You may want to grab a cannoli and settle in, because we have some style secrets for The Offer to share.
In an exclusive interview with E! News, costume designer Amy Stofsky dished on bringing to life the Paramount+ series, which is a dramatic retelling of the making of The Godfather. And, as Amy detailed, it wasn't necessarily an easy undertaking, with the show being based on real-life people and all.
From creating costumes from scratch to finding perfect duplicates to recreate iconic scenes, there was plenty for Amy and the design team to undertake when building the world of The Offer. However, being a self-proclaimed fan of Francis Ford Coppola's hit crime drama, Amy couldn't be happier with the end result.
"I've been watching the series too," she exclusively told E! News, "because most of the time, I'm not on the set at all."
She even wrote to the producers of the show to tell them just how much she's enjoying it. Same, Amy. Same.
So, if you're curious to learn how The Offer pulled off all those very specific looks, including Justin Chambers' transformation into the Godfather himself, Marlon Brando, keep reading:
The first place to look when creating costumes for characters based on real-life people? Photographs and research.
"When people are real, it's no problem," costume designer Amy Stofsky told E! News on shaping the looks for Paramount+'s The Offer. "When you're trying to create a character, you have a much more difficult time. But the real people it's all there, right in front of you."
Amy said the show's design team had the easiest time putting together Justin Chambers' look as Marlon Brando as "there were so many pictures" to work with.
Despite recreating a couple scenes from The Godfather on The Offer, Amy revealed that no original pieces from the iconic crime drama were used in the Paramount+ series.
"You know what's happening with so many costumes?" she explained. "They sit in costume houses for many years and they start to rot."
But don't fret, as Amy assured E! that they were able to duplicate most Godfather looks. "We found the same fur hat that Diane Keaton was wearing," she shared. "We found like a '40s fur coat that was exactly like the one she was wearing, too."
Al Ruddy's assistant Bettye McCartt (Juno Temple) and casting director Andrea Eastman (Stephanie Koenig) had different work styles for a reason!
As the characters discussed in the show, Bettye was opposed to wearing skirts and dresses in the workplace, in the hope of being taken more seriously. But Amy revealed that the style choices were even deeper than that.
"Bettye was a working woman and really didn't have the money that Andrea had," she noted. "They were in different circles."
However, if you look closely at Bettye's style evolution, she becomes "a little bit more" fashionable as her career grows throughout the season, according to Amy. "We were fortunate enough to keep finding amazing pieces of the period," she added, "that worked with the progression of Bettye's character into becoming more of a fashion presence."
While Amy made it clear that she doesn't have favorite costumes in The Offer (she loves them all), there are specific finds that she's proudest of. Most notably, Bettye's snakeskin jacket in episode 10, which was discovered "amidst so much crap."
"You look through racks and racks of that stuff, because suddenly there's so many period shows going on," Amy reflected. "So, that piece for me was gold."
Amy, who credited fellow costume designer Michael Kaplan for the design of the Robert Evans character, revealed that several of Matthew Goode's costumes were "built from scratch."
"Everything was matched entirely to clothing that Robert Evans wore," she said. "Down to the shoes."
So, it's no wonder that Matthew said the costumes, the glasses and his tan were to thank for his uncanny take on the Paramount Studios executive.
Season one of The Offer is available to stream on Paramount+.