Costuming Characters

[ellenkushner]

When Theron Campion (The Fall of the Kings) gets dressed up, I bet he wears this - minus the fatuous expression, of course. It's from a catalogue a friend sent me, full of amazing jackets and ruffled shirts which apparently are what people with a few thousand spare dollars to put on their backs are wearing these days . . . sigh. (Shakes dice, chanting: Movie rights! Movie rights! Baby needs a new pair of Italian cotton jacquard shirts with stripes and rufffles!)

Comments

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Love the jacket. I think I could make a nicer shirt -- there are prettier ways to make ruffles.

MOVIE RIGHTS HELL YEAH. With, as you said, Billy Crudup for Richard, and fan choice Jonathan Rhys Meyers for Alec, and after TPotS I am even MORE convinced that Lord Ferris has to be Michael Wincott (http://imdb.com/name/nm0000699/). And may Bob Anderson (http://imdb.com/name/nm0026428/) live long enough to be the fight choreographer.

Of course I'd probably fuss and moan because it didn't match the movie in my head... but if anyone comes asking about movie rights, don't sell them without a stipulation about getting Bob Anderson!

[dremiel.livejournal.com]

Oh, This is lovely casting!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can play this game for hours, although if I let my imagination run wild, very soon it starts being a Very Expensive Movie. So I'm willing to grant unknowns for the rest of the cast.

I can't see Basil and Theron quite so clearly in my head, at least not mapped to actors, so I haven't set about playing the game for The Fall of the Kings. TPoTS... well, Ellen and Delia have both emphasized Alec's large nose, so if we're casting the older Mad Duke, perhaps it should be Alan Rickman, for the delectable voice. Re-ally. :)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

"I think I could make a nicer shirt -- there are prettier ways to make ruffles." ??!!!!

Jeez - looks like I need to be selling the movie rights just so I can hire you as my own personal baker and tailor!!!

Must get back to that Casting Discussion I began last summer one of these days.... Not now, though. Now am insane trying to get ready for Worldcon etc. But I haven't forgotten!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Those ruffles are stiff and starchy and pleated.

In my mind's eye, I saw softer, droopier ruffles on Theron, based on gathers instead of pleats.

Although perhaps the fashion in ruffles changed from Swordspoint's time. Those were CERTAINLY droopy ruffles -- the sea-foam morning gowns MUST have had engageantes, right? And Michael Godwin's cuffs and collar (when he wasn't wearing a plain working-man's shirt open at the neck to reveal his collarbones)MUST have had a quantity of bobbin-lace.

Now, Lord Galing doesn't do ruffles at ALL. I'd think that his linen would have an almost clerical simplicity, even to a plain and unfussy fold for his cravat (no Mathematical for him), and there WOULD be a lot of starch.

But Theron? Needs softer ruffles. Or if the mode calls for pleated, the pleats should be narrower, at least.

At least nobody's wearing starched RUFFS any more.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

No, I looked again -- in the jacket picture, those ARE gathered ruffles. But the gathers aren't pulled up very close. Anyway. Theron NEEDS softer ruffles, the better to trail them across someone's lips. Because that's Theron all over.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

$1000 comes close to covering the flight to Hong Kong. Bring that picture, and any tailor can build exactly what you want -- and you've gotten the trip to Hong Kong as well!

I want a ruff as long as I have the maid to goffer it for me.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

"...the better to trail them across someone's lips."

Ooogg!

oh look, you got me started

[burgundy.livejournal.com]

I've always seen Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Michael Godwin - in fact, it was that realization that got me started on Swordspoint fantasy casting to begin with. After I saw him in Ride with the Devil, I thought he could probably do Alec too, but I still like him best as Lord Michael. I think Cillian Murphy would be good as Alec, even if he's 6 inches too short. And David Bowie should be Lord Horn.

I'd been thinking Clive Owen for Ferris, but Michael Wincott would work too. I'd also had my heart set on Bob Anderson for the choreography.

But ultimately, I can't imagine Swordspoint making a good movie, because so much of the power and the forward movement of the plot depends on the inner workings of people who keep their own counsel. So you either have to have voice-overs (bleah!) or have Richard and Ferris tell people what they're thinking (completely out of character) or hope that the actors can convey all of it through nuances of facial expression, and while Billy Crudup is an excellent actor, that may still be asking a bit too much, and viewers who haven't read the book may get confused.

Re: oh look, you got me started

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

I will freely admit that one of the reasons I so want JRM for Alec is for the pleasure of the Director's Cut version of the Fool's Delight scene. We wouldn't get the same pleasure from him as Michael Godwin, as, after that first kiss, he repulses Lord Horn. (Agree with Bowie, BTW. And how odd would that be, having fictional-Bowie JRM kissing real-Bowie? And, as I feared, it's turning into an Expensive Movie.) And there'd really be no good reason to show him in bed with Bertram, as it only gets a throwaway scene-closer line in the book.

I'm willing to let them find a lovely unknown for Michael Godwin. Pity we haven't a time machine, as a young Eric Stolz suits my mental image. Mmm. Redheads.

And I think it might be *possible* to slide in a LITTLE more exposition at critical points without destroying either Richard's or Ferris' characters. Ginnie's the one who reads Horn's letter to Richard, no? Just a couple of lines of dialogue there, still somewhat cryptic, and it could telegraph Richard's intentions more. Likewise, Ferris could say something half-veiled and smug to Katherine. Richard's heart torn out while he's waiting in the cell... tougher, but a line or two exchanged with the guard while he's refusing the mentioned gifts could show us he doesn't believe he'll be saved.

I'm also not opposed to judicious and sparing use of voiceovers. I may be a heretic, but I didn't object to them in Blade Runner! And I think the lyrical introduction and final sentences deserve to be in there. Especially the closing ones, to bring me gently back to earth after "I've brought us some fish" KILLS ME DEAD as it does every time I read it.

I want my movie!

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

::moan of unspeakable desire::

I'm sure you could find a seamstress -- in the fannish community, for instance, who could whip up your heart's desire.

[brigidsblest.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

*looks at the prices* Ouch. *whimper*

1K for a coat? I don't think my entire wardrobe altogether costs 1K.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

You know what's really strange about this? Gorsuch is basically a ski-wear company. They're based out of Vail and Aspen. Which means that the people they think they can sell this to are, you know, the kinds of people who go skiing. Which isn't a group that in my experience overlaps much with the subset of people who're only dying to wear clothes that riff on the 18th century.

But hey, I've been wrong before. And I'm certainly for it. If those people do want to wear this stuff, it'll trickle through the culture and we'll get to do it too.

[kingsgrave.livejournal.com]

Wow -- what delightful design work that clothier's doing! I love to see the more classic lines coming back into women's fashions -- keeps making me hope that I'll see a similar resurgence in men's. Unlikely, I know, but still.

And it's wrong of me, I know, but my budget insists that I try and make one or two of these designs this winter...

Thanks for the link!

[themaskmaker.livejournal.com]

Odd note -- my s/o's name is Theron, and he'd look fabulous in that.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I covet that and the Rosa jacket.

<wondering what scale of novel sale would be needed before I would let my splurge purpose be a $1K+ jacket>

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the Small Beer Press edition of The Privilege of the Sword. Is it beautiful?

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Those are cool clothes, for sure, but for those prices, why buy off the rack? That is, why does anybody who pays that much buy off the rack? Custom clothes of that quality don't cost much more, and they fit properly.

[monkeygod.livejournal.com]

not that i could afford one, but i am annoyed that all the good looking and/or interesting coats are designed for women only. Men deserve 'Dandy Knee Coats' too !

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Are those the same things as three-quarter length coats? A couple of years back I saw Rick Baker pick up a Best Makeup award, and he was wearing a tux with a three-quarters length jacket. Very cool!

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

OMG! It's Little Lord Fauntleroy

[handworn.livejournal.com]

That's what movie rights bring, eh? * crosses fingers for ya *

[peregrinejohn.livejournal.com]

Oh, my. I agree with monkeygod and kingsgrave that such things should be made for men, but also with numerous others who say that such a thing can and perhaps should be made custom – and at a savings, to boot! Well, one more excuse to dive into costuming, I suppose… (Does the cashmere fritz jacket actually come with a St. Pauli girl as pictured? Something has to explain these prices. Otherwise, I’ll take the $2650 julius jacket.)

As regards the movie, so long as I can be part of it, even merely an extra, a random theatre patron at the Big Performance, I’ll be quite cheery. Even the least expensive of the people suggested so far would be Splendid to see in person.

And speaking of in person, we must get your personage to the West Coast a little more often. We can’t all make it to next week’s convention, though I’ll be doing my durndest.