Being Human

Robin Williams dressed as an Elizabethan. A truly great man and such an honour to have worked with him.

They built this Roman town in Morocco from scratch, it was stunning to see.

Me spending some rare downtime in a souk.

Robin Williams eating his lunch whilst dressed as a Roman.

You know that old saying about being in the right place at the right time? Well I am testament to the fact it can happen. My first break into Hollywood movies happened because the Production Manager, Al, I had just been working with in Ethiopia on Big Battalions went to dinner with, Mary Richard, the Production Manager of Being Human an upcoming movie starring Robin Williams.

Mary was complaining that she couldn't find a costume supervisor and Al said “get John Scott” so the very next day I got a call and off I went Pinewood Studios to meet Mary Richard.  Mary was highly revered in the film world but turned out to be a petite, demure and somewhat unassuming, but as my friend, Kirsten, had warned me she knew where the body was buried (I still don't know what that means and to this day Mary herself, hates the expression). When I arrived, I sat in the only vacant chair and waited for the interview to begin. Mary was already there but unbeknown to me we were waiting for Patsy, Mary's coordinator to arrive. Suddenly, the door was flung open and there she stood Patsy de Lord. A voluptuous glamorous and thigh high booted goddess from Zanzibar. “You are in my chair’ she growled. I was already a little nervous as it was…!

Cut to three hours later the three of us were sitting there gossiping like old friends, we had covered all the important bits like budget, principal wardrobe crew, constipation, best London restaurants, how to style Patsy's wild hair and her wanton behaviour and on and on. They never did say “Oh you have the job’.

So, there I was about to start work on a huge Hollywood movie starring Robin Williams, written by Bill Forsyth and with a mega million dollar budget. The movie spanned the five ages of man Caveman, Roman, Mediaeval, Elizabethan and Modern. Filming in, amongst other places, Kinlockbervie, Scotland, two locations in Morocco, Pinewood Studios and San Francisco.

But the crowning glory for me was that I would be working with Sandy Powell, a costume designer of huge talent and reputation. This was also her first Hollywood movie but she already had worked with the likes of Derek Jarman and Neil Jordan. Now she is one of the most prolific costume designers in the world having been nominated for 15 Oscars and winning three for Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator and The Young Victoria.

The next few months were a whirlwind of hard, hard work but such fun. Starting at in Scotland in November we were shooting the cavemen age. No words just grunts! Lots of actors you would recognise spending their days in the waters of Loch drenched and cold (well actually it wasn't that cold as we were in the gulf stream and we were in shorts and t shirts for most of it but the midgies were eating us all alive). After each of the long filming day ended and the actors all went to the hotel to relax we started the nightly ritual of drying and re making the costumes. This was because each costume was not a finished article, every morning the actors would come in and we would build their outfit from pieces of fur and cow hides, making sure for continuity, that they were identical every day. 

Then we went from the Scottish Highlands to the sunny climes of Morocco. First up, a deserted beach to recreate an Elizabethan shipwreck. This time the costumes were beautiful ornate creations beaded and jewelled and made of the most sumptuous fabrics only for them to be then broken down with the actors once again spending most of their day in the sea. It was a bit warmer this time but otherwise it was the same routine as in Scotland – drying and repairing into the early hours of the morning.

One of my favourite memories was that the extras would bring in their tagines in the morning, dig a hole in the sand, light a fire, put the tagine on the fire and cover with more sand. By lunchtime they had created the most exquisite dishes that they were happy to share!

After the beach we moved to a town called Kenitra. This was the first time I felt like I was on a Hollywood movie set as they had built a whole Roman town! It was vast and I was in awe and I also got that tingle – it was breath taking to see and experience.

Back to Blighty for Mediaeval England. The rain and cold was a nightmare after the sun of Morocco and not enjoyable. Then we finished off in Pinewood Studios for all the interior scenes. The whole film took around 5-6 months to film and it was a fabulous learning curve.

The biggest difference between working on a movie rather than TV was all about the detail. The role of a Costume Supervisor is all about detail and continuity – to make sure that the costumes are identical, not just day to day but even if the scenes were shots weeks or even months apart. That is important on TV but in the movies the actual images are so much bigger a detail button on a jacket can appear the size of an orange where on TV you can hardly see it. So I learnt very quickly that that precision and perfection were paramount to be a successful Costume Supervisor to the movies.

Happily, Being Human proved to be just the beginning of my movie career and also my relationship with Mary Richards. Next we would work together on a movie which included quite a few wedding scenes (well, four in total) oh, and a funeral too!

Shooting Cavemen in Kinlockbervie, Scotland.

Me mending caveman boot in Scotland.

This is me building the costume around the actor, something we had to do every morning.

Hector Elizondo and boy in full costume.