Legendary costume designer Sandy Powell whose been working in the industry for more than 30 years and has won 3 Academy Awards, joined the cast on stage to discuss her impact on the film. “Surprisingly the costumes do not have a great amount of detail,” she said. “Due to budget constraints and because of the style of the film I decided to scale all that back, but in terms of how it informs the characters I don’t really know, I suppose it starts with the fittings doesn’t it?” As if to ask the other cast members.
Emma Stone replied, “well I had never worn a corset before so i think that helped, I mean other than it being hard to breathe.” She continued, “But it does inform you to the type of period, the restrictions placed on women having to stand, walk and talk in a certain way.”
Stone emphasized the restrictions placed on women at the time, particularly the women of the court. “I felt like that was helpful and as we moved up [through the story], my first costume was denim … it was salvaged denim wasn’t it?” Stone asked. Powell enthusiastically replied, “Yes I forgot about that actually, the costumes for the kitchen staff were all made from old jeans!”
Stone continued, “It was just so cool, how it got so elaborate with the hairpieces and everything especially for Abigail – my rise is so defined by what she’s wearing in the story so I thought it was incredibly helpful.” Olivia Colman joyfully recalled, “I didn’t have to wear tight corsets which was good and I was in nighty for a lot of the time which was brilliant!”
Although as expected, the ceremonial costumes were very heavy. “The bulk of it with the ceremonial costumes and the weight of those costumes really helped to inform how awful it must’ve been to stand still for any length of time and carry around a few extra stones of fabric,” Colman said.
The filming process had challenges like any other film, particularly the handling of animals, specifically the rabbits and ducks on set. Since the rooms were so vast, the cast and crew had to work extra hard to ensure that the rabbits stayed inside makeshift cardboard enclosures. One audience member noted that CGI might’ve been easier which is true, to which Colman responded, “CGI rabbits wouldn’t have been the same.”
She went on to say, “Emma and I are wicked animal lovers so we had a lovely time, we could barely remember our lines sometimes!” Both Colman and Lanthimos said that working with the rabbits was relatively simple as long as we were able to keep them confined. “It was fairly simple,” Lanthimos recalled. “The only thing we had to do as Olivia said was to restrict where they were because the rooms were huge but they seemed to just enjoy themselves and just hung out.” Lanthimos paused for a moment and continued, “The duck was more difficult to deal with!”
Just having watched his past films, you know that Yorgos Lanthimos has a unique method and perspective in his filmmaking. In “The Favourite,” Lanthimos opted to frame his shots using wide angles and was asked to explain his choice since wide angle shots are not commonly used in period films.
“First, it’s just a personal preference that I’ve been developing in my last few films,” he replied. “We went even more extreme in this film because we felt visually it represented a lot of the themes of the story, the idea that so few people can affect a much vaster world.” Lanthimos went on to say that another thing that influenced him were Dutch paintings with convex mirrors placed within them, “You can see the whole space reflected and distorted in those mirrors.”
Specifically he is referencing the Arnolfini Portrait which is a famous painting by Dutch artist Jan van Eyck. “The fact that although the spaces were huge they were kind of distorted and felt quite claustrophobic at the same time so there were alot of things that made it seem like framing the film this way felt like the right choice,” he continued.
Ultimately Colman said that the cast felt sad when it was all over, “I will admit I felt slightly bereft when we were done,” she lamented. Stone, Hoult and Joe Alwyn echoed the same sentiments. “It was just a blast,” Hoult remarked.
Alwyn added, “Being able to work with such an amazing cast is so refreshing and to be part of a project so different from what I am accustomed to seeing is exciting.” Olivia Colman gushed, “I knew we’d be friends for life [after the shoot], and I know people always say that and I do think its bollocks a lot of the time but we really did have a genuinely lovely time making this film.”
“The Favourite” will be released on November 23 via Fox Searchlight. Photo credit: Martine Olivier.
