ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Gladiator II costume designer Dave Crossman about his experiences on the Ridley Scott-directed sequel. Crossman mentioned the largest challenges of designing the costumes for Gladiator II, how the expertise in comparison with engaged on Scott’s Napoleon, and extra.
“From legendary director Ridley Scott, Gladiator II continues the epic saga of energy, intrigue, and vengeance set in Historic Rome. Years after witnessing the dying of the revered hero Maximus by the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is pressured to enter the Colosseum after his house is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his coronary heart and the way forward for the Empire at stake, Lucius should look to his previous to search out energy and honor to return the glory of Rome to its individuals.”
Gladiator II can be out there to buy on digital on December 24, 2024, from Paramount Residence Leisure.
Brandon Schreur: I’m questioning in the event you can inform me slightly bit about how you bought concerned with this. They’ve been speaking about Gladiator II for a very long time, now. I keep in mind there was plenty of, ‘Will it occur? Gained’t it occur?’ It obtained off the bottom with Paul Mescal. Whenever you obtained concerned, what was going by means of your head at this level? Was this an enormous, intense mission to be part of?
Dave Crossman: It was. Mainly, I’m concerned as a result of Janty [Yates], the costume designer who did the primary Gladiator, I’ve labored with Janty since I used to be about 18 years outdated. We had simply completed Napoleon collectively. I used to be on one other job as a result of I believed I used to be going to do Gladiator as a result of I can’t even keep in mind what the explanation was. It simply saved pushing or transferring again; I used to be doing one thing else.
Janty referred to as me and mentioned, ‘No, it’s occurring and we will do it.’ I began by wanting on the quantities that we needed to get executed in a three-month interval. We needed to produce numerous armor in a 12 to 13-week run. You must undergo all these processes of designing it, pricing it — all these items needed to occur earlier than you’ll be able to really push the button and make the five hundred units of Roman, 500 units of Numidian, and all that type of factor.
We had been all in a slight panic simply to get it executed and shipped to Morocco on time. As soon as Ridley begins on one thing, there’s no stopping him. He’s type of relentless and simply needs to get it executed. If he might movie it tomorrow, he would. He simply needs to get on with it and get into it. So that you’re at all times hoping the movie will push two weeks, give us two extra weeks time, but it surely simply by no means did. So we did Morocco and, after all, Ridley shot that in a short time. Then it’s important to transfer every little thing from Morocco to Malta. It’s a relentless race.
In amongst that, you’re attempting to do a pleasant job with the actors, with Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal, their armor. It’s type of a mix.
I’m certain. Gladiator II is simply such an enormous film, for a lot of causes. The size of it, the story, the manufacturing, and, clearly, the costumes. There isn’t a doubt in my thoughts that it was most likely plenty of work to do all of that. What would you say was the largest problem of doing one thing of this scale?
You need to put your personal mark on it, in a method. I didn’t need to copy every little thing that was within the first Gladiator. Clearly, that’s an enormous factor as a result of it’s fairly an iconic movie. You type of fear about these comparisons, however I believe we modified issues just like the Praetorian Guard, we modified the Roman military. We modified the best way the officers look. There’s all these sorts of issues.
On the identical time, you’re nonetheless strolling within the footsteps of that movie. So it clearly impacts how Paul seems, for example. Ridley likes a selected look of a leather-based cuirass, in order that’s what we needed to type of give attention to with Paul within the Colosseum. Since you might actually costume gladiators in plenty of alternative ways, however Ridley likes that look.
I believe the problem actually was time. It was simply attempting to get every little thing there. Once we really did the gladiators within the Colosseum, we wished to individualize their seems so much. So it simply means every little thing takes a bit longer to make. Folks had been flying in from London with circumstances of stuff, actually placing it on our bodies after which onto the set. There was a really fast turn-around as a result of it simply saved coming ahead, the schedule.
Positive. That results in what I used to be going to ask you, too. There’s a definite search for every of the gladiators on this film, but it surely’s additionally not misplaced on me that, particularly within the second half of the film, there are every kind of background actors dressed up in armor and every little thing. Did it’s important to do all of that? What number of costumes did it’s important to make in whole?
It was about 500 Romans. Then we made about 100 Roman cavalry as a result of the individuals on horseback wore a special kind of uniform and helmet. There have been about 500 Numidians, and so they had extra partial armor, so totally different helmets and helmets from antiquity that would have come from throughout Africa, Jap Europe, or from Rome, on the time. There was the Praetorian Guard, I believe we made a pair hundred of these. Then a pair hundred precise gladiators, themselves. It’s only a lot.
It seems like so much.
You’d prefer to lease a few of it however, plenty of the stuff that you just lease, it’s all type of aged badly or it has gone brittle and you may’t put on it. A number of the time, you don’t just like the fashion of the helmet. I really like the fashion of Roman helmets that we gave to this movie and, hopefully, they’ll find yourself in varied different movies over time. They are going to go to rental locations and develop into one thing else.
That makes whole sense. Gladiator II isn’t a real story, but it surely’s primarily based on historical past and every little thing. Clearly, Historic Rome was an actual place. Whenever you strategy this mission, do it’s important to do plenty of historic analysis to see what individuals had been carrying again then?
I believe most of my stuff is predicated on a type of actuality as a result of I’m not too eager on making it too fantastical. I checked out all of the precise references. Something I took usually got here from unique Roman reference after which we perhaps exaggerated or enhanced it, that type of factor. However I at all times discover it extra plausible if it comes from a spot the place you’ll be able to imagine it your self.
That is additionally not the primary time you’ve labored with Ridley Scott. Proper earlier than Gladiator II, you had been concerned with Napoleon, which is an enormous, big, and epic film, itself. What’s more durable to do, to make all these costumes for a film that’s set in the course of the French Revolution or to do Historic Rome? Or is it apples and oranges, two completely various things?
Gladiator was arduous, but it surely was simpler on some ranges. Napoleon was so complicated with all of the years that we lined and all of the totally different regiments and sorts of uniforms. That made Napoleon tremendous complicated and tremendous hectic. With Gladiator, there are Romans, Praetorians, gladiators, and Numidians. At the very least you’re coping with extra of a block of issues. I believe undoubtedly Gladiator was a bit simpler.
Because of Dave Crossman for discussing Gladiator II.
