carvings seen here on Nux's chest, communicate one's past and position; clothes reveal one's rank.
A Rough Road
From the 3,500 storyboards drawn for the film, thousands of props and costumes were made for 'Fury Road.' It was "rough" at times, says Beavan. "I cannot praise my crew highly enough. On set was grueling in the varied temperatures, the constant sand, the endless stunts, and everyone playing everything! ... The pressure for not only inventive making and creating but then making endless multiples plus the aging and distressing of those multiples was intense." (Pictured: Megan Gale as The Valkyrie, part of the female warrior clan.)
Leather and Car Bits
"Costumes are all about story telling with clothes," says Beavan. "Once you are embedded in the George Miller world of 'Mad Max' things begin to be clear in their own mad way! I love creating characters, so give me a bunch of old bits and pieces, car accessories, ethnic bits of fabric, leather, string, and a character I can hinge onto and I am happy!"
No comments:
Post a Comment