Male actors have a habit of going commando to costume fittings.
That’s the startling revelation of Jenny Beavan, the Oscar-winning British costume designer, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Beavan said that fittings are intimate affairs at the best of times, but the failure of some men to cover their dignity sometimes leaves her exasperated.
“They have to take all their clothes off. It’s astonishing the number of male actors who don’t wear underwear,” Beavan explained.
“I’ve had to go out and purchase them pants – not Calvin Klein or anything like that; I usually get them from [British retailer] Marks – otherwise they try to hide themselves behind a chair looking marginally awkward. I think, ‘For God’s sake, if I was going to a fitting and trying on second-hand clothes I’d wear some pants.’”
Beavan, who won Oscars for Mad Max: Fury Road and A Room with a View, did not name and shame any stars, but said actors often confide in her because they do not see her as a threat. “I’m short and mumsy,” she joked.
The costume designer was also honored by the Academy for her work on Cruella, but took issue with Disney after the company produced a fashion line inspired by the movie that was licensed, designed, and released without Beavan’s knowledge.
“They arranged a Zoom meeting to discuss it,” she told the Telegraph, recalling an encounter with Disney. “I listened to these deathless speeches, all these young people giving me their pitch, and then they stupidly asked me if I wanted to say anything. I think they were surprised that someone who worked in costumes was daring to take them on.”
Elsewhere in the interview, she revealed that it is not wise to keep Ralph Fiennes waiting for a fitting (she worked with the actor on her new film, The Choral) and that the late Maggie Smith could be “pretty intimidating.”
On the latter, she expanded: “The trick was to never show a chink, and hold on like grim death when you were being spoken to. And then, give it five minutes, and there’d be a little knock on the wardrobe trailer and someone would say, ‘Oh Jenny, could you pop in and see Maggie?’ Maggie would say: ‘Oh hello, have you got a cigarette? immediately come and have a cup of proper coffee.’ And you’d think to yourself: ‘What did I just go through?’”
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