Universal PicturesYou may not know Colleen Atwood, but you certainly know her work. She is one of Hollywood's greatest costume designers of all time. She's won three Oscars for best costume designer out of the 11 times she's been nominted!
Her amazing list of credits includes Chicago, Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, Memoirs of a Geisha and even Planet of the Apes.
I caught up with Atwood the other day to talk about her most recent film, The Huntsman: Winter's War. Read on to find out what she told me about Emily Blunt's 50-pound coat, the "goddess" Charlize Theron and what's it really like taking Chris Hemsworth's measurements...
Congratulations an another gorgeous movie. You do such amazing work.
Thank you. Well I was so lucky to get to revisit this one. It was a lot of fun.
My husband and I saw it the other night and our mouths were just on the floor every time Charlize was on screen.
Well, you know she's so hard to dress, right?
What is it like dressing someone like Charlize when you've had a vision in your head of this gorgeous gold gown or black gown and then all of a sudden she's in it? Does your mouth drop?
It kind of does because she's absolutely so stunning and sort of a goddess in her own right.
Is it even possible for you to pick a favorite look from the movie?
That's a tricky question. I really am grateful for Emily's coat that she wears when she first enters as the queen, the silver leather coat. It weighed about 50 pounds! And then there's Charlize's gold dress that she comes out of the mirror with. But when I saw the movie last night, I really liked her final dress a lot. I really thought it was strong.
How do you say to Emily, "We're going to put you in a 50-pound coat?"
We made it in two pieces for her. One was for the close up so she didn't have to wear the whole thing. She knew it was coming and she embraced it.
Are there any pieces you would like to see worn on the red carpet? I can see some of those gowns being worn for a red carpet.
They do have that level of workmanship that the beautiful couture clothes have that we see on the carpet do. Hopefully their carpet clothes that the ladies turn out in are a little more comfortable than the costumes.
I loved how you made Jessica Chastain look so tough but also so beautiful at the same time.
She has such a womanly shape, a beautiful body. It's nice because she goes there without looking like a guy. She has all the soft curves but really controlled by the hard armor pieces. She's a stunning looking person. I love her close up. She's like a sculpture.
Now, let's talk about Chris Hemsworth. I have to ask, what's it like taking his measurements?
It's pretty amazing really. Everybody thinks Chris is so built up , but actually he has big shoulders but he's really not huge. That being said, the proportion of shoulder to hip is unreal. He's someone that you could pretty much hang anything on and he'd look good.
He's pretty covered up in the movie. Was there pressure to at least put him in the smallest shirts possible?
There are those that wish he weren't, but in general he is. It would have been silly for him to have his shirt off running around in the northern woods and what not. You have to serve the story and let people use their imaginations sometimes.
I said to my husband. "Chris isn't shirtless at all" and he goes "Marc, it's really cold where they are. That wouldn't make sense."
Well he got in the hot tub [during his sex scene with Chastain]. That was your little token for you.
The Huntsman: Winter's War is in theaters on April 22.