Tagged: Costume design by Mark Bridges

Boogie Nights: Burt Reynolds’ Red Finale Safari Suit

Burt Reynolds as Jack Horner in Boogie Nights (1997)

Vitals

Burt Reynolds as Jack Horner, avuncular adult film director

San Fernando Valley, California, Summer 1984

Film: Boogie Nights
Release Date: October 10, 1997
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Although the film contains very little that I can personally relate to (other than, perhaps, margarita-fueled arguments about Star Wars), the end of Boogie Nights has always reminded me of the end of summer.

Set just before dusk on a June night in the San Fernando Valley, the finale is comprised of just two long shots: one following pornographer Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) through the hallowed halls of his MCM dream house, and the movie’s iconic final shot that finally reveals Dirk Diggler’s much-discussed money maker to the audience. Continue reading

Johnny Depp’s Red Leisure Suit in Blow

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

Vitals

Johnny Depp as George Jung, successful cocaine smuggler

Massachusetts, Fall 1979

Film: Blow
Release Date: April 6, 2001
Director: Ted Demme
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

One of the more formative movies in developing my appreciation for more outlandish period style is Blow, Ted Demme’s Scorsese-inspired chronicle of the rise and fall of real-life drug smuggler George Jung, who was born 80 years ago today in Weymouth, Massachusetts. The DVD (does anyone remember its white case?) was in almost constant rotation when friends would come over in high school, and Mark Bridges’ costume design resonated to such a degree that, thanks to eBay, I may have been one of the few high-schoolers in the early 2000s to own a vintage polyester leisure suit. Continue reading

Jason Bourne’s Style Across Four Movies

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity

Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity (2002)

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of when The Bourne Identity was widely released, check out this comprehensive breakdown of how Matt Damon’s style as the amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne, née David Webb, evolved over the course of the original Bourne trilogy and was updated a decade later in Jason Bourne.

Unlike his fellow J.B.-named super-spy, Bourne never dressed to impress, instead favoring a more subdued and utilitarian wardrobe consistent with the “gray man” philosophy of blending in, specifically in urban environments like the European capitals where he evades his one-time CIA overlords.

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Punch-Drunk Love: Barry’s Blue Suit

Adam Sandler as Barry Egan in Punch-Drunk Love

Adam Sandler as Barry Egan in Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

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Adam Sandler as Barry Egan, anxious novelty swag entrepreneur

San Fernando Valley (and Hawaii), Spring 2002

Film: Punch-Drunk Love
Release Date: October 11, 2002
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

Though it would be widely released in theaters five months later, today marks the 20th anniversary of when Paul Thomas Anderson’s offbeat romantic comedy Punch-Drunk Love premiered at Cannes in May 19, 2002.

A fan of his work in lower-brow ’90s comedies like Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy, Anderson had been interested in collaborating with Adam Sandler, sensing the greater dramatic potential under his distinctive comedic signature. The unconventional casting choice baffled entertainment journalists and even Sandler himself, though he delivered a career-high performance as Punch-Drunk Love‘s central character, Barry Egan. Continue reading

Joaquin Phoenix as Joker

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck in Joker (2019)

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Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, aka “Joker”, disturbed and disgraced ex-party clown

Gotham City, Fall 1981

Film: Joker
Release Date: October 4, 2019
Director: Todd Phillips
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

Could there be a more appropriate character to focus on for April Fool’s Day than the Joker?

When I was growing up, the only two actors who had prominently portrayed Gotham City’s psychopathic prankster were Cesar Romero in the classic ’60s series and Jack Nicholson, who received top billing despite not playing the title role in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. Since then, we’ve seen a handful of actors cycle through the iconic role, beginning with Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008), a few appearances by Ben Affleck and Jared Leto, and most recently a smaller part performed by Barry Keoghan in The Batman (2022).

Joaquin Phoenix received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the eponymous role in Joker, a reimagined origin story that pays significant homage to Martin Scorsese’s character studies like Taxi Driver (1976) and The King of Comedy (1983)—both starring Robert De Niro, who would appear in Joker—as well as twists of social commentary and themes from Death Wish (1973) and Fight Club (1999).

Many loved it and many hated it, but there’s little doubting Phoenix’s effectiveness intensity chronicling the troubled Arthur Fleck’s transformation from a desperate wannabe stand-up comedian who feels let down by society into a chaotic killer who unintentionally inspires anarchic revolution and class warfare. Continue reading

Blow: Johnny Depp’s Layered Denim on the Run

Johnny Depp in Blow

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

Vitals

Johnny Depp as George Jung, fugitive pot dealer

Weymouth, Massachusetts, Fall 1973

Film: Blow
Release Date: April 6, 2001
Director: Ted Demme
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

Blow chronicles the chaotic career of real-life drug dealer George Jung, who evolved his marijuana-dealing enterprise into a dangerously successful cocaine-smuggling operation with the Medellín cartel until it all came crashing down around him. Continue reading

Boogie Nights: Don Cheadle’s White ’80s Suit

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope in Boogie Nights (1997)

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope in Boogie Nights (1997)

Vitals

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope, adult film star-turned-stereo entrepreneur

Los Angeles, Winter 1983

Film: Boogie Nights
Release Date: October 10, 1997
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

WARNING! Spoilers and gore ahead!

Background

Approaching the new year and the prospect of fresh starts, I wanted to revisit the modern masterpiece Boogie Nights and in particular one of its ensemble cast that I have always found most compelling: Don Cheadle’s performance as the well-meaning but oft-hindered Buck Swope, a former porn actor looking to build a new life with his wife and fellow ex-porn star Jessie (Melora Walters).

After his employment history interferes with his prospects to fund his entrepreneurial endeavor to open his own stereo shop, Buck encounters a reversal of fortune just two weeks before Christmas. Continue reading

Inherent Vice: Doc’s Jungle Jacket

Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello in Inherent Vice (2014)

Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello in Inherent Vice (2014)

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Joaquin Phoenix as Larry “Doc” Sportello, hippie private investigator

Los Angeles County, Fall 1970

Film: Inherent Vice
Release Date: December 12, 2014
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

One of my favorite “new watches” over the last year was Inherent Vice, adapted from the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name. Inherent Vice follows “Doc” Sportello, a stoner private eye dwelling in the fictional hippie enclave of Gordita Beach in southern California at the end of the ’60s. Like the best of P.I. pulp fiction, Doc’s case begins with a late visit from a young woman, in this case his ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) seeking his help investigating land developer Mickey Wolfmann. When another client’s request also intersects with Wolfmann, Doc’s “paranoia alert” is triggered as he’s set on a path that intersects him with an aggressive detective, a plum-suited dentist, and a drug counselor who “[tries] to talk kids into sensible drug use.”

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Blow: Manhattan Beach, 1968

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

Johnny Depp as George Jung in Blow (2001)

Vitals

Johnny Depp as George Jung, burgeoning pot dealer

Manhattan Beach, California, Summer 1968

Film: Blow
Release Date: April 6, 2001
Director: Ted Demme
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

Blow presents the story of real-life drug smuggler George Jung (1942-2021), presented not unlike Goodfellas: beginning in media res at a crucial turning point in our anti-hero protagonist’s life, reaching back into his childhood, and then following his criminal career over the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s until it descends into a cocaine-fueled nightmare of betrayals and bad hair, all set to a packed soundtrack of hits and deep cuts from the era.

After meeting the adolescent George, raised by an attentive Ray Liotta and a neglectful Rachel Griffiths, we skip ahead to young adulthood as a twentysomething George and his oversized pal Tuna (Ethan Suplee) as they relocate across the country from Massachusetts to Manhattan Beach:

I moved to California in the summer of 1968 with the Tuna. We had $300 and a black TR3. There sure was nothin’ like this back home. It was paradise… and everyone was getting stoned.

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Boogie Nights: Don Cheadle in Red Western-Inspired Leisurewear

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope in Boogie Nights (1997)

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope in Boogie Nights (1997)

Vitals

Don Cheadle as Buck Swope, porn actor and aspiring electronics store owner

San Fernando Valley, Summer 1977

Film: Boogie Nights
Release Date: October 10, 1997
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Costume Designer: Mark Bridges

Background

In the mood for some midweek summer leisure looks, I was inspired by the parade of ’70s style in Boogie Nights. As with so many period productions set during the disco era, Boogie Nights features plenty of the big collars, flashy jewelry, and polyester we’ve come to associate with that decade, and its focus on the porn industry—despite Jack Horner’s insistence that his “pictures” may be a higher art than the era’s run-of-the-mill smut—takes us through the tackier side of a decade already oft reviled for its sartorial excess.

Among the sprawling ensemble cast, I’ve always enjoyed Don Cheadle’s performance as Buck Swope, the conflicted actor in Horner’s troupe constantly wrangling with his identity. Continue reading