MEMORABILIA: Superhero costumes are shown on display at the Hollywood Costume exhibit, curated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and London’s Victoria & Albert museum, at the future home of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
From queens to superheroes, film outfits find Hollywood home. By Piya Sinha-Roy
Dorothy’s famous ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz have found their way home again as one of the highlights in a new Hollywood exhibition that showcases iconic costumes in film.
The Hollywood Costume exhibit, opening today in Los Angeles and curated by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), will house more than 150 costumes spanning decades of cinema. It has been expanded from a 2012 V&A exhibit in London, and includes 40 new costumes, including those worn by Oscar-winner Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games and Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones.
“This landmark exhibition reflects the Academy’s mission of celebrating and preserving the past, honouring the present and shaping the future of world cinema,” said Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the President of the Academy, the film organisation that hosts the annual Oscars ceremony.
The exhibition at the Wilshire May Company Building, where the Academy’s film museum will officially open in 2017, spans four rooms that follow the journey of a costume from sketch to final product.
From the glamorous, such as Marlene Dietrich’s Persian-inspired embroidered gown from 1937’s Angel, to the ordinary, such as Jesse Eisenberg’s grey hoodie and flip flops from his role as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, each outfit is accompanied by a breakdown of the character and outfit choices.
“This is not an exhibition about clothes, this is about the movies,” said exhibition curator Deborah Nadoolman Landis, the costume designer behind The Blues Brothers, 1941 and The Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Landis said she hoped the exhibit would help people understand “what a costume designer contributes to every single production,” as well as how a costume can help audiences become invested in a movie character.
Highlights include a pair of the original ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, Marilyn Monroe’s iconic white halter dress from 1955’s The Seven Year Itch, Christopher Reeve’s Superman suit and Cate Blanchett’s regal golden gown from her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth.
The exhibit spans all genres of film, from Darth Vader in Star Wars and Christian Bale’s Batman suit, to Kate Winslet’s Titanic dress, Amy Adams’s cleavage-baring American Hustle gown and Robert Pattinson’s Edward Cullen suit in Twilight.
In one room, long black tables and chairs have videos projected onto them, resembling a roundtable discussion with actors such as Tippi Hedren, directors including Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino, and costume designers such as Oscar-winning Edith Head discussing key costumes.
Three-time Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep, a former student of costume design, has her own section housing many of her key film outfits and video projections of her discussing the choices made for her characters.
Tickets for the exhibition, which will run until March 2015 and will be accompanied by special events including panels with costume designers, are priced at $20. — Reuters
Knightley not scared of ageing
Actress Keira Knightley says she isn’t scared of getting older as her “early twenties were not much fun”. In an interview with Glamour magazine, the 29-year-old shared her views about ageing and said she was looking forward to her next big birthday,” reports dailymail.co.uk.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star will turn 30. “I’m not actually worried about turning 30. Because, honestly, my early 20s were not much fun. Then after 25, things just got better and better,” she said. “Maybe you stop caring as much about where you should be going and what other people think - which is all the s**t that makes you very unhappy early on,” she added. The actress, who got married to Klaxons rocker James Righton in 2013, also admitted that being married doesn’t make her feel grown-up. “Actually, I feel less grown-up as I go along. I reached my peak of grown-up behaviour at 20 and 21, and it’s been downhill since then,” she said. “I was terribly sensible as a teenager but I’ve got far less so as I’ve grown up, which has been a huge relief for everyone - including my parents,” she added. – IANS
Affleck’s kids not interested in Batman
Actor Ben Affleck, who has three children with wife and actor Jennifer Garner, says his kids don’t care much about his role as Batman because they prefer Disney’s Frozen movie.
The actor is playing the superhero in forthcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. On Tonight Show, the 42 year-old actor said his children will only be interested in his acting if it has anything to do with movies like Frozen on Tonight Show, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
The actor said: “Because of the fact I’m playing Batman now, people say, ‘Are your kids into it?’ The truth is, they’re not. If I was doing the sequel to Frozen I would be a hero.
“My two older daughters couldn’t give a s**t about Batman and they’ve now passed that affection onto my son. He’s always like, ‘Papa, can I watch Frozen? And I’m like, ‘No, dude, it’s not on again!’.” — IANS
