Behind Viola Davis' 'Whimsical' Yet 'Devious' Hunger Games Look Inspired by Willy Wonka

 

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes costume designer Trish Summerville spoke with People Magazine about the concept for Viola Davis’ Dr. Gaul costume, “As soon as you put the costume and the hair on her, the wig and the makeup, she automatically started having this little laugh and the things she would do with her hands," she recalls. "It's a huge satisfaction when you can help an actor transform into being another character." 

Trish says says the inspiration for Davis's look was something of a "Willy Wonka mad scientist, Dr. Frankenstein kind of vibe" — basically a "whimsical feel" with a "dark side to her that's devious."

"She has to have this jovial side where she draws you in, but then she is really terrifying at the same time," says Summerville.

Summerville and her team made "thousands" of costumes for the film, "It was a massive undertaking," she says. "We made buttons for the school uniforms that are the Capitol emblem, so that's 8,000 to 10,000 buttons you're making and casting. If you're going to have 200 or 500 students, you have to make two to three times that many costumes because you don't know people's sizes; if you have 500 background [actors], you need about 2,000 pairs of shoes to make that work for people."

She wanted the costumes for Davis, however, to "be much different than" what other characters wore, using "a lot of color" to make her "always stand out."

About those standout "shiny latex gloves," the costume designer says she figured Dr. Gaul keeps her hands covered because "her hands are destroyed from all the experiments she works on. I always wanted to have her hands covered in every scene," says Summerville. "And having this red-and-white lab coat, we'd washed it so it appears to have this veining, which goes to veins in the body and blood and the washing down of blood on her lab coat."

Says Summerville, "She was just so lovely and gracious. You give her these tools and then she turns it into something bigger than life. She's just this cool, amazing, wonderful, warm and loving person."

New Interview With The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Costume Designer Trish Summerville From Vogue + Costume Concept Illustrations

In a new interview with Vogue Magazine, The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes costume designer Trish Summerville breaks down the inspiration behind some of the most inspired looks from the film. The article included some gorgeous concept drawings by costume illustrator Gloria Kim.

From Vogue:

The looks in The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, had to live up to the most memorable fashion image from the original series: Katniss Everdeen's wedding dress in Catching Fire, which burned off to reveal a black, birdlike gown beneath. But costume designer Trish Summerville was up to the task because she was also the woman behind the original outfit. 

The prequel—which takes place 64 years before the start of The Hunger Games trilogy, though still in the far-off future—exists in a Panem entirely unrecognizable for fans of the original series. The film, out November 17, follows a young Coriolanus Snow (the villain of the original series) before his dictatorial days, as he mentors the District 12 tribute, the vaudevillian Lucy Gray Baird, in the 10th annual Hunger Games. But that stark difference allowed Summerville to create a different, retro-futuristic world with the characters' clothing. 

Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow

Tigris Snow's Pink Suit at The Hunger Games Exhibition in Vegas

When it came to the Capitol, she and director Francis Lawrence decided to pull from the postwar 1940s and '50s for inspiration. "They still have the nicest clothing, the nicest jewelry, everyone's hair is styled, and they all have makeup, but it's a much more classic Americana look," she says. Still, Summerville uses the clothing to broadcast the characters' various challenges. Hunter Schafer, who plays Snow's cousin Tigris, became a representative of the Capitol.

"She makes her clothes, but she's keeping them alive because they're running out of money," she says. In a pink, Balenciaga-inspired skirt suit with a structural pointed shoulder, "we sewed all the seams outside, and I frayed all the edges, so it looks like they're coming apart." 

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Trish Summerville and Jo Willems Are Back As Costume Designer And Director of Photography for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Trish Summerville, genius costume designer for Catching Fire is back for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes according to producer Nina Jacobson! Nina tweeted a reply confirming the news to a fan on twitter that asked who was designing costumes for Ballad.

Jo Willems

Nina also confirmed via twitter that Jo Willems is also back as Director of Photography. Jo worked on Catching Fire, both Mockingjay films and also did Red Sparrow with Francis Lawrence plus a lot of other things you may have seen (Hard Candy, American Gods). 

Uli Hanisch

According to Nina, the new addition to the team is production designer Uli Hanisch who is probably best known for his gorgeous work on The Queen's Gambit, for which he won an Emmy. 

Dream team activated! 

Trish Summerville Wins Best Costume Design Saturn Award For 'Catching Fire'

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was nominated for 7 Saturn Awards but had only one win at the ceremony on June 26th in Los Angeles. Trish Summerville picked up the award for her epic costume design in the film. Congratulations, Trish! The Saturn Awards are handed out by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films and honor the best of the genre, plus others, in film, television and home entertainment releases.

New 'Catching Fire' Behind The Scenes Clip - Effie's Look

AOL has an exclusive look at a brand new The Hunger Games: Catching Fire behind the scenes clip from the Blu-Ray extras. This clip focuses on Effie's look in the movie and includes interviews with Elizabeth Banks, costume designer Trish Summerville and Make-up supervisor Ve Neill.

'Catching Fire,' Jennifer Lawrence, Jena Malone and Francis Lawrence Nominated for Saturn Awards

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films announced the nominations for the 40th Annual Saturn Awards and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Jennifer Lawrence, Jena Malone and Francis Lawrence are among them. Catching Fire has been nominated for Best Science Fiction Film and Francis Lawrence also picked up a nomination for Best Director. Jennifer Lawrence is nominated for Best Actress while Jena Malone grabbed a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Catching Fire also received noms for Best Editing (Alan Edward Bell), Best Production Design (Phil Messina) and Best Costumes (Trish Summerville).
The Saturn Awards will be presented in June.

Best Science Fiction Film:
Ender’s Game
Gravity
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Pacific Rim
Riddick
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Actress:
Halle Barry – The Call
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Martina Gedeck – The Wall
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks
Mia Wasikowska – Stoker

Best Supporting Actress:
Scarlett Johansson – Her
Nicole Kidman – Stoker
Melissa Leo – Prisoners
Evangeline Lily – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Jena Malone – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Emily Watson – The Book Thief

Best Director:
J.J. Abrams – Star Trek Into Darkness
Peter Berg – Lone Survivor
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Francis Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Guillermo del Toro – Pacific Rim

Best Editing:
Peter Amundson, John Gilroy – Pacific Rim
Alan Edward Bell – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Alfonso Cuaron,Mark Sanger – Gravity
Mark Day – About Time
Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill Rush, Christian Wagner, Kelly Matsumoto, Dylan Highsmith – Fast & Furious 6

Best Production Design:
Dan Hennah – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Philip Messina – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Andrew Neskoromny, Carol Spier – Pacific Rim
Andy Nicholson – Gravity
Jan Roelfs – 47 Ronin
Robert Stromberg – Oz The Great and Powerful

Best Costume:
Gary Jones – Oz The Great and Powerful
Michael Kaplan – Star Trek Into Darkness
Wendy Partridge – Thor: The Dark World
Beatrix Aruna Pasztor – Great Expectations
Penny Rose – 47 Ronin
Trish Summerville – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Trish Summerville Shares a 'Catching Fire' Set Photo of Elizabeth Banks as Effie

Catching Fire costume designer Trish Summerville shared a great behind the scenes set photo of Elizabeth Banks as Effie on her instagram yesterday.

Banks is wearing what they called Effie's "Snow Queen" outfit and looks like she's ready to head to the set.

Summerville is up for a Costume Designer's Guild Award for Catching Fire tonight. Good luck, Trish!

'Catching Fire' Costume Designer Trish Summerville on her Favorite Look From the Film

The Costume Designers Guild Awards are coming up on Saturday, February 22nd (tomorrow!) and Jarrett Wieselman from Buzzfeed spoke with Trish Summerville (nominated for Excellence in Fantasy Film) about her favorite costume from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. 

Who: Trish Summerville
What: Johanna Mason’s District 7 Tribute
When: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s chariot scene
Where: Custom-made

Why: Because Johanna has to make an immediate impact and isn’t given pages of dialogue to do so, Summerville had to ensure the character’s clothes spoke volumes. “She had to project a strong sexuality and she had to have this attitude because she’s a previous victor,” Summerville said. “She knows the game and she spends a lot of time in The Capitol, so she’s schooled and aware and knows the drill. She knows she’ll be paraded about, she knows people need to fear her, and be intimidated from the get-go.”

A task made infinitely more difficult since, in this scene, Johanna had to represent lumber, District 7’s chief industry. “Whenever you hear, ‘Dress someone like a tree,’ you think of a school play,” Summerville said, laughing. “I wanted her to be more like a streamlined, threatening warrior. That’s why I did her in a bodysuit and not a dress because she doesn’t have a feminine soft quality.”

Johanna's chariot costume is currently on display at the FIDM Museum in Los Angeles. Photo by Joe Kucharski/Tyranny of StyleTo create the killer couture (which is only seen from the waist up in the final film), Summerville incorporated pieces of actual bark into a tightly constructed leather corset, which was accented with three-dimensional green paint. That was paired with Eddie Borgo bracelets that resembled thorns, and Alexander McQueen boots that had vine detailing down the heel. “All of those pieces worked so well together,” she recalled. “Johanna’s dramatic and, in her mind, thinks she’s the tribute who stands out the most in that moment.”

Wiseman talks to 16 other nominated costume designers from tv and movies in his article HERE.

The 15th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 22nd, 2014 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

You can see Johanna's costume on display at The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibit at the FIDM Museum in Los Angeles through April 26th.