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Tag: Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) (1-10 of 15)

Dec 12 2012 03:28 PM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): 'The Lucky One' costumer on dressing a mature Zac Efron

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the-lucky-one

Image Credit: Alan Markfield/Warner Bros

The clothes can’t take all the credit for making us see Zac Efron as a sexy leading man. He did put on 18½ pounds of muscle for his role as a returning Marine in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Lucky One. But those T-shirts and jeans definitely helped. The film’s costume designer, Dayna Pink, is also responsible for making Ryan Gosling swoonworthy in Crazy, Stupid, Love. “My passion is men’s fashion. So I go to the men’s fashion shows in Paris, I don’t go to the women’s. I just love dressing men. I think that certainly helps me get the films that I have done,” Pink says. “And then there’s the scripts, which I fall in love with when it has to do with dressing a guy. When you’re talking about doing a makeover on Steve Carell from a schlumpy guy to this sophisticated, elegant dresser and taking Ryan Gosling and making him this edgy, fashiony guy — that’s something that I would always want to do.” 

Pink reteamed with Carell for The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, hitting theaters in March 2013. Carell, Steve Buscemi, and Jim Carrey play Las Vegas magicians, so it could be the craziest thing she’s ever done, she says. But taking a break from her current project — dressing Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Kline for the bachelor party-themed Last Vegas (they get “super fun and super swanky,” she promises) – Pink was happy to talk about the magic of dressing Efron down. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 12 2012 10:11 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): 'American Horror Story: Asylum' production designer Mark Worthington on creepy Briarcliff Manor

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Image Credit: Byron Cohen/FX

In American Horror Story: Asylum, the FX show’s criminally insane asylum namesake Briarcliff Manor dominates like the scariest haunted house you could ever imagine. It’s got twisting dark passageways, claustrophobic cells, a seemingly never-ending grand lobby reminiscent of a loopy M.C. Escher lithograph, a basement laboratory run by possible ex-Nazi Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell) full of devices, literally, of torture, a slightly less frightening bakery, and the sparse room of main nun Sister Jude (Jessica Lange). The show’s production designer Mark Worthington told EW about his vision with show co-creator Ryan Murphy, and how the sets — all built — were conceptualized and made under the dictate of “less is more.” Even the actors were creeped out.

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) coverage.  READ FULL STORY »

Dec 11 2012 08:00 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): 'Parks and Recreation' prop master Gay Perello's five favorite pieces of the year

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Image Credit: NBC

The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness is legendary (and still decorates offices and cubicles at EW). But there’s something in every episode of NBC’s Parks and Recreation that catches the eye and tickles the funny bone. That’s why we asked the show’s property master, Gay Perello, for the stories behind her five favorite pieces of 2012. For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) coverage. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 10 2012 12:00 PM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): Inside Anthony Hopkins' 'Hitchcock' transformation

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Image Credit: Suzanne Tenner

In Hitchcock, normally thin actor Anthony Hopkins embodies the heavy paunch, jowls, and stature of “Master of Suspense” director Alfred Hitchcock through expert acting, but also expert prosthetics and Hitchcock’s signature black suit over a puffy full bodysuit since he didn’t want to gain weight for the film. Below, director Sacha Gervasi, makeup artist Howard Berger, and the film’s costume designer Julie Weiss tell how Hopkins was transformed. 

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) coverage.  READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 08:00 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): Making the monsters of 'The Cabin in the Woods'

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Image Credit: Diyah Pera

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

When effects designer David Leroy Anderson took his first meeting with Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard about their planned horror movie spectacular The Cabin in the Woods, he wasn’t exactly optimistic. After two decades in the business working on everything from Alien Nation and Pet Sematary to Get Smart and Angels & Demons, he’d grown grudgingly accustomed to having his specialty — designing and building practical monsters and makeup — usurped by the unquenchable beast of digital imagery. “You walk into the meeting with a list of 20 things you wanted to talk about,” he says, “and you leave the meeting with two things that you get to build, and everything else goes to visual effects.”

Instead, Whedon (who co-wrote and produced the film) and Goddard (who co-wrote and directed it) pitched Anderson their story — how it was about a bunch of college kids partying for a weekend at what they thought was a secluded lakeside cabin, but in reality was a highly controlled arena for ritual slaughter that could hypothetically employ practically every movie monster in the history of horror cinema. And they wanted Anderson to make all of them.

“I felt like I was being punk’d,” Anderson says. “This is the kind of meeting that you just dream of, and they just don’t happen….My brain kind of went numb.”

Then came the hard part: Actually making all those monsters. Here, in his own words, is how he did it.

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) coverage.

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 4 2012 02:00 PM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): Naomi Grossman on being cast, transformed into Pepper on 'American Horror Story: Asylum'

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naomi-pepper

Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Ryan Murphy

America Horror Story: Asylum has such an amalgam of strange, creepy characters who slither in and out of the FX horror show’s criminally insane asylum, Briarcliff Manor. But one character that’s a hit with fans is Pepper, the childlike yet murderous microcephalic female inmate with a tuft of hair and a joyfully toothy grin recalling the derogatorily named “pinheads” in Tod Browning’s 1932 side-show film Freaks, and one of its stars, Schlitzie. In this funny, sassy exclusive essay to EW.com, actress Naomi Grossman explains her transformation from a pretty, comedic actress to mischievous Pepper with the aid of prosthetics and makeup. She even shaved her noggin for the part.

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes) coverage.

By: Naomi Grossman

Might as well start at the beginning! The “breakdown” for the role (that is, the notification that goes out to agents and actors as to what casting is looking for) read something like, “4-5 feet tall, possibly malformed, childlike.” Now, I’m short — 5 feet exactly. But I’m proportionate, darn it! There’s not much I can do to prepare for that! So I suited up in my best baby doll dress, and I walked into the audition waiting room to find a room full of little people. My first thought was that I needed to have a sit-down with my agent, explain the difference between “little” and just “not big.” So I already felt like I was at a disadvantage. Besides, it’s American Horror Story! They’re going to cast the real freak! And, well, they cast me. The audition itself was unusual in that they didn’t give us Pepper’s actual part to read. But that’s of course because the role was under such tight wraps. I didn’t know well after I was cast what the role even was! They basically had us read one of Constance’s (Jessica Lange’s) monologues from the first season, which had obviously already been cast, and then do a short improv, as if we were a child. I think they just wanted to see if we could act. I remember feeling like I’d nailed it, for a giant. But still didn’t expect a call back.  READ FULL STORY »

Nov 29 2012 10:17 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): Creating signature styles for 'The Hunger Games'

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The Hunger Games hair department head Linda Flowers knows a thing or two about working with young people, creating a look, and putting it all together for films on a massive scale. Flowers ran hair for Captain America, The Social Network, and Iron Man 2, among others, so she is no stranger to big sets and big stars. While she was familiar with the Suzanne Collins novels, she hadn’t read the series and says she started reading them “the minute” she got the call to interview for the gig on the blockbuster. In an interview originally published as the film hit theaters, Flowers takes us inside the movie’s signature looks. For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012: Behind the Scenes coverage.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did The Hunger Games set compare to other films you’ve worked on? What were the challenges in creating the initial concept?
LINDA FLOWERS: It was definitely on the biggest scale for hair I’ve ever done. I’ve done big wig movies, I’ve done period movies, but never were the characters like [those in] the Capitol. Usually the shape of the hair is already dictated by the period, whereas this was in the future so we got to create this society. The challenge was to make it look couture and to make people take the Capitol seriously, even though they have pink hair and aqua hair and orange hair, so that was a real challenge. You have to create these styles for each individual character all the way down to the number 510 extra person that comes into the room.
READ FULL STORY »

Nov 29 2012 10:15 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): 'Big Bang Theory' fashion explained!

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Image Credit: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Sheldon’s taste in T-shirts and Howard’s collection of belt buckles — we got answers to a few burning Big Bang Theory fashion questions earlier this fall.

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012: Behind the Scenes coverage.

We know that Sheldon Cooper isn’t crazy (his mother had him tested) but he is maddeningly particular about, well, everything. Costume designer Mary T. Quigley explained the logic behind Sheldon’s sartorial choices when she gave EW’s own Adam Vary a guided tour of the Big Bang wardrobe closet.

“I try to get into Sheldon’s mind a little bit,” Quigley said. “I don’t believe that he has a closet the size of a mansion. Even though he has a collection of T-shirts and specific things that he will wear and what he won’t wear, I like to repeat them.”

When she does decide to add a new T to Sheldon’s wardrobe, where does Quigley shop? And why does Sheldon only own one pair of shoes?

Watch the video below to find out. READ FULL STORY »

Nov 29 2012 10:13 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): How 'Revolution' created a world without electricity

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Image Credit: Brownie Harris/NBC

NBC’s new hit drama Revolution is the narrative answer to a big “What if?” Creator Eric Kripke and fellow executive producers J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau have taken a close look at how much our society depends on modern technology. The resulting TV show presents the answer to the chilling question “What would happen if all electrical power ceased to work?”

Also playing the “What if?” game is the show’s production design team, creating a new landscape that manages to be both futuristic, speculative fiction and period drama. In a piece originally published after the show’s debut, we find out how they did it.

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012: Behind the Scenes coverage. READ FULL STORY »

Nov 29 2012 10:12 AM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): Rachel and Kurt's New York fashion on 'Glee'

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Image Credit: Fox

After two years of assisting Lou Eyrich — who is now creating nun habits and 1960s separates for season two of American Horror Story – costume designer Elizabeth Martucci stepped into the lead role in Glee‘s wardrobe department just in time to give Rachel and Kurt their New York City makeovers. In a piece originally published before the season 4 premiere, EW caught up with Martucci to find out how she’s taking the duo’s looks in a new direction, where she finds fashion inspiration, and what it’s like to shop for a living.

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012: Behind the Scenes coverage.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did Lea Michele and Chris Colfer have input on how their character’s style would change once they moved to New York City?
ELIZABETH MARTUCCI: I always enjoy hearing the actors’ thoughts, it’s a collaboration. I’ve been with the show since the second season, so we’re not starting fresh. We have relationships and there’s already trust there.

NEXT: Rachel’s New Necklace…

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