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Who dresses the ‘Watchmen’? (part I)
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Superhero costumes can teeter on the line of uber-cartoony or sleek and sophisticated. With the ones created for Watchmen, costume designer Michael Wilkinson marries the two concepts into a serious caricature that gives so much depth to the average latex and leather that we are used to.
THE WATCHMEN: The Comedian (from left), Silk Spectre II, Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, Nite Owl and Rorschach. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
The alternate universe of the graphic novel-turned-movie isn’t really an alternate universe per se. It’s more of an alternate reality where Nixon is serving his third term as president and superheroes (a.k.a. “masks”) have been outlawed. The costumes look like – well – superhero costumes. But there’s something about them that makes this alternate 1985 seem so surreal and grounded all at once.
At Wondercon, the cast members were there to share their thoughts on this epic film and how it was like playing superhero dress up.
For Billy Crudup, there wasn’t really any dressing up to do. He plays Dr. Manhattan, a God-like, radioactive creature that glows with a blue hue and can manipulate matter (i.e. he can blow things up and put together Ikea furniture with one motion of his hand). He’s also seen naked throughout the movie. Sorry gals, the naked body really isn’t all Crudup.
One of the few scenes in which Dr. Manhattan is wearing clothes. He does look good in a suit though - the black compliments his blue skin tone. (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Dr. Manhattan is a creation from the brilliant minds of the visual effects team,” says Crudup. ”The way they accomplished it was a complicated system of motion capture markers on me. They had over 140 dots that had to be perfectly calibrated for the two high definition cameras that captured all of my movements. Eventually, what they did was erase any part of me while keeping the dots and the dots corresponded with an exact replica of my face which was blue…and that was all.”
Crudup laughs with the simple, yet complex mechanics of his costume, while Malin Akerman chimes in, “Mine is a little more simple or complicated – depending on how you look at it.
Malin Akerman spills into her Silk Spectre costume. Doesn't the smoke make it look like an '80s music video? (Photo credit: Clay Enos)
Akerman plays Silk Spectre II, who is the most stylish Watchmen in the group. Donned in a black & yellow skintight outfit, she kicks some major butt and looks sexy at the same time. It kind of looks like a Queen Bee gone wild. It's very G.L.O.W., but a lot classier. Akerman says that she loved putting on the outfit, but after putting on the outfit for a couple of days the latex was overstaying its welcome.
“It’s quite revealing and there’s not room for much mistake in that costume,” say Akerman. “I was wondering how wearing the heels and corset was going to feel after a couple of weeks. After the first week, I was already done with it - but it always helps when you put a costume on, or for women, when you put on a pair of heels, your persona changes. I think the costumes did it for all of us.”
Jeffrey Dean Morgan shows us his big guns as The Comedian. (Photo credit: Clay Enos)
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who steps into the shoes of the cruel Captain America-turned-rogue hero, The Comedian, agrees with Akerman, “Between the costumes and the sets and me putting a cigar in my mouth, it was seeing that spark of humanity in The Comedian; a piece of sympathy amidst the s**** things he does.”
Stay tuned for part 2 of my interview tomorrow....
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