Odile Dicks-Mireaux on Enhancing Saoirse's Journey in "Brooklyn" / Reuniting with Rachel Weisz for "Denial"
Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at 7:52PM 
Odile Dicks-Mireaux. Image via Female FirstThe thing about Brooklyn is that everyone can relate to it. Stories of immigration touch almost everyone, or at least run through their family's DNA. Even the move from one state with a personality quite unlike your original home, can feel like a reinvention. Nearly a year after seeing Brooklyn for the first time it's strange to think that I worried that people wouldn't connect to it! Who needs sensationalistic drama when a story is this really. When it's power can sneak up on you?
I had the pleasure of discussing this universal resonance, and the job of defining Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) through her costume changes with the designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux, who herself related to the story. Her mother was French and her father British and they met, both immigrants, in Brooklyn in the 1940s, and built a life in a foreign country together. Odile is London based and was best known, prior to know, with her frequently BAFTA nominated work on British television miniseries like Gormenghast and Great Expectations though she's also designed Oscar nominated dramas like The Constant Gardener and An Education.
Here's our interview.
NATHANIEL R: I first saw Brooklyn at Sundance and I loved it but I remember feeling that I had no idea how people would react to it when it was released. Which in retrospect was kind of foolish of me.
ODILE DICKS-MIREAUX: You never know when you're making a movie how it's going to turn out and whether it will hit a nerve. Would it be too much of a simple story or too old fashioned? So it's been a real pleasure that it's resonated. [More...]
NATHANIEL: The first time I really clocked your work as a designer was in another coming of age period drama about a young girl, An Education (2009).
ODILE: Yes. And it was written by Nick Hornby as well!
So did that film lead to this one?
It did in a way. Same producers. I was thrilled that they asked me.
When you're doing that sort of film where it's all about the slow arc of the protagonist discovering who they are -- how does that translate to your work?
It's quite challenging. First of all I had to explore the two worlds straightaway, the American world and the Irish world. And we discussed that right at the beginning, John and Francois and I, what we thought she would see and be influenced by and be surprised by when she got to America. We talked a lot about what she would be struck by. And then I would think about what her wardrobe would be as a young girl. I limited myself to knowing that she was going to take everything with her to America so she couldn't have more than a suitcase full of clothes in her wardrobe. That kind of helps you.
I'm sure.
And then you think about what she would gradually acquire in America so by the time she came back to Ireland what she would own. Would she have anything left of her Irish wardrobe? I started with basic logics -- it's different for everyone -- and then went out and looked for what would suit her, then look for what would suit Saoirse particularly.
We shot Ireland first so I had to know the beginning and the end. She comes back in the summer so what woudl a girl bring back on a short trip? She maybe would have three or four dresses -- she might have travelled in the dress she was married in. I just tried lots of things on Saoirse. It was all vintage we never made anything for Saoirse.
© Kerry Brown for Fox Searchlight
I seem to remember her colors got more bold as the film went.
Yes they did. I'll tell you I didn't sort of intend -- it was a gradual thing we talked about. The world was more colorful.
Okay.
As she grew in confidence that seemed a natural thing to do. And when we looked at pictures of Coney Island it was very colorful. That would be the world she was seeing so when she's in the boarding hourse. The girls are already quite colorful. That would influence her. She wouldn't stay in the more muted palette. I thought that was a logical step. That's what I presented to Saoirse and John and we all thought that was the right direction to go.
Did you have the colors in mind for her, going in -- greens, yellows, red. Or did Saoirse have a preference?
We tried different things on her. Eilis wasn't someone who would be too showy or want to stand out. Some colors it was a real pleasure that they would work on her -- the yellow and the apricot I wasn't quite so sure but it did and she loved it. She went with it. Blues with Saoirse always work and that pale pink.
It was challenging. There are probably a lot of fitting photographs that are really terrible. And then you hone it down.
Obviously she's the focal point of the movie but there are a lot of extras and side characters. Do you have a team for that?
I went to three different countries and so I had my small team in London and we prepared all the Irish things. There were three of us. And then we packed everything to ship out to Ireland and then we packed also things to ship out to Montreal for the Irish girls. Then I had another team in Montreal where we had very big crowd scenes and very fast turnarounds.
The great thing about that is Montreal had American stock and it kind of reinforced what the different fabrics and patterns and colors would be. The more you look at real clothes, it's easier then to judge what you want to use then just looking at photographs. It's a real pleasure to look through old clothes and source them.
There's nothing outwardly glamorous about Brooklyn...
I didn't mind that at all.
But did you miss that at all since you've done more glamorous work on An Education or Bel Ami.
I liked that she wasn't glamorous, you know? I liked that she was an ordinary girl who had a sort of practical sensibility and humor about her. But still wanted to make a life for herself. She's a strong character, too. I did put little bits of glamour into the boarding house and got that out of my system in that way. [Laughter]
All those movies you watch about the period. There's so much you could do but it would have stood out. You make sure the clothes were there and real and they felt like real people. You're witness a real person's journey rather than a star in a movie.
Brooklyn (2015) and An Education (2015) presented very different challenges
I was just curious about that because one of my favorite movie characters in recent years was the Rosamund Pike character in An Education.
She's great. She was so funny and brilliant in that.
But she's self-consciously glamorous.
We definitely made her glamorous. It's fun when you get a believable character like that and it's not just imposed on the character. She's fun to dress like that.
You've done a lot of contemporary films as well. Do you think of yourself as having a specialty as a costume designer?
No. I have to feel when I read the script that I can do it well and that it resonates. There are some scripts I have read where they've been great but I've thought 'I'm not really the right person for this.' I like to do all periods if I can. I've done medieval. I've done quite a bit of victorian. I don't think I've ever done the 1920s?
Some periods are harder than others. I'm doing the 90s at the moment.
It's so strange to think of that period.
It's 15 years ago now that's a hard period. I did One Day which is Anne Hathaway's journey over the years. They're tough to do -- similarly with Saoirse -- to get you through her journey, with all the costume changes, and get you to the other end of her story without anything jarring you, to make sure it's always the same person.
Particularly with Brooklyn. John wanted it to be very natural and real so the clothes didn't get in the way of her emotional journey but enhanced it.
What's up next. I believe you're next film is The Sense of an Ending (2016).
I finished that one. That was a male star [Jim Broadbent with Billy Howle in flashbacks].
But Charlotte Rampling and Michelle Dockery are also in it.
It's very different and fun. Contemporary but it has a level of concept to it as well with palette ideas. Charlotte Rampling has to be a in a different color palette than everybody else. The main character's world is greys and his blues and his ex wife has to be quite soft because when she says all his worst qualities she shouldn't be in black.
[Laughter]
There are discussions like that. The flashbacks in the 60s were really good fun to do.
Not your first time working with the 60s.
I like the 60s because I grew up through the 60s. Definitely with An Education I kind of remembered the school -- I went to a similar school so little sensibilities like that are quite nice. But when you're more challenged on other periods you try and approach each period through the mind of the character. Whatever period it is you say 'well how would they wear these clothes?' Some times it's easier to be in a more restrictive period. Like with men -- they only have so many clothes. But contemporary is hard becase they can be wearing anything they want.
And the film after that is Denial (2016).
With Rachel Weisz. It's based around a real person [Deborah Lipstadt] and her life being taken over by this libel case. I've actually talked to the real people involved. Research is fun at the beginning to get yourself into the feeling of their world. This is the legal world of courts.
Do you have any particular film in your career that you feel super proud of. Or just passionate about like I loved that project so much.
I really enjoyed Dirty Pretty Things, working with Audrey Tatou and Stephen Frears, and working with Fernando Meireilles on A Constant Gardener and then An Education with Lone Scherfig. Last year I did Brooklyn and High-Rise with Ben Wheatley which was completely different. And I thought 'I'm not going to match that this year' but then this year I'm working with Ritesh Batra who is a new director. Now you really want to give back what you've been given in your career to make other people's projects good for them. It's more about giving back than trying to prove yourself in a way.
Andrew Scott and Rachel Weisz on the set of Denial (2016)And you're working with Rachel Weisz again.
Re-meeting actors is great fun. We were just giggling today remembering 'You were 22 and really shy and I remember what clothes you used to buy!' She was 'wow, you remember that?' I'm very fond of her. She's become such a wonderful actress. And Charlotte Rampling this is the second time now. I worked with Charlotte on Great Expectations. I did some really interesting projects at the BBC: Gorgmenghast and Great Expectations. Working with Jim Broadbent again 'do you remember when we worked on Black Adder?' [Laughter]
That's great.
It's a pleasure. You're there for them. It's not about my designs but about them feeling good about what they're wearing. It's your job to help them step up and feel like the character. It's an important process. You've got to be their receptive to their needs, the storytelling, and the director's vision.
You're juggling quite a lot!
More Brooklyn | Costume Design | Previous Interviews
Reader Comments (4)
Thanks for this! Brooklyn stuck with me all these months later. Eilis feels like family.
Finally saw Brooklyn last night. Great design work all around and Saorse is marvelous. Kind of jarring to see her after the screening—she's such a contemporary girl, so unlike Eilis.
(Weisz was in her early 30s when they worked on Constant Gardener together...how did she come up with 22?)
Love her work in The Constant Gardener. It is contemporary but it feels very specific, specially some details of Fiennes' wardrobe. How do you express change of such a character?
Weisz was in her mid-30's, but Tessa was supposed to be 24. Did you read Fernando Meirelles' diaries on this film? Some entries were translated and he says he wanted a much younger, but Weisz took the role and made it her own.
Winslet was supposed to play the role, but he saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind the same morning he knew of his Oscar nomination and could not concentrate on her performance (a producer got a copy and screened it to Meireles). Then Weisz got the role.
What a talent, she has worked with the cream of the British film industry ever since "Blackadder", and has contributed to some of my favourite films. She always manages to nail the time period with splashes of more colourful outfits.
Great interview - thanks for this. As you know by now I love "Brooklyn".